Chelsea, VT – A New York City rabbi who kept driving when a Vermont state trooper tried to pull him over pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to a charge of attempting to elude police in a traffic stop his family called traumatizing.
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Rabbi Berl Fink appeared in court Wednesday. He’s accused of failing to stop for suspected speeding for 4.5 miles (7 kilometers) on a remote interstate highway in Thetford, Vermont, in August.
Police video shows that after the rabbi pulled over, the trooper ordered him at gunpoint to lie on the ground and handcuffed him, his son and his wife.
The rabbi’s son has said he and his relatives felt they were targets of a terrorist attack.
A police investigation reviewed by the State Police Advisory Commission, comprised of Vermont residents, found that Trooper Justin Thompson acted according to his training and police policy and there was no evidence of bias.
Fink’s lawyer had said he hoped the case could be resolved without going to court and the prosecutor thought it fit the criteria for a count diversion program. But a condition of court diversion is to take responsibility for misdeeds and “the rabbi doesn’t think he committed any misdeeds,” said his lawyer Robert Appel on Wednesday.
The lawyer said that Fink didn’t understand the trooper was trying to stop him and that he was looking for a safe place with a guardrail to pull over.
Why should police brutality ever be tolerated?
Pretty special of Dov to be there as well .
If u don’t stop for 4+ miles u might do anything else crazy , and police did the right thing , wouldn’t he be a rabbi u would of say the same
Relax u all together with Dov
Why do bad things happen to stupid people? Because they’re stupid! Rabbi Fink might be a Gaon in the Bais Hamidrash, but in secular stuff he’s an idiot! I really believe that the reason he didn’t stop immediately when the cop tried to pull him over was because he was trying to find a safe place to park on the road, which was a 2 lane highway with a very narrow shoulder.
He was supposed to stop immediately nonetheless, even in middle of the road. The cop would take care of any passing traffic with his flashing red lights, but Fink was ignorant of the proper procedure, just as he was unaware that in the United States you remove your hat in a Court of Law, which he isn’t doing in the above photo. A person like that should never be allowed to leave the Bais Midrash. He doesn’t understand the goyim and the goyim don’t understand him.
To #3- Would you kindly learn how to write proper English, as this is not a site for texting (i.e. writing “u”, instead of “you”). To #4 - There is no guarantee that the cop in back of him, would have protected his car from being rammed by a tractor trailer, passing at night, from the rear; especially, if he had stopped in the middle of the road, on a dark two lane highway, at night. Drivers notoriously ignore the flashing lights of police cars pulled over to the side of the road, even during daylight hours. If one looks at the thirty eight minute tape, one can clearly see a lot of traffic, including large trucks zooming by. Secondly, whereas the cop might have been justified in ordering the Rabbi out of his car at gunpoint, and handcuffing him for not stopping for a few miles, where was the justification, for pointing his gun at and handcuffing his wife, son, and young daughter and handcuffing the three of them? What crime did they commit? Also, why did the cops frisk the two females, after they were handcuffed? Aren’t female cops supposed to do that? This entire incident, and the way it was handled by the Vermont Dept. of Public service stinks!
Even when the Rabbi tried to explain to the rude Vt. State trooper, why he was reluctant to stop sooner (because of no visible soft shoulder for miles), the cop cut him off, and abrasively stated “that was my call, not yours”. Look, the cops cannot order a driver to commit suicide. If it is not safe for me to stop my car in a remote area, I will also proceed to a safe area. If the cop didn’t like it, too bad. Also, what is this garbage, where cops made you walk backwards with your hands in the air. There are people with balance problems, who can’t walk backwards, without falling.
Maybe we should vacation in Brighton.
The entire stop was unusual. The officer was actually driving in FRONT of Rabbi Fink when he clocked him for speeding. The cop turned on his siren while still in front of Fink and pulled over to the side to let the Finks car pass. Rabbi Fink did nor realize that he was being pulled over. He was debating with his wife what the cop was doing behind him. By the time it dawned on him that he might be being pulled over he then needed to find a safe place to pull over. While Rabbi Finks action are understandable under the circumstances, I still disagree with him filing a bias complaint. There was obviously no bias. Just regular overly aggressive policing.
The right thing for the cop to do was to apologize to the Finks and send them on their way. Even now they should just dismiss the charges. There was obviously no crime committed. mr Fink did not show any indication that he was trying to “elude” the police. Driving 4.5 miles to find a safe place on a narrow dark road is reasonable. In fact, if Rabbi Fink was concerned for his safety he was legally permitted to drive to the nearest police station, even if it would be 10 miles away.