Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967 Posted July 6, 2021 Share Posted July 6, 2021 The local supermarket is open 'til midnight, so from time to time I take advantage of this and do my grocery shopping late at night. No crowds, no lines, shelves pretty much stocked. So a few nights ago about 2245 off I went - gathered up a few staples, piled on the seat of my Dodge truck (decided not to by a Jerry Brown bag) and headed home. Home was less than four miles, three turns on deserted county roads. At the third intersection, when the light turned green I made my third turn, with about a mile and a half straight shot to home. I'd gone about a quarter mile when Whang! the red lights came on. What the heck...? I was definitely not speeding, I hadn't made my turn 'til the light was green, I didn't think I was on fire... so naturally, I pulled over and had my "papers" ready when the officer eventually walked up to the passenger side window. He motioned for me to open the window - no can do; they're not electric, and my arms aren't long enough to reach across the Dodge's cab. "Can't reach that far - just open the door, please!" Well, the fella did just that, and I think he was a tad surprised to find a grampaw-looking white guy wearing a Tidewater Tides ball cap. He introduced himself as Officer Somethin'-or-the-other of the California Highway Patrol (they share rural county road patrol with the Sheriff Department in these parts), quickly took in my pile of groceries, then asked if I had a drivers license. Of course I did, and handed it to him, expecting him to mosey on back to his SUV and run a check on me. He didn't; he studied it for a moment, then handed it back, and said "Well, the reason I stopped you is that your trailer hitch ball is obscuring your license plate. You cannot have your plate obscured, and you can only have that ball on when towing a trailer." Huh? Well, I'll be danged - that ball's been there for over twenty years, and it has never been an issue. "Well, Officer, I live about a mile up the road here; I'll pull it off when I get home. "By the way, do you know - " and offered up the name of one of his colleagues. Normally, I get annoyed at name-dropping, but what the heck... And of course, he did. A couple more names, followed by some light-hearted banter, and he smiled and said "Ya know, this was really just a 'probable cause' stop for a sobriety check.' Y'all have a good night!" That was cool. One night last week I'd dozed off in my recliner; woke up about 0100 and was staggering off to bed when I realized there was a flashing light through the front windows. "Sheesh! Either we're having a Blue Light Special or there's COPS out front!" Sure 'nuff... five of 'em were gathered in my driveway. A mix of CHP and deputies. Seems it was a convenient place for 'em to gather to determine if some hapless old minivan driver that a deputy had pulled over was less than sober. They were there nearly an hour. Ultimately, they must have decided the guy wasn't drunk, 'cuz they all drove off at the same time - even the fella in the minivan. I do believe this fella had been one of 'em. Edit: I forgot to mention that I had a Boy Scout leader uniform hanging behind me. Mebbe I'll start wearing it on my late-night shopping excursions.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Riot Posted July 6, 2021 Share Posted July 6, 2021 Well, perhaps you should look at it this way. When seconds count the police are only seconds away…at the end of your driveway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967 Posted July 6, 2021 Author Share Posted July 6, 2021 2 minutes ago, Pat Riot, SASS #13748 said: Well, perhaps you should look at it this way. When seconds count the police are only seconds away…at the end of your driveway. If I hadn't been so danged sleepy I woulda put on a pot of coffee and pulled up a lawn chair. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cold Lake Kid, SASS # 51474 Posted July 6, 2021 Share Posted July 6, 2021 Funny when you get stopped or visited and passers-by and neighbours are peering out the windows and doors to see if they're coming to take you away. I used to get pulled over by friends, on patrol in marked Crown Vics and my wife would have to deal with a phone call or two about, how The cops have your husband pulled off the road when we drove by." Then I'd get the questions when I got home. Sometime, we were planning a fishing or hunting trip, other times it was business; I was the Purchasing Agent and often their shifts didn't align with my work day, so we handled things by hook or by crook, Saturdays, Sundays, later at night, whatever. The best ones were the times, when we first moved into this our new home, in a new subdivision. The DART and/or Tactical Response Teams would drop in for visit, coffee or just to catch up, (now that I'm retired). They park out front or in the drive with these obvious black Suburbans or marked cars and be here for a while. Caused some concern until the neighbours got it figured out and decided I was harmless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeaconKC Posted July 6, 2021 Share Posted July 6, 2021 When I still worked as a Parole Agent, my house was a regular stop for the local K9 guys. They would pull in the driveway and fill up the doggy's water tank/bowl from the hose. And of course the dogs often took a quick trip to the culvert to drain their tanks as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subdeacon Joe Posted July 6, 2021 Share Posted July 6, 2021 2 hours ago, Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967 said: They were there nearly an hour. Ultimately, they must have decided the guy wasn't drunk, 'cuz they all drove off at the same time - even the fella in the minivan. I do believe this fella had been one of 'em Gave him enough time to blow under the limit? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
watab kid Posted July 6, 2021 Share Posted July 6, 2021 back in the 70s my sister [who was living in my house at the time] threw a keggar , had a lot of interesting friend between us - some bikers that parked in the front lawn , the mayor and city attorney , as well as some professors from the local college , the cops showed up to ask about the bikes in the lawn , was a short exchange between them and the city attorney and they were off - we were not loud nor bothersome to the neighbors but funny how just a little inconstancy in appearance can trigger questions , everyone was drinking beer outside tho , the bikers were friends that showed their scooters at car shows , Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967 Posted July 6, 2021 Author Share Posted July 6, 2021 2 hours ago, Subdeacon Joe said: Gave him enough time to blow under the limit? Maybe. Or until someone could come and drive his vehicle away. That's often done in these parts in lieu of towing it to an impound yard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waxahachie Kid #17017 L Posted July 6, 2021 Share Posted July 6, 2021 Unless I was weaving all over the highway, I would not have been pleased at a "probable cause" stop. He should have had a name tag on, so I would have noted his name, and the time, and later decided what I would do, if anything. I do not mind getting stopped for a legitimate reason...such as a tail light is out, or my muffler is dragging the pavement, and causing sparks, etc. I never answer any questions, other than to give my name, and he can get that off of my driver's license. I usually just shrug, if asked a question, or might say "I don't know", if push comes to shove. Many a poor soul has ended up in jail, by talking too much. Let your attorney do the talking, and keep yer mouth shut!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smoken D Posted July 6, 2021 Share Posted July 6, 2021 Always had P.C. when stopping a car. Most of the time ended in a good arrest. The other times were just good citizens which I never wrote a ticket on. Told them to fix it or correct the problem. I hated stopping good folks, a waste of my time. Couldn't stand them, in my way to arrest bad guys. But, I always made good P.R. out of the stop. Ask them things like anything suspicious in their neighborhood I should be aware of. That would lead to other good arrest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sedalia Dave Posted July 6, 2021 Share Posted July 6, 2021 Wife and I got stopped in Flagstaff AZ many years ago. marked car was going the other way and as he passed me he turned on his lights and did a u-turn to get behind us. Wasn't speeding and a little baffled as the the why. No shoulders and was pulling a trailer so turned on the flashers till I found a parking lot to pull into so I could get completely off the road. Guy walked up and I gave him my license and military ID. He looked them over and then started to apologize for stopping us. Seemed that a truck similar to ours was on the hot sheet that morning and he had initiated the stop before he was able to verify that my truck didn't match. I thanked him for taking the initiative as if it was my truck that was stolen I would want it back. He smiled and told us to have a good day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Riot Posted July 6, 2021 Share Posted July 6, 2021 Back in 2006 I got pulled over for a “Hollywood Stop” at a stop sign in my rural town in North Carolina. Instead of pulling over on the two lane highway I hooked a right into this smarmy little neighborhood that looked like it was designed by Mr. Rogers and friends. It was about 6am on a Monday. Side note about this neighborhood - it was full of snotty Yankees. I worked with some of them. The most righteous thing about that neighborhood? The city dump was physically across the highway blocked by a hill and less than an eighth of a mile away. The smell was so bad the dump pumped “deodorizer” into the air because the smell in “Smarmytown” (as I called it) was so bad. Anyway, the officer was very polite and he thanked me for pulling off the main road for “safety”. He asked me if I knew why I was being pulled over. I said “Yes”. He wrote me a ticket then explained to me that he “thought I must have had some oil on my foot and therefore my foot slipped off the brake pedal” and if I went to the courthouse and told them that there would be a $10 fine sling with a $100 Admin fee and nothing would show up on my insurance. I thanked him for the advice and went to work. Around 10:00 that morning we had a meeting. Two of the people in that meeting lived in stinky “smarmytown”. I was 5 minutes late to that meeting (on purpose - the meeting was a weekly annoyance to discuss issues I couldn’t care less about) When I walked in everyone quiet immediately. As I sat down one of the smarmytown stink rats said “Hi Tim, is there anything you’d like to tell us that happened this morning?” In his syrupy condescending way. (Turns out I was pulled over across from his house - it tickled me to think he was the first in his neighborhood to experience the dump smell first in his neighborhood of morons and liberal tally-whacked) I said “Nope, nothing that would be any of your concern anyway.” That’s when I knew that they knew I got pulled over. Long story short I spent the rest of the day telling everyone about my lawless ways but every time I told the story I changed it. I told one lady the cop was a friend and he pulled me over to discuss a fishing trip. I told a guy the cop was on the take and it only cost me $20 to get a ticket dropped. I told the smarmytown stink rat that the cop pulled me over for speeding but let me go because I pulled into their neighborhood and he loved it when he could disrupt the lives of the people in that housing tract. I told the other guy that lived in that neighborhood, who was the VP of the HOA, that the cop was so concerned about my speed going past smarmytown that for the sake of the residents he had to pull me over for their safety. I’ll bet the next HOA meeting was funny. By the next day no one had the right story except for my boss who gave me permission to come in late the next week to get my fix-a-ticket fixed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Sage, SASS #49891 Life Posted July 6, 2021 Share Posted July 6, 2021 Been towing trailers for 55 years and have never heard it was illegal to have a trailer towing ball on when not towing. Must be a California thing....oh and I lived in California for almost 60 years! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
irish ike, SASS #43615 Posted July 6, 2021 Share Posted July 6, 2021 Cop was "fishing" for drunks and created a PC so it was a "legitimate" stop. Trailer ball illegal, I call BS on that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Riot Posted July 6, 2021 Share Posted July 6, 2021 In regards to CHP and trailer hitch balls I found this: V C Section 28071 Passenger Vehicle Bumper RequirementsPassenger Vehicle Bumper Requirements28071. Every passenger vehicle registered in this state shall be equipped with a front bumper and with a rear bumper. As used in this section, "bumper" means any device designed and intended by a manufacturer to prevent the front or rear of the body of the vehicle from coming into contact with any other motor vehicle. This section shall not apply to any passenger vehicle that is required to be equipped with an energy absorption system pursuant to either state or federal law, or to any passenger vehicle which was not equipped with a front or rear bumper, or both, at the time that it was first sold and registered under the laws of this or any other state or foreign jurisdiction. If the trailer hitch is beyond the bumper, it's no longer the first contact in a collision. Total Bull Shtuff as far as I am concerned. I never leave my ball hitch in because I don’t want someone walking into it, but if I got pulled over and ticketed for it I would fight it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bgavin Posted July 6, 2021 Share Posted July 6, 2021 My place was a local gathering spot for SWAT. I came out to dump the trash, and found half a dozen at my gate, all in body armor, tactical weapons and their dog. I was unperturbed, so I dumped the trash, said "Good morning" and asked 'em if they wanted me to open the gate instead of climbing over it. The house next to me was a smack dealer, and SWAT was there to pay him (another) courtesy call. Just another day in the PRK. We keep a fan in the bedroom window year 'round to drown out the noise of barking dogs and the ghetto bird (cop helicopter). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967 Posted July 6, 2021 Author Share Posted July 6, 2021 Ya... 'twas a "PC" stop. The officer said it was. All in all, I didn't mind too much - but sometimes the local gendarmerie do stretch a mite: A few weeks ago Helen Brimstone and I went to a memorial luncheon in Crocket, California - sort of in the Bay Area. About a 375 mile round trip for Helen. Since I live about 30 miles north of her, she picked me up and I drove there and back. After she dropped me off, she headed home. But this isn't so simple... with a ton of road construction in the area due to highway upgrades and High Speed Rail caused detours, finding a way to get back on the freeway can be challenging. Now, I live east of Highway 99 - she had to go west to get to the highway, but the southbound on ramp heading west was closed. To get on the freeway, she had to cross over, turn onto a dead-end road, execute a U-turn and find her way to the open on-ramp. And she got lit up right after she entered the on-ramp. After he had ascertained that she was a female "senior citizen" who was quite sober, the local police officer said that she had made an illegal U-turn. On a dead-end street. She apologized for her mis-deed, and mentioned that she was a retired Cal-Trans engineer. He let her go with a warning. Hm. U-turn on a dead-end street. Actually, a dead-end country road; the last structure was a gas station a hundred yards behind the point she made her turn. So if that's illegal, howcome all the dead-end streets in the state aren't filled up with cars by now?? By the way - the truck, just before I remove the 1 7/8" ball~: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hendo Posted July 6, 2021 Share Posted July 6, 2021 Hardpan, if I've told you once, I've told you a hundred times... Don't open the donuts until you get home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Singin' Sue 71615 Posted July 7, 2021 Share Posted July 7, 2021 13 hours ago, Sedalia Dave said: Wife and I got stopped in Flagstaff AZ many years ago. marked car was going the other way and as he passed me he turned on his lights and did a u-turn to get behind us. Wasn't speeding and a little baffled as the the why. No shoulders and was pulling a trailer so turned on the flashers till I found a parking lot to pull into so I could get completely off the road. Guy walked up and I gave him my license and military ID. He looked them over and then started to apologize for stopping us. Seemed that a truck similar to ours was on the hot sheet that morning and he had initiated the stop before he was able to verify that my truck didn't match. I thanked him for taking the initiative as if it was my truck that was stolen I would want it back. He smiled and told us to have a good day. We were stopped for the very same...truck matched a robbery that had just occured. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Clark Posted July 7, 2021 Share Posted July 7, 2021 16 hours ago, Singin' Sue 71615 said: We were stopped for the very same...truck matched a robbery that had just occured. You two definitely fit the description of robbers….. Shanley and Sue! Y’all could be stunt doubles for Bonnie and Clyde Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Singin' Sue 71615 Posted July 7, 2021 Share Posted July 7, 2021 22 minutes ago, Captain Clark said: You two definitely fit the description of robbers….. Shanley and Sue! Y’all could be stunt doubles for Bonnie and Clyde Right??? I think the officer turned three shades of red, explaining why we were stopped!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Singin' Sue 71615 Posted July 7, 2021 Share Posted July 7, 2021 3 minutes ago, Singin' Sue 71615 said: Right??? I think the officer turned three shades of red, explaining why we were stopped!!! Judy Jetson, maybe!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wallaby Jack, SASS #44062 Posted July 7, 2021 Share Posted July 7, 2021 GORGEOUS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Singin' Sue 71615 Posted July 7, 2021 Share Posted July 7, 2021 23 minutes ago, Wallaby Jack, SASS #44062 said: GORGEOUS We were all young... once!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wallaby Jack, SASS #44062 Posted July 7, 2021 Share Posted July 7, 2021 2 minutes ago, Singin' Sue 71615 said: We were all young... once!!!! ........ and we're all here playing Cowboy like we're 8 years olde ..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Singin' Sue 71615 Posted July 7, 2021 Share Posted July 7, 2021 28 minutes ago, Wallaby Jack, SASS #44062 said: ........ and we're all here playing Cowboy like we're 8 years olde ..... You bet!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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