How One Slightly Corrupt Cop Can Ruin Your Driving Record

Kirkland Washington is an upscale suburb of Seattle, like Roseville, California is to Sacramento.  It reclines along the beautiful east coast of Lake Washington.  From there at sunset you can see the lights of Seattle start to come on, like stars twinkling above. It is not the place for serious crime, or corrupt police, you would think.

And yet, three years ago a friend from Fiji was in a car hit by a truck driven by a drunk woman driver.  The drunk driver ran from the scene, and the passenger called a police officer (who happened to his personal friend).  The truck passenger claimed to his police friend that he was the truck's driver and that the car (which contained four Fijian passengers) was at fault.  Despite the testimony of the witnesses in the car, the police took the word of the truck passenger, and blamed the driver of the car.

When a truck runs a red light and hits a small car there will be damages to the car, at the very least.  Luckily no one was hurt.  But, to this day the car's driver has to pay much higher auto insurance for an accident that she did not cause.  This is a dainty version of what can happen when police become arbitrary.  My guess is the Fijians (who all had green cards or were citizens, by the way) looked foreign, while the friend of the cop was a long-time Kirkland resident.