I was driving on Westheimer (at the time, a 4-lane long surface road with a reputation for cruisers and street racing) a couple of hours after dark on a Saturday night. I had my mom in the car. I was steady in my lane and obeying the speed limit because I knew traffic enforcement was heavy. I got lit up and pulled into a parking lot.
The approach was not casual. The body language was tense and ready for conflict. The officer who approached kept a much greater distance from the car than I'd ever seen before, having to take a step and stretch to reach for my license and then immediately withdrawing. Both he and his partner (who was in position at the right, rear of the car) made sure that their hands were on their guns the entire time.
They retired to the rear of my car and consulted. Then they re-took their positions and I was ordered out of the car. Just as I said "OK" and hit the door handle, a call came over the radio. The officer put his hand up to tell me to stop. I was already half out of the car but just froze right there. The voice over the radio ordered the officer to proceed directly to a crime in progress (a break-in? I don't remember exactly and the jargon was heavy.) The officer protested multiple times, saying he was in the middle of a stop.
The third time the dispatcher said "You're relieved from that!" it was very clear that the dispatcher was quite irritated.
The officer threw my driver's license at me and barked "Get out of here!"
"Ok. Uh, why did you stop me?"
"I said get out of here."
"Sure, but why did you stop me?"
"I told you to leave."
I had gotten completely out of the car because my license had wound up on the ground. I was really irritated that they'd pull me over, put on the macho attitude, then leave without so much as a "Fix that taillight" or even an lukewarm apology of some sort. They refused to even acknowledge that I had a right to ask them a question. As they started to pull away without a word of explanation, I lost my temper.
"What the $#@! are you doing?"
The cop froze. He was half into his unit and just stopped and glared at me but didn't say anything.
"You can't pull people over for no reason! Why the hell did you stop me?"
He snorted, got the rest of the way inside, and they tore out of the parking lot, narrowly missing me.
They did, however, answer my question...after a fashion. When the patrol unit passed by me, the partner on the passenger side flipped me the bird.
So my choice for "How to get away with a warning" is to have dispatch pull the officer off your stop before he can write the ticket. Now, if I could just find a way to make sure that would happen each time...
Good story but I smell fiction.
Good story but I smell fiction.
Good story but I smell fiction.
I can see why you would. Everything about that stop felt wrong, even in the moment.Good story but I smell fiction.
I can see why you would. Everything about that stop felt wrong, even in the moment.
None taken.No offense intended.
Cool cop.
Don't know about you guys, but every time I have a run-in with Johnny Law, he always gets an "I'm wasting my time here" look on his face once he sees the old CHL. I'm pretty sure it's got me out of a couple tickets.
Same here on the CHL.
I know for a fact my "Come And Take It" license plate has got me out of at least one because all the cop talked about was how cool it was.