Run in with the police

[jwcfbd]

So here I sit (in my Tahoe) at a traffic light waiting for the turn arrow. I look up and see a police car sitting opposite from me. The light turns green and I hit the gas, I made the turn and continued down the road. As soon as I hit the speed limit I set the cruse control just in time to see the officer coming up fast. He then hit the lights and pulled me over. Here is what happened next:
Cop. May I see your license?
Me. May I ask what I did wrong?
Cop. You took that turn to excessively fast. Now let me see your license.
Me. Ok, but I still don't see what I did wrong. My tires never spun and I never exceeded the speed limit.
Cop. Step out of the car and walk around to the back. That was exibition of speed and do I have to arrest you to prove my point?
Me. No but I still don't see what I did was wrong.
Cop. Turn around, put your hands on the rear window and spread your legs.
Me. Why?
Cop. just do it.
Me. Ok at this point he proceeds to pat me down.
Cop. Ok now turn around and sit on the bumper while I run you license.

While he sat in his car I saw him on the radio, the computer, the cell phone, back on the radio, cell phone again. Now here comes another cop. Now I'm thinking great he got back up. I'm thinking if I was going to get a ticket I would have gotten it by now so what is he up to? I figure he is going to pull a search of my car just because I pissed him off. The other cop walks up to his car and they start talking. Now they're both on cell phones. Finally he gets out of his car without any tickets or other paperwork. Now I know I'm getting off. He comes back with this one.
Cop. I've been doing this for seven years now and I wanted to make sure that I was in the right. I know you saw me on the phone and that is because I was talking to a senior officer checking the law. You may not have heard it but when you made that turn your tire did squeal a little and I heard it. I give tickets on rather I think you got my point or if I need to have the court prove my point for me. I think you got my point so just slow it down. I could give you a ticket for reckless driving but I'm not going to.
Me. Thank you and I do apologize for this.
At this time he gives me my license back and extends his hand for a shake. We shake hands and part.

I'm still not sure just how that went so wrong normally I am very nice to the officer but this time it just didn't happen. Again I never spun my tires or exceeded the speed limit but he felt it necessary to pull me over and waste both our time.

Some times you just have to bite your tounge I quess.

 

[grabntwist]

bobo move in my book.

 

[jwcfbd]

bobo move in my book.

yeah that's what I'm thinking. He over reacted and it just got out of hand.

 

[scottybusa]

There are butt-heads in every profession...............at least you didn't push him too hard!!!!

 

[scottybusa]

BTW.............i put a little 2" lift on my expedition...........and haven't had the chance to align it yet and my tires squeel at the slightest sharp turn.........that aint excessive speed, it's just poor alignment!!!!!

 

[thrasherfox]

He was a bobo.

He didn't write you a ticket because it never would have flew in court. He was on the phone with all of his buddies because he didn't know what the hell he was doing.

A seasoned cop would not have needed anyone's advice, he would have either ticketed you or not ticketed you, something as simple as that did not requires input from anyone..

And the cell phone.. he was probably talking on it to his girl friend and the conversation was like "yeah,... I am at work.. got some guy pulled over...waiting on a records check figured I would call." just trying to impress his girl friend.


This guy pulled you over because more than likely he is a newbie still intoxicated by the power trip the badge gives him.

I normally have a high respect for law enforcement, but on this one, it smells of newbie meat on a power trip



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[jwcfbd]

it was quit humorous and I had to keep myself from laughing a couple of times.

I agree with the power trip thing and your probably right about him calling his girlfriend.

 

[BulletTrain]

Keep in mind that I'm not sayin' it's cool, or right for them to feel this way but LOTS of cops absolutely HATE to be asked, "What did I do wrong?". Officers know all the laws and technicalities but they sometimes forget that Joe Public likely doesn't. It doesn't occur to them that someone could voilate a traffic law and not even know they done anything wrong. They figure that you know what you're doin' wrong and you're just givin' them a ration of poop, or that you have attitude. As officers gain experience most figure out that a high percentage of the public doesn't know shid about traffid laws beyond stop signs, speed limits, and lane lines.

My $.02 is that you ruffled his feathers when you repeatedly questioned that you done anything wrong. Not sayin' you were wrong in sayin' anything you quoted here in your post. Just sayin' that based on my experience from backin' up other officers on traffic stops, it pushes buttons on a fair number of officers. It's like they are put on the defensive, and sometimes even the offensive because their reason for the stop, and maybe even their authority is being questioned or challenged.

With all that said, I didn't see what he saw so I can't really armchair quarterback his reason for stoppin' you. You can go HERE to see the Georgia law regarding exhibition of speed though. I tend to believe that it'd be quite a stretch to call acceleratin' to the speed limit from an intersection in a Tahoe an "exhibition of speed". Unless you've modded the hell outta yer Tahoe I can't imagine it puttin' on much of a show from 0 to 45mph, or whatever the speed limit was.

Now, had you been on the busa the whole thing might make better sense.

 

[BulletTrain]

This guy pulled you over because more than likely he is a newbie still intoxicated by the power trip the badge gives him.

I normally have a high respect for law enforcement, but on this one, it smells of newbie meat on a power trip

If jwc hadn't quoted the guy as sayin' he's been doin' it for seven years I'da thought the same thing. Of course he could have worked in the jail for six years and 11 months and just hit the road.

Then again I know officers with a lot more than 7 years experience that still make questionable stops and act like that... Who knows?

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[jwcfbd]

Thanks BT. I'm sure I was pushing his buttons just a little but I think we both over reacted. Normally I am very cooperative and never question anything they say but this time I'm not sure what happened. Like you said I questioned him before I gave up my license and that is when it turned down hill. From there it just went from bad to worse. I'm sure had I just kept my mouth shut I would have been under way in less then five minuets instead of the half hour it wound up taking.

 

[STUNNAH]

Doesn't sound like it was that bad of an incident at all...Most officers want to see the license immediately as a means of knowing who their dealing with in case there is an attempted flight...I always ask for the license and if asked by the subject of the stop why, I politely reply that I will be more than happy to explain the nature of the stop as soon as the license is displayed...The pat down or frisk is not offensive either...If I were going to have you sit in my unit I would do the same however that is not a practice with all departments...I've forgotten more laws traffic/criminal than some of these rookies will ever know...Anyway a rookie mindset can be found in alot of what should be referred to as veteran officers, gun ho what ever...And that ain't my style...

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[bacharles]

Now don't go off-the-handle with this one guys, but this is how those people who are victims of Racial Profiling feel.

Whatever the case, NOONE ever feels good about this. Sorry JW, but I'm just glad that it worked out for ya.



Brian

 

[pure_ego]

i would have definatly not handled it as well... i just don't have the patience for that type of poop.

 

[BigBSBusa]

Glad it worked out, but I did feel like the guy was on the arrogant side of professional. I think he knew he was wrong for stopping you and was then trying to figure out a cool way to let you go and maintain his authoritative position.

 

[jwcfbd]

Stunnah, I agree with you that this wasn't that bad of an incident at all.  But you have to agree that it was stupid (on both our parts).  I realize that I did question his authority but when I did no wrong I think I had every right to question him.  I have no problems showing my license when asked to and I always do without question when I know what I did was wrong.  This time I was just in that kind of mood I guess and when I saw his lights come on that just pissed me off even more.  I know that cops have it rough at times and I have respect for them and what they do.  But at the same time I have dealt with there power trips more then once and for the most part it has just been them being jerks.  When I do something illegal I expect them to give me attitude but when I just make a turn or something else like that I expect them to realize that what I did was OK.  

Bacharles, no problem.  In a way I know where you're coming from.  When I was a teenager living in CT I dealt with the police on a regular basis because they loved to harass the kids every chance they got.  Driving down the road doing nothing wrong they would turn around and follow us for miles while running our plates.  This is fine if they were behind us to began with but to make it a point to come after us I don't think so.  When we would go out for walks after dark they would stop us and give us a hard time just because they could.  They would break up parties and then set up road blocks down the road and try to catch us for DUIs.  One girl told the officer that she couldn't drive and he told her that if she stayed she would be arrested for loitering and if I remember correctly she drove and got into an accident.  So I've been on both sides of the fence and I'm not proud of what happened but I do find it humorous.



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[VaBusa]

No offense to the fine upstanding, Busa riding officers on this board...

But...I think you made him drop his Krispy Kreme and that was reason enough to pull you over...cops need to vent sometimes too...have you ever had that glaze chip up and drop all over your uniform? It's not only embarrassing, it just plain pisses you off!

It's so easy to bash a cop for this or that, but I do try to remember that it's a job, just like mine, and sometimes they are wrong...I hate that they can't admit when they're wrong, but hey, I think that goes with the job. They really do need to maintain a certain toughness to get some respect...

I had a cop pull me over once, said I was speeding, wasn't running radar...he did the whole "run my license", talk to me about speeding, etc...when I kept insisting that I was using cruise control and only going 45 in a 45, he then went on to tell me that I shouldn't be using cruise control in that area, blah blah blah blah blah...

He let me go (oh, surprise, surprise), then proceeded to back his ass out on to a major highway in his patrol car...yep, been laughing about that guy since I was 18 years old!

I could have sworn it was illegal to back out on to a highway, but whatever...

Now, back to our regularly scheduled program...oh, and glad you didn't get the ticket jwcfbd!

 

[crazybusa]

check out my recent post on here about a cop with a problem... would love to have any LE on the board give there opinions...

 

[Kento-Moto]

I think it's cuz u look alot like a 70's drug dealing rock star i saw on Miami Vice once...

btw : For cops with attitudes please get pulled over in Honolulu, no kiddin.

 

[jwcfbd]

I think it's cuz u look alot like a 70's drug dealing rock star i saw on Miami Vice once...

btw : For cops with attitudes please get pulled over in Honolulu, no kiddin.

I knew I should have gotten my hair cut.

 

[Big O]

I knew I should have gotten my hair cut.

 

Hippie!!

I've been to traffic school 9 times, and the very first thing I learned, from a cop teaching the class, is don't say ANYTHING unless the cop asks you a direct question.