The above screenshot is a still from the arrest video discussed in this column. The full video can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CC6AhWzaFOY
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Video offers a view of the criminal mind
In April, I wrote a story about a Kenton woman, Julie Anne Miller, arrested on drug charges. The story ran under the headline “Cuffed and Stuffed.”
Because of the circumstances of the case, we requested video footage taken inside the arresting Ohio State Highway Patrol trooper’s car.
The video offers a fascinating incite into the minds of a pair of alleged criminals. It really shows what law enforcement officers go through on a daily basis, dealing with individuals who will use any tactic to be released from custody.
In the video Miller and her husband, Terry Miller, are very polite, joking and laughing with the trooper. She is very helpful. She repeatedly thanks the officer for his help, even calling him “awesome.”
When the trooper leaves, the conversation changes. The woman calls the police idiots. The man and the woman cry that there must be a law against the way police are searching their vehicle. There are whispered conversations and conspiratorial glances. There are hand gestures below the partition.
She also unbuckled her belt, opened the zipper of her pants and reportedly put a significant quantity of drugs and drug paraphernalia inside herself. The video does not offer a graphic view of the alleged act.
The trooper told her and her husband that if they had drugs and came clean, they would likely receive a citation and be sent on their way. He said if they lied to him, they would be going to jail because he wouldn’t be able to trust them.
The pair promises there are no drugs in the car, but then a crack pipe is found in the vehicle. No more drugs, the pair promise. Eventually as part of a search along the roadside, troopers locate a crack pipe she has hidden on her body.
The trooper arrests her and tells her she is going to jail.
The woman cried. She begged. She cursed. She demanded. She screamed. She asked questions. She kicked.
“I am sorry, sincerely I am,” the woman said.
She said she wanted to be honest, but said police can’t be trusted because they aren’t honest.
“I am not a bad person. We aren’t bad people. I mean, it’s not like we do it all the time.”
She said she is a recovering addict. Initially the woman said it was years since she had used heroin. Eventually she admits it has been two weeks.
She tells the officer how much she works. She said she just wants to spend more time with her children.
She said she has arthritis that flares up. She complains of back pain, wrist pain and other ailments.
She tells the trooper that she is a widow and it was the death of her children’s’ father that pushed her to use.
She said her sister was a heroin addict who got her started but she doesn’t associate with her anymore.
She said she suffers from anxiety and depression and that’s what caused her to use.
She said the doctors don’t know what they are doing and she won’t use the recovery medications because they are addictive. She said she won’t touch opiates because she has seen too many people die. She begged the trooper to drop the felony charge so she could go home.
“Please have it in your heart. Please, please, please,” the woman said.
The trooper said she had a chance to be truthful. He said she lost her opportunity for leniency when she lied.
She promised she would never use heroin again. She promised she would not return to Marysville. She acknowledged that she had used, but if he would let her go, she really would get and stay clean.
“People say this to me everyday,” the trooper said.
The woman said she knows, but those people aren’t telling the truth like she is. Later in the conversation she tells her husband to have a friend call her job, pretend to be her and tell her employer she is sick.
Eventually the woman arrives at the jail where they allegedly find crack and 91 balloons of heroin inside her. The video can be difficult to watch, knowing this woman’s life is now spiraling out of control. It is also infuriating watching this woman weep, beg and promise, all the while knowing she was smuggling an estimated three-month supply of heroin inside her body.
I am shocked at the proficiency with which police are able to judge character. There are times when police seem brisk, when it seems like they could cut people a break or when they seem detached.
And then you see videos like this.
You realize that officers hear sob stories and excuse every day. The get lied to and abused on a daily basis. We hear about the vindictive, abusive cops, but most, like the trooper in the video, are extremely professional, kind and, most importantly, good at their job.
Remember to give them some grace as well.
-Mac Cordell is a reporter of the Journal-Tribune.