I recently posted about a cop who pulled me over, and became provogative when I invoked my right to remain silent, saying things like, "you're one of those", and "someone else could treat you a little differently", and "you're being a dick for no reason". I plan to report this cop to their department. Any advice on how to go about this, and if I should report this officer to any other parties?
For context, I made a grocery run in the evening when I was pulled over by a cop in Iowa. They claimed that I was driving around without my headlights on. However, I have evidence that my lights were on, but I was made aware that my right headlight was burned. Also, I have retrofitted a memory foam mattress in my car which I use for camping and emergencies. Below is the transcript of the stop, which I fetched from the dashcam audio (I don't want to post the video for privacy reasons):
Officer: “hey there”
Me: “hey”
Officer: “(name) with the "" police department, what a night, what do you have going on?”
Me: “uhhh nothing.”
Officer: (shining light around bed) “no I mean with... (shining light around bed)”
Me: “I-I don’t answer questions if that’s cool.”
Officer: “Ohhhhh, you’re one of those, okay.”
Me: “hey-”
Officer: “the reason I am with ya is because you’re driving without your headlights and I didn’t want anybody to hit ya. Can I see your driver’s license, registration and insurance?”
Me: (hands documents without question)
Officer: “Thank you, be right back with ya buddy”
(after processing information)
Officer: “Here’s that back for ya sir. Alright, so I am writing you a ticket for driving without headlights. Okay? You have the right to go to court if you’d like, I have that court date set for ya on the 15th at 08:30AM. You don’t have to, simply an option available. Otherwise you can go to iowa courts dot gov. You can do cash, check, or credit, or set some sort of payment up, okay? As for you, need you signature here. Not an admission of guilt, just saying that you’ll appear in court or pay”
Me: “So you said both lights are out?”
Officer: “Yeah, you’re driving without your actual headlights, you’re just driving with your parking lights.”
Me: “it was on this thing the whole time.”
Officer: “I saw you turn them on when I got to you and I told you.”
Me: “Oh.”
Officer: “Next to the x, please”
Me: “Where?”
Officer: “Yep! I don’t know if this works for other officers or not, but just for your future reference, being kind to people goes a long way okay, and especially if you’re being respectful. So just-just for future reference.”
Me: “I mean, I have rights to not answer questions.”
Officer: “you have rights to be a dick for no reason?”
Me” I have right to not answer your questions. It’s- that’s my right.”
Officer: “I’m just giving you a heads up moving forward, someone else could treat you a little differently.”
Me: “No, I’m abiding by my own rights to not talk to you, that is my right, I am not required to talk to you.”
Officer: “Correct.”
Me: “So it’s not being a dick”
Officer: “yes, well, just being disrespectful when someone is asking you a question.”
Me: “Are you saying that you would have changed the outcome of this stop had you…”
Officer: I’m saying someone else could have a different outcome. Different officers have different discretions. Just giving you some advice, but sounds like you have life figured out. Have a good night.”
Although I agree that there was cause to make a stop (given that one of my lights were malfunctioning), I feel disrespected that the officer called me a dick because I didn't want to answer their questions about my car living situation. I'm also questioning the statement where the officer stated "someone else could treat you a little differently." Thoughts?