Letter to the Editor: Troopers knew whom they were pulling over

This letter to the editor is being
published as an update to Abuse of Power: Growing concern about Ohio State Highway Patrol, published Thursday, July 24.

Wednesday, September 3, 2003
EDITORIAL & COMMENT 10A

So Herschel Sigall said in his Aug. 15 letter that the state troopers who set up a Newcomerstown attorney did nothing wrong. Sigall is the attorney for the Ohio State Troopers Association. Ohioans' tax dollars pay his salary to represent these guys.

However, anyone who listened to the chatter on the radio between these two troopers can conclude only that they were out to get Richard Hinig.

When one of them said something like, "I think this guy needs to be taught a lesson,'' that certainly sounded as though he knew who the driver was.

Hinig was ticketed for going 6 mph above the speed limit. Sigall says Hinig was given a ticket because he was given a warning ticket for speeding a few months earlier. Sigall doesn't say whether that warning was two months before or 12 months before. My guess is it was more like 12 months before; otherwise, he would have been more specific.

The troopers said they didn't know who they were stopping. That's hard to believe. They must have run the plate before they stopped him. Hinig was in his own car. They should have known.

The police investigated their own and found nothing wrong. No surprise there.

GEORGE GILBERTSEN
Grove City

Click here to read the letter in the Columbus Dispatch.