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Can the police give out your information when you report crimes?

Bozo_Casanova

By Bozo_Casanova
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Bozo_Casanova

Bozo_Casanova 26496

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Posted (edited)

Day before yesterday, my wife was in the parking lot of HEB and heard a puppy in a black carrier in a car with barely cracked windows. It was 4:30 in the afternoon and about 100 degrees. The puppy was whining and in distress. She approached the security guard, who returned to the car with her. They both called 9-11, and then she opened the unlocked car, and removed the dog. The police came, everybody snuggled with the puppy until the owners showed up, and my wife maintained some distance while the police appeared to give the owners an education and warning.

Yesterday, my wife returned to HEB, and the security guard claims that the owners of the dog were VERY upset, and that they intended to file a lawsuit against my wife for opening their car door. He also claims that the police gave them our information. 
Now obviously a lawsuit would be ridiculous, but the situation raises an interesting question. Can/do the police give out the information of people who report things? Seems dangerous, particularly if there are no charges that result. 

Edited by Bozo_Casanova
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StruggleBus

StruggleBus 3922

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I'd love to see a copy of the complaint if they file a lawsuit. Maybe Paul Batrice can do some pro bono work for them. 

What was the dude's name that sued his next door neighbor for putting a play gym for their sick child? Pretty sure this couple would end up like him. 

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Orange&White

Orange&White 5528

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Could the person in question have seen your wife drive away and gotten her plate #?

Let them file the "lawsuit" and see how it works out for them. No judge or jury is going to convict your wife in that set of circumstances even if it were to possibly get that far.

I would be utterly amazed if you could gather 12 random people in Austin, that aren't dog lovers, that would side against your wife for saving the life of a puppy from cooking to death in the Texas heat.

 

Edit: to answer the original question, Police CAN give the info if the info is provided. Generally speaking though, as a courtesy, they will honor anonymity if requested.

I think the more likely scenario is that the complainant was in the face of the security guard and the HEB manager screaming and the security guard gave up the info up to get them off his/her back.

Edited by Orange&White
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Bozo_Casanova

Bozo_Casanova 26496

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57 minutes ago, RDCanecutter said:

Next time, just steal the puppy.

 

42 minutes ago, JohnLocke said:

Look, the cops didn't shoot anybody, so everyone is way ahead of the game.

 

24 minutes ago, TornACL said:

How did the wife convince the cops not to shoot the dog?

honestly this was my kids' reaction. 

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Brisketexan

Brisketexan 105161

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Just now, immortal13 said:

None, they have no damages

Exactly.

They'll never find a lawyer to take it, and they won't even want to fork over the filing fee in county or district court.  MAYBE they'd file something in justice court.  Which is cool, no rules apply, and your wife could file a counterclaim for intentional infliction of emotional distress they caused her by leaving a defenseless puppy in a hot car.  With a Travis County jury, we'd have a good shot of walking out with a damages award for that (note, we don't have to be right on the law -- justice court is the wild west, you just have to win over the jury).

If your wife gets served with process, gimme a call.  THAT would be a fun one.

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bad_teammate

bad_teammate 13218

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A long time ago a neighbor lady said she was going to "file a lawsuit" when I blew her pine needles off my driveway and into her yard. I just looked at her and smiled and she upped the ante to a "FEDERAL lawsuit" for effect.

Gotta watch out for these legal eagles, they're very smart.

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pearlandhorn

pearlandhorn 3274

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1 hour ago, Brisketexan said:

Exactly.

They'll never find a lawyer to take it, and they won't even want to fork over the filing fee in county or district court.  MAYBE they'd file something in justice court.  Which is cool, no rules apply, and your wife could file a counterclaim for intentional infliction of emotional distress they caused her by leaving a defenseless puppy in a hot car.  With a Travis County jury, we'd have a good shot of walking out with a damages award for that (note, we don't have to be right on the law -- justice court is the wild west, you just have to win over the jury).

If your wife gets served with process, gimme a call.  THAT would be a fun one.

Game, set and match.  This is something you'd see off Better Call Saul.

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sidis

sidis 9832

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they aren't going to sue...and they have no intention of doing so.  "i'm going to file a lawsuit against you/i'm going to sue your ass" is the modern day white person's way of expressing a their frustration and exasperation resulting from and coping with anything uncomfortable, inconvenient, or embarrassing.

the people probably felt slightly violated (which they kind of were) and they were embarrassed (which they should have been and i don't give a fuck about dogs generally).  they are on their message board bitching about some busybody karen who had the gumption to break into their car in a parking lot.  the coping mechanism for dealing with that in the moment is to threaten to file a lawsuit.  it would, of course, never happen.

that said, pretty fucking infuriating that any police would give out that info if they actually did. however, i think tornacl is probably correct in his assessment that we/bozo are probably not working with an accurate set of facts in this story.

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atomheartbevo

atomheartbevo 89735

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Orange&White said:

Let them file the "lawsuit" and see how it works out for them. No judge or jury is going to convict your wife in that set of circumstances even if it were to possibly get that far.

And let's get their information out on social media.  Leaving a dog in 100-degree weather and getting your shit put on blast is a pretty interesting combination.

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Bevo

Bevo 13579

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Posted
3 hours ago, pearlandhorn said:

I don't think they can, but I'm not an attorney.

The fact that these people were "VERY upset" and that they went on the offensive when they were in the wrong is typical in today's world.  I just laugh at how ridiculous some people are.

Reported someone to CPS and they wrote me a bad review.

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Bevo

Bevo 13579

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12 minutes ago, Gil Bang said:

Y'all like to poke fun at California, but we've got it right.  If an animal in a car is "in distress", it's legal to break the car window, and the owner can't do shit about it. 

I don't know about that. I have a very liberal friend in the Bay Area who needed to get a file from his office. He parked out front and cracked the windows in 65% heat and ran upstairs. He came out and a policeman was already writing him a ticket. You don't want to know how much it cost him. I laughed.

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Gil Bang

Gil Bang 25979

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7 minutes ago, Bevo said:

I don't know about that. I have a very liberal friend in the Bay Area who needed to get a file from his office. He parked out front and cracked the windows in 65% heat and ran upstairs. He came out and a policeman was already writing him a ticket. You don't want to know how much it cost him. I laughed.

did your liberal friend tell you that story in a hipster coffee shop?

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ChuckNorrisActionJeans

ChuckNorrisActionJeans 2678

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39 minutes ago, sidis said:

they aren't going to sue...and they have no intention of doing so.  "i'm going to file a lawsuit against you/i'm going to sue your ass" is the modern day white person's way of expressing a their frustration and exasperation resulting from and coping with anything uncomfortable, inconvenient, or embarrassing.

the people probably felt slightly violated (which they kind of were) and they were embarrassed (which they should have been and i don't give a fuck about dogs generally).  they are on their message board bitching about some busybody karen who had the gumption to break into their car in a parking lot.  the coping mechanism for dealing with that in the moment is to threaten to file a lawsuit.  it would, of course, never happen.

that said, pretty fucking infuriating that any police would give out that info if they actually did. however, i think tornacl is probably correct in his assessment that we/bozo are probably not working with an accurate set of facts in this story.

negged for saying you don't give a fuck about dogs.....MONSTER

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Bevo

Bevo 13579

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17 minutes ago, Gil Bang said:

did your liberal friend tell you that story in a hipster coffee shop?

Yeah, it was a little extraneous detail. He really isn't the hipster type. He is a brilliant, Jewish guy from NJ with an MD PhD from Stanford whose parents summer in France. He was always giving me shit though for being a Texan so I got a good laugh of him getting the ticket considering I am 100% sure he was in favor of the law you described.

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