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Police Profiling at HIN San Mateo
Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2007 1:08 am
by Anonymous User
As many of you already know, Nick from Lethal Injection was subject to blatant police harassment at the HIN last Friday!
Nick from Lethal Injection brought his highly modified car to HIN last Friday for the first time. His car was hitched. The San Mateo police force were waiting and collecting all the show cars and their owners’ information during the roll-in.
The San Mateo police checked Nick’s car and found that his car was missing a VIN due to multiple modifications. Immediately, the police determined that this was a “suspect of stolen car”. Although Nick had a car registration and insurance to show, the police still threatened him that they would take all the parts out until they found the VIN and that they would crush his car if they don’t find the VIN. Nick explained to them the car was in shop for a year and half for many revisions, but the police took the car away.
Nick had no idea for an extended period of time what was happening with his car.
On Monday, he received a phone call from the same officer asking him how to start his car. Nick told him how.
In the meantime, Nick has sent his pink slip and a letter from the shop that the car belonged to Nick, as well as the carfax information stating that the car was not in major accidents. He called the police department to talk to the officer on Monday. He was told that the officer was off duty on Monday. It’s the same day that he got a call from the officer asking how to start his car.
Now the police informed him that he would take this to DA to see they could charge him with a misdemeanor for having a car with no VIN!!
This is WRONG! This is too CRAZY!!
This harassment has to be stopped. We as RIDE family have to show that we the import car enthusiasts will not be bullied and threatened by police profiling. Show your support. Call your friends and share this crazy news with other fellow import car lovers. Post it on your Websites and myspace pages.
Call your City Council person and complain. You don’t know the number; call me I will find it for you. Write a letter of support or email for Nick and Project RIDE and send that to me. We will unite to stop this!
I will keep you posted with any progress. Meanwhile, Project RIDE is sending a letter of formal complaint to District Attorney Office of San Mateo. We are also looking for a legal aid from other nonprofit agencies. We will fight this injustice TOGETHER!
Stella Jun
Project Director
PLEASE NOTE OUR NEW ADDRESS:
678 13th Street
Oakland, CA 94612
www.projectride.net
RIDE is a program of Bay Area Community Resources (
www.bacr.org)
This really sucks to hear about something like this happen. When i went to HIN in San Mateo, there were fixed up cars waiting in traffic that the police would come up to randomly and tell them to pull over. When all they were doing is waiting to park, I also seen about 5 or so tow trucks drive by, but I didnt see if they towed away anyones car though. I dont know this guy personally, but I couldnt imagine about how he feels right now.
Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2007 2:03 am
by INVUJerry
There should be a vin in the door jamb, or under the hood.
Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2007 2:05 am
by SILVER-ES
There should be VIN's all over the place, with all the custom work put into show cars though alot of the parts that they are on get replaced. Unfortunately, without a VIN anywhere it does look rather suspicious.
Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2007 2:05 am
by TNK
as stated in teh quote... "multiple modifications" have removed the vins....
Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2007 2:07 am
by racer12306
so how would you go about proving a vin number if everything was removed. could you just remove the vin tag that is right below the dash and rivit it somewhere?
Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2007 2:07 am
by 60trim
No joke, if the cops don't know where to find a VIN #....then they should have the privilage of wearing a badge. I'm sick of LEOs...especailly stupid, arrogant, idiotic, egotistical ones.
Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2007 2:11 am
by SILVER-ES
It's not that they are there and they can't find one, it seems to be more like the owner removed them all.
racer12306 wrote:so how would you go about proving a vin number if everything was removed. could you just remove the vin tag that is right below the dash and rivit it somewhere?
I'm almost 100% positive for a car to be legal it must have a VIN plate in that location. It can not be moved unless it is inspected, passes inspection, and is given a new VIN plate. I could be wrong though.
Also, he needs alot more then he is providing to prove the car is not stolen. More often then not you need the reciepts for all the parts that have none matching VINs.
Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2007 6:20 am
by Cabbs
I think crushing the car is going a little too far...
Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2007 11:23 am
by glasswars
That sucks. California is ridiculous. I don't see the point of them going crazy over it, or telling him to pull over in the first place. The cops knew where all the cars were going, so why can't they just let them be? Damn.
Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2007 11:34 am
by NeonBluSXT
That is crazy!
Guess it gives you something to think about when you are Modding out your car tho.. Some cops can be a
when they want to be.
Re: Police Profiling at HIN San Mateo
Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2007 12:07 pm
by heyitsstock
Anonymous User wrote: His car was hitched.
umm doesnt that mean... he wasnt driving aka the police have no right to bother you....if your bringing it into a show specifically for highly modified cars....
i duno this story is full of holes... where is the original copy....website?
Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2007 2:51 pm
by sullygully
Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2007 3:54 pm
by bad04srt
um i guess i'll ask the dumb question....who cares? im sick of people bitching about cops this and cops that....they were doing their effing job....no vin=illegal so quit your bitching and move on
Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2007 4:07 pm
by racer12306
it sucks but ^^^ is right, follow the laws and they wont mess with you.
Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2007 4:58 pm
by heyitsstock
its a blog..... i could right up the same thing that doesnt make it true..... i wanted press release from police.... or did "they" try to hide the incident....
and that prodject ride website is retarted....
Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2007 5:03 pm
by biggrobb1995
Here in CA it's not so cut and dry. A lot is left to the officer's discretion ie. "Your vehicle is too loud or low". You have a muffler replaced and the officer uses the excuse that your exhaust is modified. When we bought our silver sxt it came with a dual tip muffler. Still got a ticket. Granted the ticket was dismissed by a judge with a little more common sense than the officer had but I still had to go to court, pay a dismissal fee and basically waste my time without the officer having to provide any solid proof that I had broken any laws. Come to Fresno on a weekend and I will show you exactly what I am talking about.
Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2007 5:03 pm
by fixitmattman
No vin = no dice. At the very least you need the windshield vin. Multiple VIN numbers can be explained and as long as the main vin number displayed in the windshield matches the registration it's no problem. No vin numbers doesn't go over well.
Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2007 5:06 pm
by heyitsstock
theoretically....
if i was towing a modified car and it had no vin.... that wouldnt matter right...
Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2007 5:10 pm
by KrackstaR
yeah i have seen tons and tons of modded cars and they all have the vin number in the correct location or atleast one. Now i knew this dude a few years ago with a stolen acura with not a single vin on it. very funny i must say....lol
Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2007 5:11 pm
by racer12306
correct, it wouldnt matter.
there are thousands of track only car that dont have vins but since they are not registered then it doesnt matter.
dont know about if it has tags on it, still shouldnt matter i believe.
Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2007 5:19 pm
by heyitsstock
so ok how about if one day i were to get rid off all my vin numbers(just for arguments sake)... it would appear to police i have a stolen car but infact its my car....how would that go about
Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2007 5:32 pm
by racer12306
dont get rid of all of your vin numbers. its that simple. either that or dont keep the car registered. if its a race car then they cant do a thing.
Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2007 5:53 pm
by refect
i remember reading about one of the HIN shows i think over in cali. cops sat outside the convention center with tow trucks, and would pull over the cars (that were entered into the show) as they rolled out of the show. they were giving them tickets for illegaly modified stuff, and even towing some away. just shows how much of an ass the police department can be. i feel like they need to do something useful with their time and go make a drug bust or get the nasty lookin hookers off the street. or even try to stop some kind of gang violence/crime. i can understand if it is to help regulate the show and keep things from getting out of control, but for shit like this? come on!! to sit outside of a convention center and be like oh look here cletus this looks like a good little ricer to grab. lets tow his car ahuk ahuk ahuk!! that is just straight up harassment. hell when my neon was running i could barely take it out without a cop pulling me over to tell me about some bullstuff, and give me a warning for it. or to have them follow me for a while for no reason when i wasnt doing anything.
Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2007 8:33 pm
by Anonymous User
refect wrote:i remember reading about one of the HIN shows i think over in cali. cops sat outside the convention center with tow trucks, and would pull over the cars (that were entered into the show) as they rolled out of the show. they were giving them tickets for illegaly modified stuff, and even towing some away. just shows how much of an ass the police department can be. i feel like they need to do something useful with their time and go make a drug bust or get the nasty lookin hookers off the street. or even try to stop some kind of gang violence/crime. i can understand if it is to help regulate the show and keep things from getting out of control, but for shit like this? come on!! to sit outside of a convention center and be like oh look here cletus this looks like a good little ricer to grab. lets tow his car ahuk ahuk ahuk!! that is just straight up harassment. hell when my neon was running i could barely take it out without a cop pulling me over to tell me about some bullstuff, and give me a warning for it. or to have them follow me for a while for no reason when i wasnt doing anything.
Thats exactly what i was happening to all the cars that were showing at this HIN, cops checked and took info on all the show cars that were there. and would RANDOMLY pull over moddified cars for no reason as we were sitting in traffic. Thats the reason why poeple are not starting to boycott HIN, b/c Vision didnt do anything to stop or defends its consumers.
Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2007 8:59 am
by caustic neon
Sorry but most mod's for cars are illegal in Calli so when the cops pull them over its not for nothing. If the mod's on the Cars were legal then the cops would have to let them go. There was thread on here a wile ago about modded cars in Calli but i'm to lazy to find it.
Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2007 9:31 am
by Mr Josh Zombie
refect wrote:i remember reading about one of the HIN shows i think over in cali. cops sat outside the convention center with tow trucks, and would pull over the cars (that were entered into the show) as they rolled out of the show. they were giving them tickets for illegaly modified stuff, and even towing some away. just shows how much of an ass the police department can be. i feel like they need to do something useful with their time and go make a drug bust or get the nasty lookin hookers off the street. or even try to stop some kind of gang violence/crime. i can understand if it is to help regulate the show and keep things from getting out of control, but for shit like this? come on!! to sit outside of a convention center and be like oh look here cletus this looks like a good little ricer to grab. lets tow his car ahuk ahuk ahuk!! that is just straight up harassment. hell when my neon was running i could barely take it out without a cop pulling me over to tell me about some bullstuff, and give me a warning for it. or to have them follow me for a while for no reason when i wasnt doing anything.
and seriously.... I don't car HOW much you modify a car, why the HELL would you remove the VINs? common sense there
Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2007 10:02 am
by bad04srt
this is dumb...when are people just gonna let cops do their effing job?!?!?! no matter what they do or who they arrest its some kind or harrassment...someone could be pointing a gun at them, but if the cops shoot first to make sure no one gets hurt, they get in trouble.....just let the cops do their job, they arent just picking on you cause your a ricer...o and guess what.....a cop can pull you over for no reason and have a little chat with you and thats perfectly legal
Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2007 3:13 pm
by 00element10
i dont have a vin on my 1st gen, i have it written down, but it wasnt on the car when i bought it. what can i do about that?
Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2007 7:21 pm
by SILVER-ES
bad01neon wrote:this is dumb...when are people just gonna let cops do their effing job?!?!?! no matter what they do or who they arrest its some kind or harrassment...someone could be pointing a gun at them, but if the cops shoot first to make sure no one gets hurt, they get in trouble.....just let the cops do their job, they arent just picking on you cause your a ricer...o and guess what.....a cop can pull you over for no reason and have a little chat with you and thats perfectly legal
Re: Police Profiling at HIN San Mateo
Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2007 7:40 pm
by SlvrACR
This really sucks to hear about something like this happen. When i went to HIN in San Mateo, there were fixed up cars waiting in traffic that the police would come up to randomly and tell them to pull over. When all they were doing is waiting to park, I also seen about 5 or so tow trucks drive by, but I didnt see if they towed away anyones car though. I dont know this guy personally, but I couldnt imagine about how he feels right now.
Ya they did this in Canada at Dark Nights. They had strict rules over there and many people from the US got their cars towed.