Speed, Mustache-style
According to this morning’s CRG:
According to the story, Larry Hedlund, an Iowa Division of Criminal Investigations special agent, reported a black Chevy Tahoe driving a “hard 90” on US Highway 20. Hedlund admitted to the dispatcher that “I’m doing right at a little over 90 and I’m not catching up on him so he’s right in that ball park somewhere.” Hedlund then followed the Tahoe west and state troopers eventually clocked the Tahoe at 84 mph. After the Tahoe was intercepted on Interstate 35, everyone backed off when they learned the SUV was carrying the governor and lieutenant governor. Hedlund has since been placed on administrative leave for unrelated reasons.
This smells fishy to me for a couple reasons. Not only is the vehicle carrying the governor and lieutenant governor not setting a good example by obeying the speed limit (65 mph on Highway 20), a DCI special agent is following suit. Even worse, a state trooper — you know: those people who pull everyone else over for speeding — was driving the Tahoe. (Why is it okay for the trooper driving the governor to drive a “hard 90” but not me?) Plus: the governor’s ride has a license plate “that did not show up in the state Department of Public Safety data bank,” which contributed to a woeful lack of communication. The whole thing could have been resolved quickly (though perhaps too quietly) if the dispatcher was able to match the plate number with the governor’s ride.
A state vehicle in which Gov. Terry Branstad was riding was clocked traveling at an excessive speed in April, but records released Tuesday indicate the incident ended when pursuing law officers determined it was the governor’s SUV being operated by a state trooper.
According to the story, Larry Hedlund, an Iowa Division of Criminal Investigations special agent, reported a black Chevy Tahoe driving a “hard 90” on US Highway 20. Hedlund admitted to the dispatcher that “I’m doing right at a little over 90 and I’m not catching up on him so he’s right in that ball park somewhere.” Hedlund then followed the Tahoe west and state troopers eventually clocked the Tahoe at 84 mph. After the Tahoe was intercepted on Interstate 35, everyone backed off when they learned the SUV was carrying the governor and lieutenant governor. Hedlund has since been placed on administrative leave for unrelated reasons.
This smells fishy to me for a couple reasons. Not only is the vehicle carrying the governor and lieutenant governor not setting a good example by obeying the speed limit (65 mph on Highway 20), a DCI special agent is following suit. Even worse, a state trooper — you know: those people who pull everyone else over for speeding — was driving the Tahoe. (Why is it okay for the trooper driving the governor to drive a “hard 90” but not me?) Plus: the governor’s ride has a license plate “that did not show up in the state Department of Public Safety data bank,” which contributed to a woeful lack of communication. The whole thing could have been resolved quickly (though perhaps too quietly) if the dispatcher was able to match the plate number with the governor’s ride.
