When do we stop on order?

Apr 12, 2015 Editorial

When DelRea Good sped in the opposite direction past a county cop in Portage Township, the officer immediately clocked her for speeding and made an abrupt U-turn.
Porter County Sheriff’s Department patrolman William Marshall pulled up behind Good’s car along County Road 500 West and activated his siren and flashing lights. Good was busted for doing 54 mph in a 35 mph zone, police said.
But here’s the catch. The 52-year-old registered nurse from Portage didn’t stop her car, not at that spot anyway. That stretch of road just south of U.S. 6, also known as Airport Road, is unlit at night and it was 11:21 p.m. on March 20 when Good passed the police car.
Instead, she slowed her car, activated her emergency flashers and rolled down her window to wave at the officer, acknowledging his presence. Then she kept driving. “I was scared for my safety,” she told me. “It was a very dark road and I wanted to get to a safe, well-lit place.”
Good drove north less than a mile to the Kohl’s store parking lot on U.S. 6, where she stopped her car.
“I felt safer there,” she said.
Good claims Marshall was visibly angry when he exited his car and approached hers.
“He told me to stop talking and to get out of my car,” Good said. “He turned me around and put me into handcuffs.”
She was arrested and charged with a felony count of resisting arrest, police said. She was taken into custody and transported to the county jail. Not a word was spoken in the cop car, Good said.
These circumstances are what intrigue me about this issue. What would you do in this situation? What would you tell your wife, mother or daughter to do under similar circumstances? Good insists she did nothing wrong, let alone illegal, after getting pulled over.
“I was in total darkness and no one was there to protect me if something goes bad,” Good said.
Porter County Sheriff David Reynolds understands her safety concerns, and agrees that every law enforcement agency in the country will recommend similar actions. His other suggestion is to call 911 at that point and ask the dispatcher if a legitimate cop is behind you.
“If you don’t have a cell phone, then drive to a safer place,” Reynolds said.
Good had a cell phone, but in her purse. She didn’t reach for it while downshifting her stick-shift car and seeing bright lights in her rearview mirror. “If I started reaching for my phone, it could look like I was reaching for something else,” said Good, who has never been in this sort of stressful situation. “I never had a plan in mind for such a scenario. It was just instinctive.
“This all happened in just a minute or two, and with less than a mile of driving,” she said. “Hindsight is 20/20 for anyone who didn’t go through this.”
Reynolds defended his officer, noting his department’s officers conduct 13,000 traffic stops a year. He described this as an unfortunate incident, which has since attracted national media attention and viral social media posts.
It’s the last thing any sheriff’s department wants, considering the rising mistrust of police officers across the country. Reynolds has already retrained his officers to deal with such sensitive scenarios, he told me.
“People trust Porter County officers and the professional work they do,” Reynolds said. “This is one lady who didn’t trust the police in a fully marked Crown Victoria patrol car, and who chose to not pull over immediately. But when does it stop?”
There is a bigger picture here, one much more troubling than this “one isolated incident,” he said.
Should every motorist be allowed to disobey an officer’s command to stop immediately? How far should a motorist be allowed to drive to feel safe? One mile? Five miles? Only at night? Only on dark roads? Only for women driving alone?

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