Pubdate: Wed, 01 Apr 2009
Source: Hawk Eye, The (Burlington, IA)
Copyright: 2009 The Hawk Eye
Contact: http://spanky.thehawkeye.com/forms/letters.html
Website: http://www.thehawkeye.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/934
Author: John Mangalonzo
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?246 (Policing - United States - News)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/corrupt.htm (Corruption - United States)

COUPLE'S ROAD TRIP ENDS ON SOUR NOTE

F.M. residents file complaint about IDOT stop.

FORT MADISON -- Carl and Jane Schneider thought their trip home to
Fort Madison from a two-week vacation would be pleasant. Then they
would relax in their living room and talk about the fun time they had
driving in their recreational vehicle and look at pictures they took.

They were wrong.

Carl, 66, who operated Blue Grass Dairy for many years and whose
family has lived for four generations in town, and Jane, 59, said
instead they had to deal with an afterthought of being treated like
criminals during what they described as an unnecessary and "scary"
traffic stop.

It was 8 p.m., Friday, when the couple said the horrifying experience
unfolded. They were a few miles from home when Iowa Department of
Transportation officer Darrell D. Wiegand pulled them over.

According to IDOT files, Wiegand had been a correctional officer in
Oakdale before becoming a motor vehicle officer in 1994. A local phone
listing for him could not be found, and all questions about the stop
have been directed to IDOT officials in Des Moines.

"The officer did not ask for Carl's license or registration or
insurance, instead he said he just wanted to know what the odd-looking
trailer we were pulling was used for," Jane Schneider said. "Carl
replied that it was for a gyrocopter and he and the officer chatted
for a couple of minutes during which Carl explained to him we lived
north of town and were returning home after a trip."

Wiegand, the couple said, asked them to stand in front of their RV and
allegedly started interrogating them, asking, "What's that I smell?
What's that smell?"

"We were flabbergasted that he's accusing these two old people of
having marijuana in the RV, and I was really afraid for my life," Jane
Schneider recalled, adding Wiegand alternated his tone between nice
and threatening.

Wiegand never told the couple his name. Jane Schneider only remembered
reading the nameplate on his shirt. The stop also was not videotaped.

"We tried to defend ourselves, but the officer kept insisting he
smelled something, and we got a very bad feeling that we should not
argue with him," she said. "He seemed very wired and was definitely
aggressive and even menacing. At one point it was so bad I thought
this guy was an impersonator, and I thought I would ask to see his
badge but I was too afraid to ask for it."

Jane Schneider told the officer he might be smelling essential oils
she uses, but Wiegand allegedly insisted it was something else. It was
already dark, and the couple were not sure whether Wiegand was driving
a marked or unmarked car.

Wiegand then asked Carl Schneider if he could search the vehicle,
which the couple obliged because they said "we had nothing to hide."

"When he searched the vehicle, he asked what else he's going to find
in there," Jane Schneider said.

Carl Schneider had some firearms inside the vehicle, but he had
concealed weapons permits.

One of the couple's complaints is that Wiegand lectured them about the
officer's incorrect version of the state's concealed weapon's law.
Carl Schneider, Jane said, told Wiegand about the other gun and the
officer looked at the man and sarcastically asked "when are you going
to tell me about the other guns?"

By that time another IDOT officer, who the couple said was more
cordial and professional, had showed up.

It was the break Jane Schneider was waiting for because she said she
felt safer with another officer witnessing the incident.

There was even an instance Wiegand commented to the Schneiders that he
thought they were "carnies," and told them IDOT officers can pull
people over for no reason.

"He also asked if we had any large sums of cash, and I told him no,
that we had had more at the beginning of the trip but had spent a good
bit of it," Carl Schneider said.

Jane Schneider told Wiegand they carry cash when they travel, which is
one of the reasons they obtained a permit to carry a gun for protection.

The couple has sent a letter to Wiegand's superior, Maj. Ned Lewis,
telling him about how they were practically treated like thugs who
were out to do no good.

"The first officer (Wiegand) allowed my wife to put on her shoes and
we were ordered to stand out in front of our RV in the headlights with
the second officer keeping an eye on us," Carl Schneider wrote Lewis.
"... Our RV is for recreational use. I had not broken a traffic law,
and all my tags and paperwork are in order, and there was no broken
equipment. Why then were we stopped? The officer said there are a lot
of carnival people this time of year and we looked like carnival
people to him -- and that evidently was reason enough to pull us over.
Can this kind of discrimination possibly be true?... We are just a
retired couple who was returning home from a vacation for heaven's
sake."

Lewis said IDOT is looking into the complaint, but would not comment
on it any further.

Dena Gray-Fisher, an IDOT spokeswoman said the Schneiders contacted
the department Monday and are scheduled to speak with an officer about
the incident today.

"The DOT takes these types of complaints very seriously," Gray-Fisher
said. "We'll investigate it based on the complaint, and we would like
to actually hear from the complainants on what their story is and
listen to the story of the officer as well."

Gray Fisher says DOT officers "also have the right to stop any
vehicle. It does not have to be a commercial operator. By law, they
have full law enforcement privileges, but they're primary focus is on
commercial vehicles."

For now, the Schneiders said the experience has left a a bad mark.
They have been having trouble sleeping and eating and wonder if
Wiegand is on some type of medication.

"My wife and I deserve an apology from him and from IDOT, and we are
not sure that that will be enough," Carl Schneider said. "We have
never been treated so badly"

Jane Schneider said the irony in the whole experience was that they
have just traveled 3,600 miles across southwest United States and near
the Mexican border. They had encountered some law enforcement along
the way, including DOT and border patrol, and all treated them
respectfully and professionally.

Until they came home.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin