Want to see the definition of arrogance and corruption?

I read this one half an hour ago for the first time, and I'm still furious at the arrogance exhibited by this public servant and her apparently still-unchanged belief that she is a special person to whom the laws and public safety do not matter.

The public servant in question is New Orleans City Councilwoman Cynthia Hedge-Morrell, who was stopped by the State Police back on February 26th for driving her city-owned SUV down Interstate 10 in excess of 100 mile per hour with a flashing blue light on the dashboard. Now aside from the fact that she was presenting a clear danger to every other citizen on that road, when she was stopped, rather than apologize to the Trooper, she reportedly launched into a profanity-laced tirade that began with "Do you know who I am?!" and included statements to the effect that she has authority to do what she wants. She allegedly screamed and swore at the Trooper, refused to exit her vehicle when instructed to do so, and told the Trooper that she would not wait for him to summon a supervisor, stating that she was going to leave and that he couldn't do anything about it.

A Louisiana State Police supervisor eventually did show up, and Hedge-Morrell wound up driving away without a ticket.

Now do you think that if you or I were stopped for driving over 100 mph on the I-10, we'd be going anywhere other than straight to jail in the back seat of the Trooper's cruiser?

But that's not even the best part. When the New Orleans Times Picayune interviewed Hedge-Morrell well after the incident, she expressed anger that the officer even stopped her and issued her a warning.

On Wednesday, Morrell said she still believes troopers should not have detained her.
"I was trying to get to the meeting, and he couldn't explain to me why he was detaining me any further," she said. "To this day, I don't know why he gave me the warning. I was late for a meeting."

So that excuses her grossly negligent behavior--behavior which could injure or kill other people and cost New Orleans millions of dollars as the result of lawsuits filed in the wake of her hitting someone.

Hedge-Morrell, a City Council member since 2005, said Wednesday that she rarely uses the flashing lights while traveling on the highway shoulder.

WTF? Who else gets to drive on the shoulder OR use blue lights, which are restricted to law enforcement officers under Louisiana state law. Again, you and I would be on our way to jail the first time we got caught doing this.

But this wasn't Hedge-Morrell's first time, either.

After the February traffic stop, another trooper wrote a memo regarding a similar stop on Jan. 19.

Troopers stopped Hedge-Morrell in late February after an angry highway driver followed the councilwoman's vehicle for miles, using his cell phone to call authorities and detail the erratic roadway maneuvers.

Gary Russo, a construction worker from LaPlace who commutes each day to Jefferson Parish, said in an interview that it was the fourth time in four months he has seen what appeared to be the same vehicle speeding, with sirens on. He said he grew enraged after watching the vehicle with tinted windows and flashing lights weave past.

"We all have to deal with traffic, simple as that," he said. "She ain't the president."

So Russo called the State Police.

"What would happen if someone zigged and she zagged?" Russo said. "She could have killed someone."

Hedge-Morrell told him she was late for a meeting, according to records. The trooper made a note of the stop on a business card and brought the incident to his supervisor after hearing of the second incident.

Oh, and as to the lights and their restriction to law enforcement only?

Hedge-Morrell said she was commissioned by the Orleans Parish Civil Sheriff's Office and owns a badge.

"The lights are there for a reason," she said. "I'll leave it to my driver to decide when it should be used."

So what's going to happen now? You know it--not a damned thing. She's a Democrat in New Orleans, elected by the same fools and simpletons who re-elected Ray Nagin after he botched the Katrina affair so badly. It's obvious that the State Police are willing to cave to a city official and set a double standard--one set of rules and consequences for us and another set of (unenforced) rules with no consequences for her and presumably other public servants.

And just for your enlightenment, here are the related police reports:

Feb 26 LSP report
Initial Trooper's report
LSP Supervisor's report
(whitewashing the incident)
LSP Commander's report

All I know is that if I caught her driving like that on MY highway, she'd be getting the same treatment as anyone else--a trip to jail.



"I know you ain't stoppin' me! I'se impotant and dem laws don' apply to me!