WEBSTER CITY – A state trooper who was nabbed for speeding while driving Iowa Governor Terry Branstad on an Iowa highway failed to show up for court Tuesday and was thusly convicted of speeding.
Trooper Steven Lawrence received a ticket for $181.50 after driving 19 miles over the posted speed limit of 65 miles per hour on Highway 20 in Hamilton county earlier this spring.
A DCI agent – Larry Hedlund, who stopped the speeding SUV – paid the ticket for Lawrence a few weeks ago, but Lawrence refused the gesture.
Good lord people, he was speeding; it’s not like he molesting children. Give me a break. The guy was ticketed and fined. End of story.
speeding is against the law. 90 plus mph is very dangerous and could kill. Would you want your son or daughter murdered by this person? I think not.
Plus the fact that “an officer of the law” should know better than to break the law, makes this worse.
plus the fact that this has been going on for a long time without being made public, makes this worse.
Plus the fact that another officer lost his job because he investigated the wrong person, makes this worse.
Plus the fact that I could go on and on with more examples makes this worse.
@50 Miles South-You are wrong about the other officer. There was a independent investigation that cleared that all up. The judge found that the this issue had NOTHING to do with the guy losing his job. His record was well documented.
and that judge was appointed to look into it by who? This is not over. there will be a real court case against the dept of transportation. (a real case, not just an opinion from one person who may not have had all the facts). Lets wait and see what happens with that case.
I should have added that the judges comments was nothing more than “spin” to influence the outcome of future lawsuits.
Again, he was speeding. You can inflate it in anyway you’d like to do so, but the bottom line is he was speeding. If a state trooper was driving from Rockwell to Mason City, and stopped every speeder along the way, he’d never make it to Mason City. The guy was ticketed, convicted, and fined. End of story.
The officer who wrote the ticket was fired for other reasons, and he’ll get his day in court to prove otherwise. The media swarming around the story is being done for political purposes more than anything.
@LVS – My god, lvs, get your tunneled visioned head out of your rectum. My point is not about his ticket, his fine, or whose right or wrong. My point is that law enforcement personnel are not exempt from breaking the law, and when they do, the penalty should be a little harsher since their conduct should be above reproach. You say you see cops breaking the law all the time. So why do the cops arrest people? If the cops can break the law and get away with it, why can’t the common citizen? Answer that. Tell me when a badge became a “get out of jail free” card.
@just saying-The badge has always been a get out of jail free card. You need to wake up and grow up and live in the real world.
@LVS – And you are saying that makes it right. Just don’t be a hypocrite and say that it’s ok for cops to break the law and citizens not to. People wonder why the police in Mason City receive no respect. Your own words explain it completely.
@just saying-if you are trying to pick a fight just say so. I never said it was “RIGHT”. I just said that is the way it is. Do NOT try to put words in my mouth. You are not qualified.
This is one more event that shows how those charged with making/establishing/enforcing the law believe they are above it. These events will become more frequent and more significant. We the People better take back our country NOW!! VOTE!!!
@LVS – As a law enforcement person, he should set the standard, and not be an example of what not to do. Not paying the fine is not the issue. He never should have broke the law in the first place. And I thought when speeders exceeded the limit by that much, there was some license action involved. Oh, wait a minute. You’re right. I forgot. Law enforcement are just like the bottom feeding welfare people. They can do what they like because they deserve it, they are entitled to it.
@just saying-once again you should know what you are talking about before commenting. The law say 20 miles per hour over the speed limit. He was going 19 miles over the speed limit when clocked. You need to grow up. I see cops breaking the law all the time. And if you drive the speed limit on the Interstate someone will run right up your trunk.
LVS – Again you miss completely the point I am trying to make. We pay these losers to enforce the law, and they can’t obey it themselves. You state you see cops breaking the law all the time. By your own words you describe what kind of bottom feeders they really are. They want respect when they can’t even do the job they are paid for. I suggest you read my post again.
@just-I read your post again and maybe you should too. Or maybe you need to go back to school and learn how to read. “And I thought when speeders exceed the limit by that much, there was some kind of license action involved”. Pretty easy to see that you do not know what you are talking about.
Terrible headline and terrible article. Someone paid a speeding ticket, OMG!
For his brazen showing of contempt for the very laws he is sworn to uphold and for the court system in the state of Iowa, he should also have had his drivers license revoked. Why is it so many law enforcement people feel they are above the laws they are supposed to uphold?
He probably just skipped court and paid the fine. That’s what most people do. Court appearance isn’t required on speeding tickets.
He didn’t have to go, he just needs to pay the fine.
@just saying-you really need to be better informed before spouting off about things you obviously know nothing about. He is NOT required to be in court for a speeding ticket. All he has to do is pay the fine. It is on the ticket. He did everything he was supposed to do. You just couldn’t wait to try to take a cheap shot could you?