“Six times I watched the audio/video regarding the traffic stop involving Ol’ Clark…and I remain stymied by his perspectives, disposition, baseless stance, and hollow words.”
Bill Clark aka “Ol’ Clark” happens to be a columnist who writes for the Columbia Daily Tribune in Columbia, Missouri. Ol’ Clark published an article on June 30, 2017 titled “Ol’ Clark had a run in with the law” in which he fictitiously maligned two Boone County deputies who pulled him over for a traffic infraction. It appears Ol’ Clark did not know that the deputies’ in-car video camera recorded the entire breadth of the traffic infraction up to when the stop was concluded. Not much problem there…until 84-year Ol’ Clark wrote some falsities about how the traffic encounter went down.
His version of events was published. It was wrong. It was small-scale CNN-like manufactured dribble.
You may be wondering how this became public and went viral. After all, it is just a traffic stop involving a senior citizen who received a traffic summons from a professional law enforcement officer who articulated her probable cause and reason for performing her duty. In fact, her male deputy partner never uttered a word the entire time, although O’l Clark implied he was the heavy, readied. Yes, Ol’ Clark, cops are prepared for the worse because, lately, they’ve had targets on their backs. Isn’t this in your newspaper? If not, why not?
The actual story written by Ol’ Clark is right here for your reading pleasure. Once it was published by the Columbia Daily Tribune, Boone County Sheriff Dwayne Carey read the depiction and pulled a copy of the deputy’s in-car audio/video footage depicting the actual traffic stop in question. The recorded footage did not sync-up with Ol’ Clark’s publicized testimony…and his embellishments were compounded by odd, misplaced innuendo like:
“I’ve just come to appreciate even more the words of those minorities when they speak of harassment and police arrogance. I had a good dose of arrogance on this evening and, in my rear view mirror, the image of the second officer out of the car, his hands ready in case I made a wrong move. My life seemed to be in danger.”
There is a profound sadness in his statement. There is pity. Like soldiers, preparedness in the face of danger is endemic. Such hyperbole from an 84-year-old man does not jibe.
So, like some other great police executives have done lately, Sheriff Carey conducted his own internal investigation and posted the audio/video footage to refute the false allegations against his deputy, his department, and law enforcement in general. On July 5, Sheriff Carey posted a press release on the Boone County Sheriff’s Office website to address indisputable facts.
OpsLens Senior Contributor T.B. Lefever wrote about Oxnard, Alabama police Chief Bill Partridge recently, explaining how body-cam footage exonerated one of his animal control officers regarding false allegations maligning his officer’s professionalism. So exasperated and fed up was Chief Partridge that he immediately implemented a department policy to post/publish body-cam footage to contest complaints which do not match what is recorded. In other words, calling bull-dung for what it is.
In an age of social media expositions, it is not only fair it is also the most immediate way for right to correct wrong…or at least maintain professionalism, agency reputation, and dignity of law enforcers.
Elderly Love
I respect my elders…as much as I respect the truth. When a person has been around longer than some police departments have been in existence, wisdom oughta be oozing out of the mouth and pores aglow with the shine of integrity. For one who makes empty claims, embellishes storylines, and sensationalizes situations which footage shows never happened…fact-finding seems a fair prescription.
When Ol’ Clark wrote about the two deputies, saying “Danger lurked and official arrogance was to follow,” he was right…danger of the deputy standing closest to traffic while conducting the traffic stop could easily have been struck. We just buried a Florida Highway Patrol trooper on June 30, 2017. A senior citizen plowed into Sgt. William Bishop while he was investigating a traffic crash on a Florida interstate. That’s not the only example, it is the latest one. By nature of The Job, cops must often be in the roadway since that’s where the cars are. It’s not what they want to do, it is what they must do.
Definitely dangerous, like all of police work, whether in car or out. Despite this, arrogance did follow, but not from any of the two cops. Arrogance came in the form of a local newspaper article without facts to support its claim.
Since Ol’ Clark was pulled over for failing to signal his direction of travel, he wondered why: “Tell me, just how did that infraction interfere with the flow of traffic since there was no one except you behind me?” Well, Ol’ Clark, you just answered your own question. Whether a deputy or a postal worker, a car is a car…and if one is behind you the law obligates you to conduct yourself accordingly.
Ol’ Clark claimed the deputies took issue with his abundance of bumper stickers which designate his political party. A driver’s hands can readily hurt or kill cops, not car bumpers. Bumper stickers carry as much weight to a cop as paper cuts to a nurse in the ICU. They’re watching you and everything you do throughout the entire detention, including your movements during the infraction for which you are being detained. Again, cops get killed daily, thus there is no room for complacency or nonchalance. If the hands can kill, why watch an exhaust-blurred bumper sticker collection?
And, insinuating the two deputies were profiling, Ol’ Clark went down that road too: “I can fully understand how easy it is for police to make random stops. I have a rear bumper full of liberal bumper stickers and a dent. My car is old, with 425,000 miles, which probably makes me an aging hippie with a weed habit. So why not pull me over?” Tsk-tsk, Ol’ Clark. Might that be a confession of sorts?
Ol’ Clark not only besmirched two police officers but the entire law enforcement profession with the way he blatantly directed racism rhetoric where none applied whatsoever. Sour grapes? Yes. Crossed the ethics-in-journalism line? Unfortunately. Discredited his own reputation as a journalist? Indeed. Can people see right through this charade of Ol’ Clark? Well, just read the thread of comments below his article to read for yourself how fed-up folks are with reporters who boldly lie. That is if the Columbia Daily Tribune does not take down the piece by then. Its editor was made aware by Sheriff Carey that the fakery is being openly contested.
Portrayal of Professionalism
Boone County Sheriff Carey wrote a rebuttal letter explaining quite forensically what happened and how/why law enforcement in general conducts traffic in the manner they do. Incidentally, the female deputy at the heart of this traffic stop involving Ol’ Clark has law enforcement experience and is a military soldier who just returned from a 10-month deployment. The male deputy with her? He is a Field Training Officer assigned to provide refresher training for the female deputy. The profundity of how crisp, well-mannered and patient the Boone County deputies were exemplifies high standards of professionalism. Their demeanor testifies how deeply they embrace their sworn oath…and how, in spite of contention and adversarial discourse, cops perform diligently. Six times I watched the audio/video regarding the traffic stop involving Ol’ Clark…and I remain stymied by his perspectives, disposition, baseless stance, and hollow words.
I have seen one more fake news story…and it wasn’t even from CNN.
