Brownsville Officer Martin Sandoval may have forgiven a driver for failing to signal a left turn Friday, but he wasn't willing to forgive this woman’s 30 to 40 mile per hour speeds in a crowded mall parking lot.
"As you can see there's people that walk through the parking lots with little children, and sometimes parents can’t get a hold of their little children, so they go-off in the front, and driving that fast, she probably would be able to strike a child without seeing them," Sandoval said.
While at Sunrise Mall, Sandoval observed vehicles with bags of merchandise in plain sight, making them easy targets for criminals, and a costly mistake for shoppers.
"This is the ideal car for a burglars,” Sandoval said about the vehicle.
“In one stop, they pretty much have Christmas gifts for their family.
It doesn’t cost them anything - all it costs them is about 10 seconds of work."
Sandoval said the safest bet, is for people to carry all items until they’re heading home or drop-off your merchandise after each purchase.
Sandoval also said he responded to at least three traffic accidents Friday.
The officer, with five years experience with the Brownsville Police Department, said it’s people's lack of attention to the road that is causing these problems.
"We did not put them in that position, they themselves took it upon themselves to speed-up or disregard the red light or stop sign, causing the accident or the citation," Sandoval said.
Sandoval said there are more patrols out on the streets during the holidays, who will be looking-out for irresponsible drivers - especially drunk ones.
"Well the license gets suspended for 90 to 180 days (and) besides spending the night in jail, you have your court costs which could range anything from $5,000 to $7,000, and then you have to buy extra insurance."
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