Worst Traffic Stop, Ever...

[rentalguy1]

I have a funny one. I was with my girlfriend (girlfriend at the time) She was a Hooters girl and I had just picked her up from work. I was pulled over for a headlight being out. The female LEO came to me and asked for my license and what-not, then walked back to her car and called for more units. I was wearing a wife beater as I had come from the gym and I guess she felt intimidated (I have a lot of tats and my head was shaved, plus I'm not a small guy) She waited until they got there then asked me to get out and handcuffed me while they searched my car. I'm not sure why as I had no criminal record, but I digress. After it was all over the female cop lets my girlfriend get back in the car then gives me her card and tells me to give her a call when I decide to "lose the hooters chick." I was mad at the time but I look back on it now and laugh.

If she was hot, I hope you called her...

[Currently]

Maybe the Hooter girl was hotter ... he married her!

[-boatman-]

1 MPH? Wow, what an over achiever. thats got to be a record.

They do that in Gibson TN all the time.

[rentalguy1]

Maybe the Hooter girl was hotter ... he married her!

umm, what's your point? We're talking about hawt lady cop action here...

[Guest Jamie]

They do that in Gibson TN all the time.

Had a PD officer here when I was in high school that did that too.

Well, until he wrote the Mayor's mother for 1 mph over. Needless to say, his career in law enforcement didn't last too long after that.

J.

[Guest rockbottom12]

I had just gotten my new car and I was testing her out in Maryville. Now the car is an Altima (not the coolest but handles like a dream). I was taking "13 curves" way too fast just to see how tight the car was. On the last curve there was a cop stopped on the opposite side of the road with cars behind him. Almost like he was waiting on me (there's no way he could have seen me coming). He turned his lights on, did a u-turn and pulled me over. He came stomping and you could tell he was very pissed off. He was on the brink of yelling and said he clocked me at 70 in a 35. Was I going that fast? Probably. He collected my information and went to write me a ticket. He came back with his clipboard and said in a pissed off kinda tone, "This is your lucky day. I am out of tickets so I can't write you one. This is a warning (hands me the paper off the clipboard). Rest assured, had I had tickets, you would be receiving one for reckless driving." I was in the wrong and I knew it. I thanked him and left very slowly.

i am suprised there wasnt backup already on the way. you were lucky. day or night?

[Guest rockbottom12]

1999, Somewhere in Ohio, in my 1994 Freightliner FDL120 pulling a 53' dry van loaded with God knows what. I am merging from a interstate onramp onto the highway. Local cop lights me up before I even get merged. I hit the emergency, turn on the four ways and stop, thinking that I have ran over something or I'm dragging a trailer tire thanks to a locked up brake drum. Newbie cops struts up and asks the old question, "know why I pulled you over?" I told him I did not, but I was sure he was about to tell me. He goes on to state that I had the gall to be going 56 in a 55 (for trucks, 65 for cars). I was dumbfounded. He goes on to ask if he can search the truck, to which I said no. He said something about probable cause, to which I told him to get off the front step of my house (he was on the side step talking to me). I told him to get a warrant, because this was more than a vehicle, it was my home (and it was, at least through the week). He told me that getting a warrant would take hours. I told him that it was ok...I had time. About a hour later, his supervisor shows up. He asks me what the problem was, and I told him to ask his little buddy. Newb starts to tell him the story, and supervisor stops him at 56 in a 55. Tells him to go home for the rest of the day, hands me my license and tells me to have a nice day. You gotta love driving a truck in Ohio!

sounds like how it is going down 411 from maryville till cleveland. I have seen someone going 45 in a 45 with a cop on their tail just cruizing, then they start slowing down and pass the 35mph going well somewhere between the two and here comes on the lights.

[-boatman-]

I could tell several but I'll tell this one. It happened in the late seventies. I was going to work one morning running 55 on the dot. Met a trooper and looked in the mirror as we met. He was turning around in the road. I clutched, downshifted to third and put the pedal to the mat. I was about two miles from work and was comming up on several hills. Well, I outran him and when I got to work I pulled in between two buildings and around back. There was a seventy something year old guy worked there part time and he was standing in the side door when I went by him still moving at a pretty goo clip. His eyes were really big when I went by.

I went in the building to the front window (this was a auto parts store, the real old fashioned kind) and watched the trooper go back and forth two times. He made the third trip by and when he came back he slowed down, pulled around back, and walked in the side employee door just like he owned place. He asked who is driving the SS around back. What could I say but "me". He says "I should arrest your a** right now and carry you to jail". Then he said "come with me".

So we go around back and he pulls out a tape measure and tells me my bumper is one inch too high. I knew that but thought that would not be enough for anyone to notice. He gives me a ticket for that and only that. I don't know why that was all unless he did not want to go to court and say I outran him. I deserved more and never got one that I did not have coming.

So I borrow some wheels from a friend, get the back down one inch, and go to court. My bumper gets measured and I'm good to go. It did not cost me a dime.

There were a lot of cops back then who knew my car and knew me by name after writing me so many tickets. But I really tried to steer clear of that trooper. I felt like he might have it in for me.

I might tell another one later. This is the most I have used a keyboard in a while and I'm worn out.

[notananti]

In college (1997) I was in a hurry to get home (5 hr drive) due to a family emergency. About an hour into the drive, I got behind a car I felt was going extremely too slow and decided to pass it in the left turn lane. As I inched by the blue crown vic in my 2.3 liter isuzu truck (painfully slow) mean mugging the driver, I realized I was passing an unmarked police car. Needless to say I got pulled over.

I was nervous as hell because I was caught red handed doing something stupid. The officer became suspicious about my nervousnessn and didn't buy my story of why I was in a hurry. He noticed I didn't have any luggage, which I didn't because I was planning on returning for an exam the following morning, and suspected I was trafficking drugs.

Backup showed up and he asked for consent to search to which I granted since I had nothing to hide. They searched my truck up and down. After they found nothing, I was let go without a ticket. I was extremely grateful for that because I had less than 100 bucks in the bank at the time. However, my truck was a mess and my 118 piece craftsman toolset was accidently spilled by one of the officers so I had sockets and crap everywhere. I can't imagine what that ticket would have cost.

[rentalguy1]

Ooohhh...I got another one that I just remembered. 1991, stationed at Ft. Hood, TX and living in Harker Heights. Driving a 1990 Mazda 323 that wouldn't pull a greasy string from a cat's rear end. Made a right turn from a dead stop at a stop sign. Went about 20 feet and was pulled over for 35 in a 25. I told the cop that there was no way I was even going 15, much less 35. He told me to tell it to the judge. I called later that day and the to pay the ticket was $45. If I took it to court and won, the court cost was $50. Turns out the state busted them a few year later for writing many 10mph over tickets...They were able to build a brand new courthouse and fire station off us soldiers, though.

[Guest Caveman]

If she was hot, I hope you called her...

It's kind of hard to tell if a female LEO is hot with all that they wear. Her face was pretty, but my hooters girl was hotter, so no I didn't call her.

[Mark@Sea]

Coward, SC was well known for '1 mile over' tickets a while back. Went from 55 to 35, you'd better be doing 34 as soon aa you pass the sign.

Chesapeake cops want to search your car, you might as well say yes, otherwise they'd "move it out of traffic" to the nearest parking lot and search it anyway.

On slow nights back in the '80's, Norfolk cops would come onto the naval base and stop guys headed for the piers, write 'em speeding tickets for the highway outside the base - at that time fighting a traffic ticket was a major hassle, you had to get a command representative to go with you.

[Guest coldblackwind]

One night, (quite a while back, I think I was 17 or 18) I was messing around a bit (I had a dodge neon that had beaten not one, but 2 different corvettes, it wasn't like I built it as a commuter), and the nice nys trooper heading the other way happened to see me doing about 100 in a 55. I stomped it to the floor, and made for town, and stashed it behind some pine trees in a parking lot I knew about. He never even got his car stopped before I was out of sight. Well, I sat there for a minute, then decided to walk down to my buddies house, as there was a trooper barracks in town, and my chances of just cruising through were slim and none. Unfortunately, the sherriffs deputy driving by thought I was suspicious, and stopped me to ask what I drove. As soon as I said a neon, that was it, quick ride in the police car over to where my car was hidden. So he tells me he's not sure what he wants to ticket me for, as he figures hiding the car is evading, so he takes my license, and tells me he'll call me and tell me where I can pick it up, along with my tickets.

Now, I told that to tell this. The next day, not having learned my lesson, I get into a race with another neon on the expressway. I know there is usually a radar trap around this one corner, but figure I have plenty of time to slow down. Turns out the troopers outdid themselves this day. I see a guy leaning out from behind an underpass support about a mile from where they usually sit, so I spiked the brakes (got it down to about 90, not gonna cut it), so he leaps into his suv, in record time, and proceeds to follow the both of us. He can't get us both, and I figure he's trying to decide who he wants more, when I come around a corner, and what should await? 8 Troopers sitting, just waiting for him to radio 'em in. So we drive through the gauntlet, and he pulls over the other guy. I notice all the cops are busy, so I figure I'm homefree. Turns out, I was apparently bigger fish, because one pulls out from the one he was ticketing to get me. So I'm sitting in my car thinking to myself, well this sucks, I'm going to jail. Trooper comes strolling up the window, and says "going a little fast there". I said yeah, I suppose I probably was. So he says "so was that other neon", of course I answer "I don't know about him, but I notice I wasn't really going by him, so I guess he must have been too" (racing is a felony in NY). So then the dreaded words come, "let me see your license and registration", at which point, I had to look that trooper in the eye, and explain to him that the deputy sherriff who pulled me over the night before for 100 in a 55 still had my drivers license. The poor trooper, he was a young guy, and seemed pretty new. It was all he could do not to bust out laughing, as I calmly looked him in the eye, and said that. Ended up he called his superior, and asked what to do. Used my student ID as my ID, and sent me on my way with an 80 in a 65 ticket.

[JReedEsq]

You have to disclose everything, and I mean everything for the "character & fitness" evaluation to become licensed to practice law in Tennessee. This includes every address where you have resided, every job you've ever had (I had a ton of temp ones in college), and every speeding ticket. I had so many tickets before I was 18 I wrote and essay explaining that the board would have to use their authority to check Knox County and KPD records b/c I'm sure I couldn't remember them all and I would be glad to discuss any if necessary. When I was younger I never once got pulled over without getting a ticket. I even had a new KPD officer write me a ticket for not having a passenger side rear view mirror, and I had my cars searched lots of time based, I'm sure, on the fact that they didn't like my appearance. The interesting thing is that several of those experiences made me want to be a lawyer and "fight the cops". Now that I am a lawyer I actually have a huge amount of respect for what they do. I still see them do boneheaded things sometimes, but overall my perspective has changed quite a bit.

[E4 No More]

The strangest experience I have ever had with an LEO was when I was 16. I would like to note that when I was 16 I looked like I was 11-12, was 5' 4" and only weighed 120 lb. I was driving to a church function one afternoon on some back roads, going about 5 over and it was raining. Well an LEO driving the other direction turns on his lights, and began to turn around immediately after driving past my car. I pulled over, and waited for him to turn around and get behind me. He gets out of his car, walks up to the window as I am rolling it down and says "Do your parents know you took the keys son?" "Yes sir, they do." "Really? Your parents let you take the car without a license?" "Sir, I have a license." "Let me see it, and the registration." "Yes sir." I was fuming, I realized that I looked young but C'MON! While he looks at my license and the registration he decides to ask me a few more questions. "Where are you going?" "Church." "Do you have any drugs in the car?" "No." "Any dope, crack, methanphetamines?" "No sir. I don't do drugs." "Ever smoked weed?" "No sir." "Really?" He seemed shocked that the answer was no, and now I was really getting pissed. "Ever had any Alcohol?" "No." "Really? That's interesting." I am sure it was. "Do you know why I pulled you over?" "No, not really." "You have a headlight out, you need to get it fixed. Here is your license and registration, have a nice day." The he walked back to his car. Strangest LEO stop I have ever had.

My wife got pulled over by the Missouri Highway Patrol because the trooper did think that she was old enough to drive. She was 21 at the time.

[LagerHead]

When I was 17 I went from my friend's girlfriend's house to pick up my friend. On the way back, my brother and friends "encouraged" me to see how fast I could make it back. For those of that are familiar with Ft. Campbell, I was going from the part of Hammond Heights north of the gate 5 road, to Stryker village, east of where the MP station is (was?) on Indiana Ave.

Anyway, an MP on Indiana Ave, about 1/4 mile from where I was saw me hauling @$$ and turned on the lights and chased me into Stryker. My friends were always calling out "COP" as a joke, and this time I ignored them, thinking it was another joke, and didn't even check the rear view. So when they convince me they're not joking and I pull over, the MP is justifiably peeved, both because I was really cooking, and because he didn't have radar in his car (the speed checking device, not the mailman from MASH). So he finds some other things to write me up for. I got a ticket for a busted windshield, one missing windshield wiper, and a busted taillight. They also escort me to the MP station where they call my father and tell him the story.

When they tell him what happened, the MP made the mistake of telling my dad that they were going to write me up for the 3 aforementioned violations and "whatever else I can come up with." That's a direct quote. My dad then commences to chewing the @$$ of this unlucky Staff Sergeant and his supervisor. A month later, car fixed, we went down to some office and had all 3 tickets dismissed. But after that, I couldn't break wind in that car without getting pulled over by the MP's.

[Guest Daelith]

I’ve been very fortunate not to have ever gotten a speeding ticket so far. (Though there were times I probably should have. ) I can say though that I’m probably one of very few who was ever let go by the MPD's infamous Officer Shelby.

Some time back in the early 90’s, I was on my way to my mother’s house in Midtown. She lived just off of Union Ave then so I had a straight shot to her house down Walnut Grove Rd. As many of the locals know, there’s a section of Walnut Grove before it turns into Union that the speed limit drops to 30mph. Not a good area either. Even though I had my big male Rottweiler in the back of my GMC Jimmy, I didn’t slow down when I came to that area. There was Shelby with his radar gun. He waved me over. I was in the left lane so I had to let some traffic pass before I could safely pull over to the curb. He was demandingly waving and pointing at me the entire time even though it was obvious I was trying to comply. He stomped up to my window I had rolled down and took my license. Our conversation went like this:

OS: “Do you know you were speeding?”

“Yes sir, I do.” He looked a little puzzled at my reply. I guess he was just used to people denying it.

OS: “Why?”

“Because it’s a bad neighborhood and I was trying to get through it as quickly as possible.”

He blinked a couple of times as though he were taken off guard by my honesty, looked at me then my dog who was drooling out the back window at him then handed my license back to me and said, “Well slow down!.” Then he walked back to his motorcycle, picked up the radar gun and went back to work.

Edited April 12, 2010 by Daelith

[Guest Knightsr25]

Clocked at 173mph . 5 tickets in 3 months two over 90 mph , 3 over 115 mph all in 55mph zones . [ That was the national speed limit] I remember my insurance agent told me that Allstate didnt like the 55 speed limit so it wouldnt affect my insurance , he told the truth , rates never increased for the next 5 years .

[Krull]

When I was 18 I had scored some booz and was off to the coastline to be cool. I had a beans new Pathfinder and was feeling bulletproof........until I rounded a corner on A1A in Neptune Beach, Florida. (I grew up there it's about 18 miles from Jacksonville.

Well roadblock ahead and and I'll I pulled a swift Uey and had the 6 cyl pegged. Well you know at 18 I was smarter than any crummy LEO so I cut the lights and turned up the first driveway I came to.

Now this should worked after all the coppers were still past the bend and there was no way in hell they saw me. This would have been true if I hadn't installed fog lights myself that had a seperate switch. Oh well busted for evasion and illegal posession of alchohol.

Anyway all charges dropped after my pops pulled some strings. I guess wew were all smarter then.

[E4 No More]

What's with these stories of 1 mile over? The devices are only accurate to +/- 1 MPH, so they cannot testify that you were exceeding the posted speed limit due to the device.

[lowbud]

What's with these stories of 1 mile over? The devices are only accurate to +/- 1 MPH, so they cannot testify that you were exceeding the posted speed limit due to the device.

If ever comes the day I am pulled over and ticketed for +1-4 mph, that will be the day I loose my cool and get my ass arrested. Maybe it'll even show up on that stupid cops show and ya'll can laugh your asses off.

The only tickets I ever got for 5mph or less... were ones where the cop was nice enough to fudge the numbers a little in my favor.

[dats82]

I was living in Knoxville a few years back, and was coming up Chapman Hwy. The short of it is is that I was in the left lane, a car was passing me in the right lane, and we topped a hill, and met a trooper head on. He pulled me over and asked the usual questions. He said I was doing 83 in a 50. I told him I did not even drive that fast on the interstate, but I did not deny speeding, I just said I was not going that fast. I asked him if he did not see the car in the right lane passing me. He acknowledged that he did observe that, but then proceded to write me a ticket. I was dumbfounded. I went to court thinking the judge would be more sensible. I do not think I could have been more wrong. This was the first time I had ever been pulled over for speeding, much less ever gotten a ticket. I was 21 at the time. The judge made me pay the ticket, pay the court cost, and do 16 hrs of community service. On the bright side, I did learn something from the great lecture the judge gave me.

[whiskey]

I have only had positive pull-overs. Even when I got tickets, the officers have been polite and accurate in writing me a ticket.

One officer in FL pulled me over for speeding and then told me how my truck was out of alignment and was going down the road crooked. He had the same truck and the same issue.

One officer accidentally kept my DL. I picked it up from him a few days later when I was passing back through his area. Didn't get a ticket on that stop, just a check to make sure 3 teenage boys were sober after pulling into a gas station to take a nap on the way to Talladega.

[kb4ns]

I was living in Knoxville a few years back, and was coming up Chapman Hwy. The short of it is is that I was in the left lane, a car was passing me in the right lane, and we topped a hill, and met a trooper head on. He pulled me over and asked the usual questions. He said I was doing 83 in a 50. I told him I did not even drive that fast on the interstate, but I did not deny speeding, I just said I was not going that fast. I asked him if he did not see the car in the right lane passing me. He acknowledged that he did observe that, but then proceded to write me a ticket. I was dumbfounded. I went to court thinking the judge would be more sensible. I do not think I could have been more wrong. This was the first time I had ever been pulled over for speeding, much less ever gotten a ticket. I was 21 at the time. The judge made me pay the ticket, pay the court cost, and do 16 hrs of community service. On the bright side, I did learn something from the great lecture the judge gave me.

I often find myself wondering how often that happens. I've run a lot of radar in my time and written a lot of tickets. But I will NEVER stop a car unless I am ABSOLUTELY certain I have the right one.

[safeandsecure]

Story about a positive experience: 16, fast car, stupid ... sober ... but STUPID. I was doing about 112 in a 45-mph zone, and a THP Trooper pulled out in front of me with lights flashing, going after my buddy (who was in front of me). Double-yellow lines, 2-lane road, on-coming traffic, and roads were wet. I passed him. Swear. It was either pass him or rear-end him. (I said I was stupid.)

Took me about a mile to get stopped (because I had to speed up to get around the THP before I met the oncoming car head-on).

He actually turned off his emergency lights and pulled in behind me. I got out, walked back to his driver's side window, and watched him scrub his face with both hands. Took about a minute before he rolled his window down and told me to "GET IN!"

Took him about 3 more minutes to speak after that. Figured I'd be put under the jail, or just shot right there on the spot. But after he calmed down, I got a good tongue lashing, a warning ticket (for doing 55 in a 45), and he followed me home. Made me get my Pa out of bed, then backed out of our drive, leaving me to "explain" the situation.

I'da ruther been carried to jail ... ...

Fast forward 10 years almost to the month. Stopped me again, about 10 over the limit. I reminded him of the episode from 10 years before (and yeah, I already SAID I was stupid).

He let me go again! Told me if I could go 10 more years without him stopping me, he'd probably let me off again.

He was a really good guy. He was killed in a traffic accident before the next 10 years passed, and to this day, because of him, I try really hard to obey the traffic laws ... ... I've only had 2 "unpleasant" experiences with LEOs. But this one was the best ...