The Constitution says that “cruel and unusual” punishment is not to be administered. One assumes that includes disproportionate punishment. For example, that a person who violates a traffic law not be punished more severely than someone who – for the sake of discussion – berates and then kicks an old lady at the bus stop.
Well, no.
Not in Illinois, at any rate.
Christopher Garza didn’t berate an old lady, much less kick her to the curb. He is probably nice to old ladies. But he is looking at consequences as or more severe than if he had berated an old lady and kicked her in the keister: Up to a year in jail and $2,500 in fines, not counting court costs or the whacking he’ll get from the insurance mafia upon conviction for the heinous (but victimless) offense of driving his Dodge Hellcat muscle car (my review of this fabulous thumb-in-the-eye to Clovers everywhere can be found here) 158 miles per hour in the dead of night on an empty stretch of highway.
For the Hellcat, this is a yawn. It can do at least 30 MPH faster. I can vouch for this.
Garza made the run, so he said afterward, to give a thrill to a buddy back from one of the government’s interminable fights to quash the freedom of foreigners (as well as our own). “Really, I was just kind of getting my buddy’s mind off reality for a little bit.”
Like the reality of being waylaid by an armed government worker, placed in handcuffs and taken to a cage – having harmed no one at all or even looked at them funny.
Garza had the bad luck to “speed” within radar-vicinity of one such and was taken to the hoosegow, his car to the impound lot.
Contrast Garza’s treatment with that meted out to Old Lady Bashers.
In Illinois, Assault (e.g., verbal abuse) is a Class C Misdemeanor for which – upon conviction – the guilty faces up to 30 days in jail and a $1,500 fine. The offender may also be sentence to perform between 30 and 120 hours of community service.
There are no insurance mafia consequences at all.
If the assault is upped to “aggravated” it becomes a bit more serious. Almost as serious as getting caught harming no one but driving faster than allowed by law. The fine goes up to $2,500 – and it’s possible the offender might be sentenced to up three years in prison.
But the point stands.
A long time ago, I used to know a bitter but brilliant paleo-conservative writer, Sam Francis. He coined a term that perfectly applies here: anarcho-tyranny. It is the idea that there are fewer and less severe consequences for actually criminal conduct – that is, conduct that involves someone actually being harmed – than for penny-ante “violations” of some statute or other – and no one’s hair so much as mussed.
It’s truer and truer of the society in which we find ourselves trapped.
The crazy thing is, Garza stopped. He may regret having done so. Probably he will lose the Hellcat. The state of Illinois may not take it. But upon conviction for violating the laws of the state of Illinois (but harming no one) it is likely his insurance will be unaffordable.
Those convicted of “reckless” driving (mere speed, in this case, which is not necessarily reckless unless the car was not under control, being driven erratically or some other factor could be adduced that would constitute reckless as opposed to merely fast driving) are rendered uninsurable. Yet the law mandates that they carry insurance. Catch 22.
Enter something called “SR-22” insurance – which is another form of “cruel and unusual” punishment. It is not actually insurance, per se. Rather, it is a form you must file with the state attesting you have insurance – no matter how much it costs.
And it will cost a lot.
The usual hit for a “reckless” driving conviction is a doubling of whatever you were paying before . . . for the next three years. That’s how long the SR-22 dunning remains in force. So, if you were paying $1,200 annually for insurance before, you will be paying $2,400 annually (if not more) after your conviction – for the next three years. That amounts to a broadside to your bank book of $3,600 and that’s on top of the $2,500 (plus “court costs”) that someone like our man Garza faces for not having hurt anything except his gas mileage.
He will learn a valuable lesson about stopping.
Meanwhile, the old lady kicker likely hasn’t got any funds to dun. He is a waste of time as far as the state is concerned, hardly worth the trouble of prosecuting. Much less convicting. In which case he will have to be housed and fed and provided with TeeVee and “free” medical care, etc.
Garza, on the other hand, is a paying customer.
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When I was a teenager I got a DUI, which cost me my license for a year and then the dreaded SR-22 for the next three years. I found a very easy way to avoid the cost: I went for four years with no license or insurance. You see… they forgot to tell my car that I was not allowed to drive, and it took me where I needed to go with no complaints.
Superb, Eric!
How old are you? I’m a Gen X’er, the last generation that enjoyed a semblance of liberty. I also drove for years without “coverage” – not because of DUI or other such but just because it seemed stupid to me to throw money at something I didn’t need or want. They didn’t check much back in those days – ’80s – so you could “get away” with it.
Similarly, I skipped health insurance for years – and saved literally tens of thousands of dollars. I think I know why so many Millennials still live at home after college … well into their 30s. It’s because they can’t afford to move out… because all their money is going toward got-damned insurance!
I drove around without insurance as a kid when I couldn’t afford it now and then, all I did was acquire a blank insurance card from a friend working at an insurance company- filled in my own “policy” number and the whole shooting match.
Never had a cop question it- you could probably still do the same today.
I also “floated” checks back then because I was going to college at night, working during the day, & budgeted down to less than $5 in my checking account for years. I knew I also had a few days before the checks cleared and my account would then have enough in it to cover them. I even told my landlord I’d be late on rent twice a year because of how my checks fell and told him I’d have to pay a late fee those two times a year…he was a hippy that owned a music store and also served as a front for weed sales- he told me, “Yeah, ok- don’t worry about it, just get it to me when you can those two months a year.”
Great guy.
I kinda feel bad for the younger/poor generation today, it’s simply harder to get away with stuff.
Hi Nick,
Yeah man, ditto!
Today, all cops have SCMODS and can check your insurance and every other damn thing just like that. The only “dodge” I know is to avoid being pulled over for any reason. But even that no longer works because of plate readers.
H.G. Wells was right.
God damn them all.
Depends on the state. Illinois still seems to rely on the physical cards. The formats are so varied, so many low rent insurance companies, and some cards so simple to make at home I wonder if someone could make up a card from Dewy, Cheatem, and Howe Insurance Company and the cop accept as proof of insurance.
They might!
Their IQs are pretty low…
I noticed long ago perception of who you are makes all the difference. Not a hard concept to understand since all people are fairly much that way.
I’ve detested crossover toolboxes since pickups got tall enough back in the late 70’s to not be able to reach into the middle of them and the fact they take up so much bed doesn’t sit well with me either so I’m a side box man for the main part. I was sick of seeing white toolboxes on pickups of every color so back in the 80’s I painted my side boxes the exact same color as the pickup. Some companies had already adopted the look and it was cleaner and nicer looking.
For whatever reason they used to do this but still don’t I’m not sure but Texas used to have roadblocks and check insurance and DL’s and what not. I expect it was brought on by mandatory insurance since “insurance card” was said before DL. So I get stopped and I’m wearing “work clothes”. There were several DPS there and this day a lot of traffic stopped at the same time. The patrolman came up to me and I already had my DL out and was unsuccessfully going through the glove box that had enough papers of enough types I doubted I could add anything else. I’m trying to find the envelope and the trooper is watching me. I was about to get out and go around to the other side when he stepped back, looked at the pickup and said “Oh, it’s a company truck, you’re good to go”. And so I did. Well, it was a company truck in that it belonged to the farm and the IRS considered it as such. It was outfitted with other things that said “work truck” visually.
Mainstream Dodge Challenger SRT Demon Review
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eELVInQ_f70
“Garza had the bad luck to “speed” within radar-vicinity of one such and was taken to the hoosegow, his car to the impound lot.”
Everything you say about anarchs-tyranny rings true. But if this guy was going 151mph without even using a good radar detector, he is a total idiot.
Agreed, Mike –
Even more so for stopping.
Once you’re over 100 you had better be ready to flee…
In the Peoples Republic of Commiefornia….the SR-22 filing and insurance coverage can often be two separate things…forget coverage if their is a leinholder….15K car, 5K per year for 3 years… No leinholder, then 2K for insurance that you could normally buy for 600 a year(State Minimums)…for the same 3 years.
Then a 4th year where the rates go down by 50%, since your last company was a high risk carrier, then another 25% off in the 5th year, and finally you can buy coverage similar to what you had, for about the same price, from anyone but your original carrier. You are now marked for life from that carrier and any subsidiary of that carrier as an uninsurable risk….
The realities of the insurance mafia!
In the Peoples Republic of Commiefornia….the SR-22 filing and insurance coverage can often be two separate things…forget coverage if their is a leinholder….15K car, 5K per year for 3 years… No leinholder, then 2K for insurance that you could normally buy for 600 a year(State Minimums)…for the same 3 years.
Then a 4th year where the rates go down by 50%, since your last company was a high risk carrier, then another 25% off in the 5th year, and finally you can buy coverage similar to what you had, for about the same price, from anyone but your original carrier. You are now marked for life from that carrier and any subsidiary of that carrier as an uninsurable risk….
The realities of the insurance mafia!
He did this in Indiana, if he had done it in Illinois he would be facing a year in jail. Not sure what the penalties are in Indiana.
Also this is the freedom his buddy fought for as they say.
Yes, this was northwest Indiana, not Illinois. Though when your in lake county Indiana, you may as well be in Illinois. Lake County politics have far more in common with the people’s republic of Illinois then it’s own state.
If he had run at 150mph, he would have been in Illinois in a matter of minutes, maybe he could have vanished into the industrial part of the south side of Chicago.
Kinda hard to hide a Hellcat. That was the great thing about real cars, up until about the 80’s- you could have a “sleeper” and just blend in. Pretty much impossible today. Easier, I suppose, to put on a fake plate, and a flame thrower in the rear. Smell the bacon sizzling as you leisurely drive away…..
If he’s smart and can’t afford to continue insuring it, park it for 20 years and get antique plates. Or use it as a trailer queen track day car. Sure, it’s a heck of a marshmallow test (can you hold out that long?), but at least he’s still got a great vehicle that will likely hold some value.
I am betting he’s beginning to regret having stopped for the law enforcer. He probably thought the armed dick would be cool and tell him to chill out and let him go with a warning… you know, the way it used to be when America had cops and they were still human beings capable of exercising discretion and not buzz-cut order-following and spewing control freaks … feed ’em fish heads, all of them. Not cooked.
These new cars won’t last 20 years…..
This is a case that calls for jury nullification.
I don’t understand the stopping either. Top speed of 190 MPH or so, how are they gonna catch him, unless there was no freeway exit for miles ahead and he was concerned the cop would call ahead fpr another cop to block the road to stop him.
Hi Jim,
The guy is – pathetically – “pro law enforcement.” He practically worships armed government workers.
He may be losing summa that LOVE
Wow. I suddenly lost all sympathy for him.
Yet another reason to get the hell out of ‘Hellinois’ https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/world-news/taxes/us-property-tax-comparison-by-state/
And why did he stop, exactly?
If he was going that fast, it’s doubtful they got a tag number. And he could have been in the next state before they knew what hit them. LOL
.
This is not the same country I grew up in.
.
Hi NotSoFRee,
He maybe thought the “hero” would “give him a break.”
The situation is such now that it’s arguably the smart move to drop the hammer and lose the SOB rather than stop. It’s not just about the money, either. The Cult of Officer Safety is such that there is a more than small chance the “hero” will draw his gun on you, even shoot you, then screech that he “feared for his safety” afterward. You are dead, he is on paid vacation.
it’s possible he didn’t even see the cop and just slowed down naturally and the cop caught up to him.
Can’t outrun Motorola.
Actually, you can.
If the “hero” didn’t get your plate (and at 150-plus, how could he?) and if you have “the drop” on the bastard, all you need is to get out of sight and go to ground.
I saw a white DSM do that one time. He passed me doing 80 (in a 55), and past an oncoming sheriff car. By the time the officer got his Crown Vic turned around, the speeder had crested a hill and pulled in behind a muffler shop. He waited until the cop passed the shop, then got out and walked away from the car.
Top drawer!
Few things feel better than escaping the clutches of a Hooved (and armed) one…
Crown vics are pitiful – a state trooper once told me he’s lost count of how many cars successfully left him in the dust.
What you have to watch out for is the dodge chargers, they have a v8 hemi that gets up to speed quick-like.
Anyway, running from cops with a car isn’t the best idea. A motorcycle, on the other hand, has unique advantages such as speed and size. See for yourself in the first two clips:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfo4cD7F0Ww
Trouble is, where would he go?
If he was in his own county, and it’s not densely populated, chances are, he may have the only Hellcat around. The porkers would be waiting at his door when he got home. Prove it was him? Did they get a plate? Did they see HIM? It doesn’t matter- they’d haul him in, and he’d have to prove his innocence instead of them proving his guilt- I mean, it’s not like this is America anymore. Or maybe they just would’ve shot him to save time and trouble.
Too bad it didn’t happen to the mercenary who was in the passenger seat though. Always good to see the ones who do the dirty-work for our politicians against sovereign nations get a little payback.
Going by the trib article he’s a chicago resident and this happened on I90 near cline ave. It doesn’t say if he was east bound or west bound.
If he was east bound he was really screwed since he would be headed deeper into indiana and to exit would mean entering Gary in hellcat. Given the limited exit choices its if the cops find him before opportunistic criminals do. Not a good plan. If west bound he could exit into Hammond some distance away and then try wiggle through residential and surface streets to Sibley or another border crossing surface street and back into Illinois.
Really a moronic spot to try that stunt give the road, enforcement, and ability to get away. There really isn’t anywhere left in where one can really open up a car any longer. I can’t think of anywhere where all three elements are in the driver’s favor. The place he chose none were.
OK, if you can keep your wits about you, maybe you can outrun Motorola (and Intel). But young bucks in Hellcats aren’t likely to have that mindset, at least until they have a few tickets under their belts (or proper driver training).
Garza, know this: You are NOT a bad guy. In the eyes of REAL Americans, you did nothing wrong.
But, there are a lot of phony Americans, such as the gutless, cowardly Hero, that view you as a problem. Screw them.
Land of the free and home of the brave? Really? Are we still proffering that myth?
Yeah, but there are too many Americans who would disagree. “But Saaaaaafety!” they’d whine. They already think it’s the government’s job to provide them this-and-that, why not to “keep them safe” too?
When I was a kid, I never heard anyone say “have a safe summer!” on the last day of screwl.
Now, it’s *everywhere.*
It’s just getting worse and worse every year. Please, someone just nuke this damn country and get it over with.
I think Trump is thinking the same thing!
Hehe, it would appear so!