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Comment by pavedwalden | Hacker News Reader

Wow, an officer was FIRED for speeding. That should be the headline right there. I was beginning to think it was impossible for a cop to get themselves fired.

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The officer fired was the one "who sparked the project", that is, the one that was pulled over (after refusing to stop) by a state trooper, if I remember correctly.

It sounds like no police officers were fired as a result of this investigation.

Maybe he was fired for drawing negative media attention.

One was. Out of 800 found. That should also be a headline.

I'm not sure you need to fire someone for driving 125mph at 4 o'clock in the morning. The punishment should fit the crime.

320 accidents.

21 maimed or killed.

I really think this is more than a little bit of middle of the night speeding.

Is it also kosher to drive while intoxicated at 4 o'clock in the morning? I'm not asking to be snarky, I just don't understand the line of reasoning. It seems like you are saying that engaging is behaviors that are risky to other members of the public are ok as long as nobody is hurt on the specific instance in which you engage in them.

I think that idea is that driving at 125mph is less risky at 4am because there are fewer obstacles around. Attempting to drive 125mph at, say, 4pm would be a lot more risky/dangerous.

That said, I don't think that actions outside of work necessarily should mean someone is fired. Using your badge to attempt to get out of trouble, or stating that you feel that speeding is your 'right' (on-duty or off-duty) just because you are a cop, on the other hand...

I didn't say that he should not be punished, I said that he shouldn't be fired. If we fired everyone for every mistake in judgement, nobody would be doing any work.

In most jobs where you drive for a living maintaining a clean or at least insurable DMV record both on and off the job is required.

Have you been getting in the habit of using kilometers, perhaps? 125mph is absurdly fast.

He was something of a super speeder, check out his lap times:

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/speeding-cops/fl-gx-f...

120 MPH was almost double the speed limit (65 MPH) and as the data shows it was a routine. The data shows only average times, so who knows what his top speed was (he was "only" averaging 95 the day he got busted for going 120).

He was very frequently averaging speeds that constitute reckless driving. He's lucky he just got fired, his license should be suspended for a long period of time just like it would be for anyone else that wasn't a cop.

Isn't that an arrestable offense? How can you work from inside jail?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/14/fausto-lopez-speedi...

Local journalists got the cops fired. How the hell such a thing exists, I'm not sure.. Probably teens or funded by a local community college.

Or Pulitzer winners. One of the three for sure!

So all I need to do to be a great journalist is to win a Pulitzer?

Go for it! I wish you the best in that endeavor.

Yes, and all you need to do to be a great mathematician is to win the Fields Medal. All you need to do to be a great jurist is to become the Chief Justice of the SCOTUS.

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