Dear readers,
I am writing this report tonight (Friday 03/01), because I feel that I am victim of police misconduct.
In addition to giving time to this website, as well as to graduate studies, I work part time at a restaurant. Tonight was my night to work at the restaurant as a delivery driver, and everything was going great until about 8pm. However, less than 5 minutes into my last run, I noticed that a police officer was trailing me, so I kept a close eye on my speed.
A few minutes after noticing the officer, I was being pulled over, but I had no idea why. I stopped my car right away, and waited for the officer, a Corporal Michael Langdale, to approach my vehicle. With a cigarette hanging from his mouth, the officer rudely asked for my license and registration, so I immediately obliged. A minute or two later, he pointed at my dash, blew smoke in my face, and said your f-ing' lights are out. Since my car is old and my dash lights flicker a bit, I assumed those were the lights he was referencing.
In a very stern voice Langdale then ordered me to remain in my vehicle. About 15 minutes later, he came back and issued me a traffic summons. Somehow, even though all of my vehicle's exterior lights, lamps and signals work perfectly, I received a ticket for allegedly having no tail lights. According to Langdale, I allegedly violated PA Title 75 Vehicle Code' 4303 B General Lighting Requirements.
Obviously, this was upsetting, so in an effort to better understand what I did wrong, I slowly approached Langdale's vehicle as he was about pull away. At that point, I asked him why I was being charged, because as far as I could tell, all of my lights were completely functional. I figured maybe I was missing something, and was hoping to get an explanation.
Instead of explaining why he issued a citation, the chain smoking officer proceeded to take one last drag of his cigarette, and flick the lit butt in my direction. Then, some extremely intense verbal abuse began. Langdale called me many derogatory names, screamed at me, sprayed me with his spit, coughed in my face, bumped me with his chest, and even threatened me.
Langdale actually continued to harass me after I backed away with my hands in the air. At one point he was inches from my face; thereby forcing me to inhale his foul smoke breath. It was so bad that when he finally left, I had to wash his saliva off of my face and out of my eyes. What's worse is that even though I escaped unharmed, I truly believe Corporal Langdale would have proceeded to physically assault me if it were not for the fairly heavy traffic flow.
As soon as I was able to leave the scene, I called the police station and asked for the Chief so that I could report this incident.instead of hearing back from the Chief, my call was returned by Corporal Michael Langdale. Our conversation was about 15 minutes long, and he refused to apologize for his behavior. Not being satisfied with his response, I later attempted to contact the Upper Providence Chief. Unfortunately, my calls were never returned; in spite of the fact that I left several messages with the receptionist.
Corporal Langdale treated me in a way that was extremely unacceptable. He acted like an out of control piece of garbage, and such behavior will not be tolerated by me. Maybe the officer had a bad day? Maybe he thought my asking for an explanation was arrogant? Maybe he is just an all around jerk? Whatever the reason, though, this behavior can not go unchecked. Therefore, I will look into appropriate legal remedies.
In addition to being verbally abused, I now have to deal with a traffic citation. It is quite possible that Langdale figured that since I was driving an older vehicle, I was poor, and therefore more likely to be in possession of something illegal. On the other hand, he may have stopped me only because I was young. Regardless, he had no probable cause to make the stop, and no grounds to issue the citation. Therefore, I will be pleading not guilty and requesting a trial. Unfortunately, I will have a hard time winning a not guilty verdict since the police station is located only feet away from the district court. Hopefully, this home court advantage will not make it impossible for the truth to overcome the lies.
No matter what happens in the court case, the bottom line is that animals like Corporal Langdale should not be allowed to serve our communities. We trust our police departments to hire qualified officers that will work hard, and treat us with respect. Unfortunately however, our local police departments let us down all too often. For instance, Upper Providence hired Langdale, an extremely mean and abusive officer who demands respect without earning it first.
I will not let up until adequate disciplinary action is taken against this officer. Likewise, it is time for Chief Davis, Upper Providence, Delaware County, and local citizens to take action against abusive officers such as Langdale, as well as hold such officers accountable for their actions. Until then, I will continue writing about their failure to protect their most valuable asset; the citizens of this county.
M
Media, Pennsylvania
0 comments