Update: Ramon Lawrence waived his preliminary hearing; the judge put him into an Accelerated Rehabilitation Disposition program. Lawrence will take a drug education course, pay fines, and have the charges expunged in a year if he stays out of trouble.
The way Ramon Lawrence tells it, on Sept. 30 he was driving south on I-95 in Tinicum Township with some friends in a car when he was pulled over by a state trooper.
Without justification, says the 32-year-old Jamaican national — he has a green card — who drives part-time for UPS, and also for Uber. I heard about his plight from one of his Uber regulars who is close to me.
Lawrence believes he was profiled by Trooper Ross Greenwood.
Naturally, I wanted to hear the trooper’s version, but that turned into an obstacle course.
The first thing I asked Lawrence to produce was a copy of the police criminal complaint, out of Pennsylvania State Police barracks K in Media.
He had it, which had part of Greenwood’s report.
I say “part” because the description of what happened stopped in the middle of a sentence.
I looked for a second page, but there was no second page. And the footnote at the bottom of the page said “Page 1 of 1.”
Something’s screwy here.
I haven’t dealt with the state cops in a long time, but I tracked down the number of the Media barracks, and asked for the public information officer, which is the usual procedure.
I wanted a copy of the complete report.
The trooper who answered the phone said the PIO wasn’t in, but politely asked if he could help.
I thanked him and told him I wanted a complete copy of the police report.
The trooper said I had to request it from the officer who wrote it.
What?
From the officer who wrote it?, I asked.
The trooper said yes.
I have been covering cops for 50 years and never was told to go to the complaining officer. Police departments almost never want the press talking to an officer without supervision.
The trooper insisted I had to talk to Greenwood.
What are his hours, and his phone number, I asked.
Use the general telephone number, I was told, and he works overnight, meaning starting at midnight.
Well, I told the trooper, he ticketed a guy with a complaint I am looking into, at 9:30 p.m.
Sometimes they come in early, the trooper said.
Let me get this straight, I said. I am to call the arresting officer after midnight, knowing that he is on patrol and does not sit at a desk.
“That’s right.”
And I leave a voicemail message and hope he calls me back.
“Correct.”
How about if you connect me to his voicemail?
I can’t.
——
Well, I played “Catch 22” and left a voicemail message for Greenwood at 2 a.m., not expecting him to return the call. That afternoon, I called the commanding officer, Lt. Jonathan Sunderlin, who told me everything the trooper had told me was wrong.
The only way I could access the police report was by making a right-to-know request through the state police website. I did that on Nov. 30, and have had no response, other than an email saying the state police needed another 30 days.
I don’t have 30 days because Lawrence has his second preliminary hearing on Monday, Dec. 18. Trooper Greenwood didn’t show up for the first court date and the case was continued, say Lawrence’s attorney, Jerry Reitano.
So here’s what Lawrence has to say about the portion of Greenwood’s report I do have.
He says he did not, as the report says, move from the left lane to the right lane “making unsafe lane changes and following too closely.”
After I-95 divided, Greenwood wrote that the white BMW Lawrence was driving was again in the left lane, then swerved into the middle lane “and almost side struck a vehicle.”
Greenwood pulled over the white BMW and wrote that the license plate did not check out.
Now it gets serious.
Greenwood approached the car and prior to speaking to anyone, reported a “strong odor of alcohol coming from inside the vehicle.”
Greenwood asked Lawrence to step out of the car, noted “the odor of alcohol was coming from his breath,” and called for backup. Lawrence says at least half a dozen cars responded.
The report says Lawrence denied drinking any alcohol and was on his way from his grandmother’s home in Philadelphia to pick up his son in Chester. The report continues, “I asked Lawrence again” — and that’s it. It ends there, clearly incomplete.
What happened next comes from Lawrence.
The trooper shined a pencil light in his eyes and asked him to follow the light with his eyes.
He did.
The trooper asked him to stand on one leg and count up from 1000 for a few seconds.
He did.
The trooper asked him to walk a straight line, heel to toe.
He did.
The trooper got out a breathalyzer and asked Lawrence to blow in the straw.
He did.
But nothing registered.
Lawrence claims he passed all the tests, but the trooper arrested him, handcuffed him and asked if he agreed to a blood test. If he didn’t agree, he was told, his license would be suspended and since his entire livelihood depends on driving, he gave consent.
The trooper drove him to a hospital where a blood test showed marijuana in his system, according to Reitano, who says he got that information from Greenwood, because he has not yet been given a copy.
Lawrence says he does smoke marijuana, but he did not smoke that night. Marijuana can remain in a person’s system for weeks.
But here is the shocker — the blood test showed zero alcohol.
Remember the trooper’s report claiming “the odor of alcohol was coming from his breath”?
There is something wrong here.
Lawrence was charged with driving while impaired, also impaired by a controlled substance, and following too closely.
Lawrence says the entire episode began with the invalid charge of swerving.
He is a professional driver, he drives safely, he says.
So why did the trooper stop him and run his plate (which came back as bad because he had just bought the car and the paperwork had not yet cleared the state)?
Because the trooper saw four Black males in a luxury car, Lawrence believes.
Even though trooper Greenwood is Black?
He had no cause, Lawrence insists, adding he has no intention to file a complaint against Greenwood. He just wants the mess to go away.
Attorney Reitano tells me he has dealt with bogus police stops before, and has several ideas for a defense.
They might start with a botched police report and inconsistencies from the trooper in the part that can be found.
Sounds like a traffic stop in Mississippi, circa 1960.
My curious traffic stop was by two colossal good old boy cops in 1970 in Georgia. I clearly looked suspicious driving 25 in a 25 zone in a tiny town.
Your story above reminds me that someone needs to get the record of Councilman Thomas’s traffic stops. He claimed he was stopped 22 times for “driving while black.” Was that true, or was he a dangerous young driver then?
The bill he got passed as a result of his traffic stops, restricted police from making traffic stops, has had a very dangerous result, as many have observed. Lot more speeding, weaving, running reds, no signals, tailgating, racing, nose to nose driving in caravans. Cops do not seem to stop anyone any longer after the passage of Thomas’ traffic bill.
How can we get that, dangerous to all of us, bill rescinded? Show us Thomas’s record.
Outrageous, shame there wasn’t any video from a speed camera<
As frustrating as this is, it will get thrown out. As for Pa State troopers, Good guy’s at times a bit anal with the tickets, profiling ,I doubt it , over reaction probably CYHA for sure. Something is missing from this carstop, and we’ll never know that part.
Let the investigation of complaint take its course. Are the Troopers wearing body cameras, are there cameras in the patrol vehicle. Are there Other witnesses to event like the occupants of the vehicle that was stopped. Interview the other occupants separately. Are there Penn Dot cameras with video of the time and location of the stop. Were the passengers in the car drinking alcohol previously and is that the source of the alcohol odors. Did someone leave an empty beer or whiskey bottle on the floor of vehicle. Driving an unregistered car or having a bad tag are causes for a legal stop. Driving under influence causes fatalities and injuries. Driving recklessly endangers us all and is a legitimate reason for a stop. Call the Governor’s Office and see if they can speed up the right to know request. Let all information gather before making a judgement of a racial profile stop. As far as the Trooper providing inaccurate information to you, his CO can handle that complaint and take whatever disciplinary action if it is needed.
That was a very interesting article Stu. It does not seem to me that this police stop was legitimate and it definitely, from the information you’re getting, does not pass the smell test.
I remember quite a few years ago some other issues having to do with our state police and their profiling but I do not remember what it entailed. In fact this issues has been ongoing for an extremely long time.
I also remember issues with them back in either the late 60s or early 70s involvingl Rocco P. Urella, who was the Commissioner. I think it had something to do with illegal wiretapping.