Thank You, Sam Salter

It was a minor local news story back in the early part of the year: A 40-year-old man named Sam Salter was driving home in his minivan, complete with three children in carseats, along I-94 in St. Paul around 11:30 p.m. on New Year's Eve.

He saw flashing lights behind him and then realized the trooper was trying to pull him over. He judged that it would not be safe to stop the van on the shoulder because snow had narrowed the lane, so he slowed down and exited the highway at the first exit. (See this handy detailed map from the Star Tribune.)

After leaving the long, curving exit ramp, he was preparing to stop at the first spot he deemed safe when the trooper intentionally struck the van and to pin it to the curb and snowbank... a maneuver the state patrol calls a PIT (pursuit intervention technique, a fine example of police bureaucratese).

Salter emerged from the van angry that he had been struck, and so he raised his voice to the trooper ("What are you doing? I have three kids in my car!"). She responded by drawing her gun and arresting him. He spent two days in jail. Luckily, the trooper allowed him to call his wife to come get the kids, so they didn't get turned over to children's services!

Technology was on Salter's side, though, because the trooper, Carrie Rindal, was videotaping the whole thing from inside her car (see video here, with explanatory comments from Star Tribune reporter Randy Furst, or this uncut video that runs from onset to arrest and gives a better sense of the complete 1 minute and 23 second "pursuit").

The tape continues running after Salter was in Rindal's back seat as he asks her, "Did you actually not think I was stopping?" Rindal reponds in a voice that sounds adrenaline-edged to me, explaining that he kept driving and driving. Salter points out he was going about 5 miles an hour when she struck him.

All charges were dropped against Salter, except the initial ticket Rindal had planned to give him for changing lanes without signaling. Rindal now has a reprimand in her file, and the video will be used in training troopers what not to do. (See stories from both the Strib and the Pioneer Press.)

Salter made a formal complaint to the State Patrol, and the result of that is a $9,500 settlement in his favor. That money covers the $2,200 in damage to his van, the ticket he was issued, the towing charges he paid, lost time from his own and his wife's work during the days that followed, money he is out-of-pocket for an attorney and, I imagine, a very small amount for the the aggravation caused by the whole thing.

But what it doesn't cover is any kind of exaggerated "pain and suffering" or even damage to reputation. And for that, I and all taxpayers in Minnesota should be grateful to Sam Salter. He's holding the police accountable in a reasonable, admirable way.

As the Pioneer Press quoted Salter, "I don't want to put any more negative energy into it. It's been a traumatic event for my family."

Bravo, Sam Salter. Thank you notes are in order.