A New York City rabbi who kept driving when a Vermont state trooper tried to pull him over for speeding and complained of mistreatment by police has paid a $100 traffic ticket.
The Valley News reports a misdemeanor charge accusing Rabbi Berl Fink, of Brooklyn, of trying to elude a trooper for 4 1/2 miles (6 kilometers) on an interstate before pulling over in Fairlee will be dropped.
Police video of the August 2017 encounter shows the trooper ordering the rabbi at gunpoint to lie on the ground. The trooper is then seen handcuffing Fink, his son and his wife.
Fink says he didn’t think he was being pursued.
His lawyer says his client and his family felt traumatized and will seek other relief, but he would not elaborate.
(AP)
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5 Responses
I am proud of rabbi fink for demonstrating level headednees and calm in a difficult situation. It is a kiddish Hashem.
But it’s also hard to fault the cops. The driver drove for nearly six minutes after the cops tried to pull him over. The aggressive treatment the rabbi initially received was probably protocol in such cases. Once the cops realized what they had on their hands they were much less aggressive.
My heart aches for th me rabbi and his family but not sure the cops could have done things differently there.
Rabbi Fink screwed up and did the wrong thing. Now by paying the fine he is putting it all behind him.
Better to pay $100 and get on with life that hiring a lawyer and spending much money and wasting much time. OK he might have done the wrong thing, but it far better just to admit one was wrong, pay up and get on with life…..
I truly feel your pain Mr. Fink and see that you and your family felt traumatized at onset of this encounter!
I also see patrolman doing their duty to protect and defend people including themselves.
The officers saw a driver who was not stopping for 4 miles while being followed directly behind by a police car blaring their lights and sirens. They had no idea why the driver was non complient.
Not knowing who were the passengers, they followed protocol after Mr. Fink finally pulled over.
For everyone’s safety they asked the driver to come out with hands up, drew their weapons and asked Mr. Fink to kneel, then handcuffed him so they were in a position that no harm would come to anyone.
They read the Miranda rights and listened to Mr. Fink explanation with patience. They acted fairly and respectfully after there was no threat to them.
Mr. Fink expressed that the officers should, “understand” that people in this situation might be feeling afraid and wanting to find a good place to pull over. He also said that he did not know at the beginning he was being pursued.
We might have more wounded or dead officers if the protocol after 4 miles of pursuit was to worry first that the inhabitants of the car might be scared to pull over.
They did right to proceed with much caution not knowing who would exit the car and why they did not stop.
I hope this serves as a lesson to all!
By forcing the policeman to speed up for extended periods of time to chase him, put both the policeman and the Rabbi under unnecessary risks in traffic. This raises the alert level of most policeman and angers them. The police have a duty to uphold laws, for the sake of public safety concerns – without them there would be chaos in the streets and anarchy would take over, then nobody would be safe. I am sincerely saddened that the Rabbi was traumatized. It might might be best to pull over immediately next time, the police will be less agitated, perhaps even friendly as they hand you the ticket.
A $100 fine for speeding? wow that’s a bargain compared to the $500 fine and loss of global entry rights that this woman received for bringing one apple into the US.