The cases cited here as well as the link to the standardized field sobriety tests are all associated with alcohol (which the officers smelled on the breath of the drivers after stopping them). Clearly, this officer did not smell alcohol on Mr. Radosevich's breath, as he blew a .000 before arresting him. The cases cited here are not on point with the facts of this arrest and "un"arrest.

...and the evidence speaks for itself! There goes all the speculation about North Hudson police being tyrants, on power trips and whatever other nonsense you all threw out earlier.

I watched the entire video BDog and I did not see any evidence of impairment other than mild instability that comes with age and being in a car for hours as was stated early in the traffic stop. The field sobriety tests are basically unpassable and as I stated earlier are administered until a failing score is achieved. My underlying question all along has been how is an arrest made by a "Trained" officer after administering field sobriety tests and a breath test in which the subject blew 0.00 overturned by a superior over the phone without ever seeing or speaking with Mr. Radosevich? Obviously there is no trust by Chief Richert in his officers. Of course the officer is going to be cordial and polite, he is on camera which is mandated not only for the safety of the officer but that of the citizen as well. I am interested in your connection with the North Hudson Police department, and what number you have them listed on your speed dial.

I still say it was an illegal stop. The officer has no right to stop a vehicle without cause or without observation of a violation. A busybody on a cell phone is not cause. Had the officer followed him has a result of the busybody call and then observed erratic driving then fine, the stop is warranted. Otherwise it looks to be harassment to me, which is basically what the claim is about.

Now I know how Dudley-Do-Right got his nickname. This clueless officer is obviously in need of extensive training in understanding aging issues. His attitude was not polite. It was condescending--as though he was dealing with a naughty child instead of an intelligent adult. Mr. Radosevich used considerable restraint. The officer should have recognized that Mr. Radosevich was tired from the long trip and he should have followed him home and given him a warning. This officer also stopped a 55+ acquaintance last winter for "driving too slow" in a snowstorm. Be VERY careful when driving through North Hudson. This could happen to you!

As someone who has the utmost respect and appreciation for law enforcement and the important role they play in our lives, It saddens me to have to say that I am disgusted and appalled by this video. Mr. Radosevich was far more patient and cooperative than I would have been by the end of that humiliating, mentally exhausting fiasco. I do not know Mr. Radosevich or the arresting PO, but when I think that could have been my father, or next door neighbor, it just infuriates me. If his driving was indeed so erratic as the accuser stated, surely officer Moody could have continued to follow him to witness this himself before standing an old man out in the middle of main street North Hudson for everyone he knows to see based solely on the complaint of a civilian. My opinion would be different had his driving been witnessed and deemed erratic by officer Moody.

Police have the right to detain (or make a traffic stop) based upon reasonable suspicion, not probable cause. It was reasonable to assume that, based upon the call, the vehicle needed to be investigated further, that is Moody's call (all within the law). I hold fast to the notion that concerned citizens routinely report crimes or suspicious activity to the police and it is their job to respond. We'd all be in a world of hurt if the only crimes that were investigated or prosecuted were the crimes that police themselves witnessed. There was nothing illegal or unwarranted about this traffic stop. Kevin, did you SEE Radosevich utterly fail the eye test? He couldn't focus, his eyes jerked around and he couldn't follow direction. I give the officer credit for attempting to weed out the possibilities for Radosevich's poor performance.

The officer didn't seem to understand that being exhausted was a possibility for poor performance. Actually, Mr. Radosevich performed extremely well under the circumstances. Why was he arrested and cuffed? Do little old ladies with jerky eye movements have to fear being arrested and cuffed in North Hudson, too?

The end result was that he was let go, but that doesn't negate the job the police did in investigating. I would also contend that this would have never been a story, had Radosevich not filed suit. Who would have heard about this, or EVER seen the video of the traffic stop, had he escalated this to the next level. Was he embarrassed and inconvenienced for a short while? No doubt, but conceivably, the world would have never seen him standing on the side of the road performing sobriety tests, they only see him now because HE decided to make this a headline, not the police. Radosevich's moments of inconvenience (much of his accusations, by the way, proven false by the tape; ie. 100 degree car without air conditioning, never mentioning his swerving actions were to avoid people on bikes). Aging1, do a Google search on the standards of the horizontal gaze nystagmus test, you'll see that exhaustion from a car trip does not constitute the movement that was witnessed by the officer and clearly evident on the video.

It is important that this story came out. Rumors about this officer's actions have been rampant for a long time. Now people can see for themselves how he conducts business.

Poor Mr. Radosevich. North Hudson should throw in another $50,000 for the humiliation.

"As outlined below, the differences between any type of naturally occurring nystagmus and HGN are many and a properly trained officer will have no trouble distinguishing between the two at roadside." http://www.nhtsa.gov/people/injury/enforce/nystagmus/hgntxt.html

So then what WAS the cause of the nystagmus BDog? If it was concluded that it was not drugs or alcohol what was it? It seems to me that my Google search shows that it is quite easy to spot a naturally occuring nystagmus. I would say that given the circumstances Mr. Radosevich followed direction very well. If that is the fact you are arguing then obstruction of justice would have been the arresting charge which obviously officer Moody did not follow through with. By admitting to crossing the center line to avoid bikers, he would have been admitting guilt and as a lawyer he most likely recognized that and kept quiet. I'm going to leave it at this as we obviously have drastically differing views on this. This is not an isolated case as you can see by the numerous comments above, and those posted on the Hudson Star Observer website. This is a case of someone being courageous enough to stand up for their rights. If you cant support that then maybe you are living in the wrong country.

This officer is a joke. Mr. Radosivich was nothing but respectable toward him and the officer had no reason to arrest him. The message I'm getting is not to go to to any of the businesses in North Hudson ever again. Anyone can be arrested at anytime for absoluly no reason but someone else's judgement of your driving which may be spite. You hear about such things in 3rd world countries!!!!

This is a little off topic, but why does North Hudson have a police force (and court)? It would seem to me that Hudson and/or the county could cover this tiny village adequately and save the taxpayers of North Hudson a ton of money.

Kevin, obviously we disagree, but let's be real here, "poor" Mr. Radosevich standing up for his rights? His right to sue the city, burden the legal system and cost taxpayers money is lawful, just not laudable. His right were not trampled or diminished in any way. I have no doubt that this was inconvenient and embarrassing, but nobody can seem to argue that there would be such a public outcry if this exact stop, under these exact circumstances, had happened to 22 year old crack-smoker with a criminal record. This wouldn't even be news and you know it. I stand by my comments and I have seen nothing that refutes the validity of any of them.

I've heard rumors that KSTP is in North Hudson and planning to do a piece about this incident. Can anyone on here verify or discredit that rumor?

I think it would be difficult for a lot of people to follow a pencil for over 5 minutes especially if they knew they were not impared. He did for awhile and got tired of it as anyone would. Why did would such a test take so long? If my glasses were taken from me I would not do any better. I'm not under the influence of anything; just tried the 30 second test with head held back and I swayed a little too. Mr. Radosevick is an attorney, he knows about all of these tests quite well. He never mentioned that he is an attorney, he was humble and was cooperative probably wondering when this whole deal was going to be over. He was patient. Probably was thinking what the heck is going on here. This wasobviously quite humiliating for him. It was hard for me to watch how he was treated. I do think the policeman should have followed him for awhile to observe his driving for himself. This arrest was uncalled for. Is there a hidden agenda here to make this arrest of Mr. Radosevich for no apparent reason?

I have undergone field sobriety tests myself. That cop was condescending to the point of being nauseating. He sounded ignorant and he proved it on the video.

He demonstrated no ability to understand what was going on. His instructions (if one can call them that, were atrocious and repetitious).

He was obviously so poorly trained and yes stupid. If that is the best that North Hudson, or any police department can hire, then we should be concerned.

This cop makes Barney Pfife from Mayberry look like a genious.

Had he stopped me and behaved like that I would have told him to get screwed.

Mr. Radosevich made a mistake; he should be suing for $500,000 instead of $50,000.

In my opinion, It seems like some one in town doesn't like the Lawyer?? Who was the caller who reported him?? I feel bad for Mr. Radosevich. I remember a friend of mine driving by while he was being arrested! How humiliating!!!!

Dispatch got a call of a possible drunk driver, officer moody pulled the suspected car over as told by dispatch BUT arresting mr. Radosevich was uncalled for. He blew under the legal limit and was clearly tired. Although he was taken home safely something needs to be done. And "Bdog, first get a new screen name, second ARE YOU FOR REAL? Clearly he was tired and wrongfully arrested and was right to sue, he is an attorney and knows wring from right. Although I don't know mr. r personally I know of him and that he wouldn't just sue n. hudson cuz he was embarrassed but cuz it wasn't right and this isn't the first time n. Hudson has had problems, there is a reason why there's speculations.

Just watched the video. North Hudson would do well to settle, as they're on the wrong side of this one.

The Chief's supplemental report and the lengths to which the Officer went in discussing this with the complainant are indicative of how little substantive probable cause there truly was - as made clear by the video. One of the interesting things about a plethora of video and audio evidence is that it substantially diminishes the ability of any officer to use the qualified immunity defense in cases such as these - where a court would otherwise have to be extremely deferential to the officer's version of events.

The only thing the department has going for it is the lack of any serious injury to the plaintiff. But if they're relying on that in order to win this case, it is a sad state of affairs in North Hudson.

My own sneaking suspicion is that the Officer found the plaintiff's initial challenges regarding his stop infuriating - which might explain why he went beyond what a reasonable officer in the same situation would do. Unfortunately, this is all too common in these sorts of cases. While most officers are able to recognize that being challenged is par for the course in this profession, there are some who do not respond well. Not having any connection to North Hudson or anyone in this case, that is my gut feeling as to what happened here.

A little off topic but did anyone notice the picture of the NHPD badge at the top of this story? Is the train crashing into that water tower? Seems fitting as the NHPD is seen in many people's mind as a complete Train wreck.

Wow! Just watched this and have to say Mr. R was way more patient than I would have been. I recognize that a person can be under the influence of things other than alcohol, but come on! Really? Isn't there any room for a little common sense? I know looks can be deceiving, but did he really think that Mr. R was on some other sort of drug? I would love to see the video of Mr. Moody talking to the Sheriff's Deputy that showed up. What was said? How did it go from arresting him to shortly after releasing him? I think this a good representation on how it is getting out of control in North Hudson. Someone wrote into the paper a couple of weeks ago and in his letter wrote that the North Hudson Police have gone from a protect and serve to search and destroy. In the other Patch article, Mr. Klein's statement that Mr. R will "thank him" in the future still makes me laugh. Really? Did he watch this? Maybe when Mr. Klein hands over the big fat paycheck Mr. R will say "thank you". It is time for a North Hudson shakeup from the top down. I grew up in the community and the Police are changing the face of North Hudson compared to the old days when the Police lived in the community, were a part of the community, and were actually a welcome sign in the community. These young kids just out of school are using this town to make a name for themselves. They have no connection to the town and no respect for people living there or visiting the local businesses spending money. It's time for a change.

I guess I won't again be able to vote for anyone on the current Village Board. If they saw that video and deemed the "officer's" actions appropriate, they shouldn't be in positions that require good judgement and decision making abilities. It is also obvious that they are sorely in need of training in aging and human rights issues.

Here's a link to KSTP's piece about the incident: http://kstp.com/news/stories/S2450938.shtml.

What does everyone think about it?

There are always write-in movements for those interested in correcting wrongs.

To anyone who has lived around No. Hudson and seen the local police operate, his is just the tip of the iceberg. No Hudson cops have been known to stop a person just because.... It appears that the tactics of the old days compared to the new times have not changed in there in the last 30 yrs IMHO. I will avoid going to the local businesses for fear of being picked up on someones' tip. Tantamount to a witch hunt, just like Somerset and over in Bayport. Same M.O. Too much government control over everyday life is happening before your eyes. .

I know Mr. R. personally and he is an outstanding person. He is doing what many can't do because they can't afford an attorney. He doesn't "need" the money. I'm confident those who are opposed to his choice would feel differently if they had been in this position. It's common knowledge that North Hudson police are "over eager" and it was only a matter of time before they were exposed in the public arena. Thank you Bill!

I have known Bill for over 30 years and have the utmost respect for him. Any one who knows Bill knows that this was a very embarrasing position he was put into by Officer Moody. I am impressed by the patience he showed. Because I am 72 years old and the NH police appear to like to harrass older people I have decided I will bypass North Hudson in the future. I have not had a drink in 42 years and I dont think I could pass the test that Bill had to endure.

I can see room for honest debate about whether the Officer should have stopped this man in the first place. By minute 27 of the video, however, when the Officer is nitpicking about whether the man is holding his head as high as he can while standing with his eyes closed, it has became absolutely clear that this Cop has serious control issues, has nothing better to do with his time, and is trying to manufacture a reason to make an arrest so he can keep busy and look effective.
If this Officer doesn't have something better to do than this with his duty time, the Citizenry should get rid of him and save themselves some unnecessary taxpayer expense!