What to do when you get pulled over by the police

In article >,
The Real Bev > wrote:

> Cory Dunkle wrote:
> >
> > If the officer decides to be
> > friendly I will talk to him as a friend, such as when they have asked about
> > my cars ('67 and '68 Galaxie's).
>
> Jesus, is it legal for cops to pull people over just to ask them personal
> questions?

Legal? Hah! Who's gonna arrest them? In Philadelphia, I have seen cops
make outright dangerous and illegal moves while driving and it was
obvious they were not in an emergency. Every day on the way home from
work, I see cops parked illegally near a police station.

Then there's the time several years ago where a very attractive female
colleague of mine was stopped on her way to work by a young cop who
asked her out on a date, but only after getting her driver's license.
The cop even phoned her two or three times to ask her out. She declined
his advances. My colleague had to file a complaint with the Philly PD
before the cop lost his interest in her.

> >Jesus, is it legal for cops to pull people over just to ask them
personal
> >questions?
>
> It must be - people over on the Corvette forum tell stories of being
> pulled over just so the cop could check out their new C6.

I got my first vette when I was 23 (in 1991). I was pulled over twice
within a couple of months because "it didn't look like I could afford
that car". The one guy claims there was an APB for a similar vette,
and he checked out the VIN number both in the door and under the
window, the other cop said I looked suspicious.

"Daniel J. Stern" > wrote in message
n.umich.edu...
> On Wed, 18 May 2005 wrote:
>
>> QUESTION: You are driving along and get pulled over by the police. It's
>> 3am, there is no other traffic on the road, and you just had a few beers
>> but are not really drunk, however, you are likely over the legal alcohol
>> limit. You stop your car and a cop walks up to your window. You do one
>> of the following.
>
> <snip answers A through J>
>
> K. You're Cory Dunkle, so you give the cop attitude, accuse him of
> profiling you just because you're a teenager driving a clapped out old car
> with an excessively loud exhaust system, and also because you're unable to
> provide a driver's license, registration or insurance 'cause you left them
> on top of your girlfriend's toilet. Oh, and also you give the cop a
> raftload of **** because he claims you were squealing your tires through
> the red light you just ran. Which is all true, but the Honda Civic in
> front of you was doing all that and more, which just proves the cop hates
> teenagers driving loud, clapped-out old cars erratically at weird hours.

You're funny, has anyone ever told you that?

"Cory Dunkle" > wrote in message
...
> "The Real Bev" > wrote in message
> ...
>> Cory Dunkle wrote:
>> >
>> > If the officer decides to be
>> > friendly I will talk to him as a friend, such as when they have asked
> about
>> > my cars ('67 and '68 Galaxie's).
>>
>> Jesus, is it legal for cops to pull people over just to ask them personal
>> questions?
>
> No, but I've gotten out of two speeding tickets


The number of times you've been pulled over is phenomenal.

"Bill 2" > wrote in message
...
>
> "Cory Dunkle" > wrote in message
> ...
> > "The Real Bev" > wrote in message
> > ...
> >> Cory Dunkle wrote:
> >> >
> >> > If the officer decides to be
> >> > friendly I will talk to him as a friend, such as when they have asked
> > about
> >> > my cars ('67 and '68 Galaxie's).
> >>
> >> Jesus, is it legal for cops to pull people over just to ask them
personal
> >> questions?
> >
> > No, but I've gotten out of two speeding tickets
>
>
> The number of times you've been pulled over is phenomenal.

I can think of 8 times that I've been pulled over. It is ludicrous to be
harassed so many times. 6 of those have been late at night, and basically
profiling or 'going fishing'. There was no validity to those stops
wahtsoever. Hell, I was stopped and given 3 tickets one night for stopping
in a parking lot one night while tying my boots (was not comfortable driving
a manual trans with socks bunched up in my toes and an untied boot). I got 3
tickets that night, and all were dismissed when I went to court. The judge
said I never should have been stopped in the first place. Like I said, it's
all been cops going fishing and getting all excited about a young guy out at
night, especially when they stop me and I'm nervous because I don't trust
cops one bit.

> wrote in message
...
> On Fri, 20 May 2005 19:38:29 -0400, "Cory Dunkle" >
> wrote:
>
> >"Bill 2" > wrote in message
> ...
> >>
> >> "Cory Dunkle" > wrote in message
> >> ...
> >> > "The Real Bev" > wrote in message
> >> > ...
> >> >> Cory Dunkle wrote:
> >> >> >
> >> >> > If the officer decides to be
> >> >> > friendly I will talk to him as a friend, such as when they have
asked
> >> > about
> >> >> > my cars ('67 and '68 Galaxie's).
> >> >>
> >> >> Jesus, is it legal for cops to pull people over just to ask them
> >personal
> >> >> questions?
> >> >
> >> > No, but I've gotten out of two speeding tickets
> >>
> >>
> >> The number of times you've been pulled over is phenomenal.
> >
> >I can think of 8 times that I've been pulled over. It is ludicrous to be
> >harassed so many times. 6 of those have been late at night, and basically
> >profiling or 'going fishing'. There was no validity to those stops
> >wahtsoever. Hell, I was stopped and given 3 tickets one night for
stopping
> >in a parking lot one night while tying my boots (was not comfortable
driving
> >a manual trans with socks bunched up in my toes and an untied boot). I
got 3
> >tickets that night, and all were dismissed when I went to court. The
judge
> >said I never should have been stopped in the first place. Like I said,
it's
> >all been cops going fishing and getting all excited about a young guy out
at
> >night, especially when they stop me and I'm nervous because I don't trust
> >cops one bit.
> >
>
>
> Just curious. What were you ticketed with?

No insurance (insurance company didn't send me my new card), invalid
driver's license (license was valid), and no inspection (was still within my
'grace period' and had a sticker to show for it). The cop also made my
girlfriend drive home. She did not know how to drive a manual transmission,
she did not have her glasses, she had only gotten her license a couple weeks
ago and had hardly driven at all. She drove on the wrong side of the road
during her drivers test too. I told the cop all this, he didn't care... Said
she was driving or the car was getting towe dand we would both stay the
night in jail.

Then the cop watched from across the street as my girlfriend tried for 20
minutes to get the car going and figure out how to drive it. This was after
the cop called in another cop adn they played good cop/bad cop with my
girlfriend trying to get her to say that I had taken her against her will
and raped her or was going to rape her. She was terrified and thought we
were both going to jail. She drove a couple miles away with me shifting and
steering for her, then we switched placed and I drove us home.

When I went to court I showed them my documents and told my story, they
dismissed all the tickets. I went to file a complaint and the judge told me
not to bother as they would just throw it out and it would enver see the
light of day.

Between this and the experience I had spending several hours in a gas
station parking lot after midnight being harassed by cops trying to get me
to admit to being DUI or having drugs in my car. That was for several hours
until a Lieutenant came along and say waht the officers were doing, quickly
asked me a few quistions and then got all his pigs to leave real quick,
before I thought to get badge numbers and such. I was scared like I've never
been scared before. Shaking in fear and from the freezing cold. They made me
stand outside barefoot for several hours on the cold pavement in only my
sweatpants, t-shift and a jacket as the temperatures dipped towards
freezing. Why was I stopped you ask? Well finally right before they left the
officer who stopped me claimed I was "all over the road". The real reason is
most likely that it was after midnight and I was driving 5 MPH or so under
the speed limit, just going for a relaxing cruise in my Galaxie on my way
home from taking my girlfriend home.

So between those two experiences I totally hate police officers. I feel the
world would be a much better place without scumbags like that. There are
better ways of policing our society than sleazy 'people' with no respect for
anyone or anything (especially the law). Before those two experiences I had
no problem with the police. I looked up to them and respected them. Now I
hate, loathe and despise them. I think it's reaonable to assume experiences
like those are enough to make most people dislike and not trust the police.

Cory

On Wed, 18 May 2005 03:48:56 -0500, , said the following in
rec.autos.driving...

I don't consume alcohol, but I'll bite at answering the question:

> Please express your honest opinion to this question, using the letter
> that matches your answer.
>
> QUESTION: You are driving along and get pulled over by the police.
> It's 3am, there is no other traffic on the road, and you just had a
> few beers but are not really drunk, however, you are likely over the
> legal alcohol limit.
>
> You stop your car and a cop walks up to your window.
>
> You do one of the following.

<snip>

> B. You dont say a word, just sit there and let him do all the talking,
> and wait for him to ask you for your license and registration.

> Which one of these would you do?

<snip>

>
> Answer here, (just insert one of the above letters) _________________

B.

>
> Place any additional comments below:

When dealing with the police in a situation where you may be
jailed and/or accused of something, remember that "silence is golden."
Never, never say anything the police anything that they can use against
you. Even if the officer doesn't read you the rights, you still have the
right to remain silent; use it.

Disclaimer: not a lawyer. just my 0.02 USD.

\"Scott en Aztlán" > wrote in message
news
> On Sun, 22 May 2005 00:39:42 -0400, "Cory Dunkle" >
> wrote:
>
> >No insurance (insurance company didn't send me my new card), and no
inspection
> >(was still within my 'grace period' and had a sticker to show for it).
>
> Hmm... In another post, you got a ticket for having expired license
> plates (paraphrasing: "it was only expired by a few days - they should
> have cut me some slack!").
>
> Does anyone else see a pattern forming here?

Yeah, I groaned and moaned about teh expired registration, but I didn't make
a huge fuss over it as it was my fault. In the case of that ticket I
mentioned that was thrown out it was the insurance companies fault for not
sending me my card. They sent me a card when I put teh car on the policy,
the card was good for a couple days. They sent me that card instead of the
card for the new 6 month term. The fact that the judge dismissed that ticket
should say something about it.

> >She drove on the wrong side of the road during her drivers test too.
>
> Then how the **** did she get a driver's license??!?!!?!? GodDAMN, but
> New Jersey is one ****ed-up state!!!!!!

I think it's like that in many states. They will let anyone pass. My friend
is a driving school teacher and he knows some of the people at the DMV. They
will always pass middle-aged people regardless of how unsafe tehir driving
is. The reasoning is that those people need a car to support themselves. Gee
whiz, younger people don't need a car to support themselves? College isn't
free! Rent isn't free!

In any case, people should only be given a drivers license after completing
a real road test and performing very well on it. Not the ridiculous drive
around the block and parallel park things they do here. My ex should not
have gotten her drivers license. After she got her license we spent a lot of
time working on teaching her how to drive before she ever drove on her own.

My current girlfriend passed her test despite parallel parking on a snow
bank. I guess I can see passing a person if their parallel parking is the
only questionable part. People will generally avoid parallel parking if they
don't know how to. I still have to teach her to drive though. She got her
first car a week or two ago, an '86 Monte Carlo. The first time she drove it
on her own she ran into a sign pole and messed up the passenger side fender
and door. She said the car stalled, she started it and it lurched forward. I
figured maybe the neutral safety switch was broke and in a panick she
started it in gear. Not the case, it will not even start in neutral, must be
in park. She is clueless about driving. When driving with her I have had to
correct her countless time about not turning the wheel quickly enough. She
will turn very wide, turning onto the wrong side of the road or nearly
hitting parked cars (if I were to not say anything). I don't think she
should have been passed on her test. At least all she hit was a sign and she
only messed upa cheapy $700 beater car. Glad we didn 't get her a nice Fox
body Mustang as she originally wanted, it woulda been a shame to mess up
something with a nice body and nice paint.

I don't know how she got the thing to stall. I drove the car when we went
out the day and night before when she hit the pole and it drove quite nicely
other than a slightly rough idle. I have since rebuilt the carb and given it
a tune-up. It runs much nicer, but the idle is still rough and it smells
rich. It's the damned computer controlled carb and distributor that's making
it run rough. If it were a normal engine I would have it running very
smoothly and cleanly by now. Oh well, it's jsut a cheapo beater car. It
doesn't stall though (even when I've tried to make it stall) and now runs
better when cold and has more power. She's afraid to drive now after hitting
that sign, so her car is still in my driveway. I don't think she'll be
driving alone for a little while (a good thing IMO). She drove us to Subway
today and did decent, except that park where someone was pulling out of his
driveway and waiting in the middle of the street for someone else to pull
out. She stopped and then started slowly driving forward adn to the right
towards a telephone pole. I had to tell her to stop and wait. Bah, she'll
figure it out eventually. At least now she's stopped getting upset when I
tell her I'd rather her not drive alone yet. She was quite upset when I told
her I don't want her driving her dad's death trap Buick with bad brakes
(hardly any pad left, grinds sometimes, badly warped rotors), a completely
shot suspension, worn steering that pulls hard to the right, and an engine
that hesitates and stutters and time you hit the gas at more than a snails
pace (acts like a bad accelerator pump, but it's fuel injected). Her dad
doesn't take care of cars. Bah, in any case, too many bags of worms to
mention.

> >So between those two experiences I totally hate police officers.
>
> What about all the other experiences, like when you were caught doing
> doughnuts in the parking lot behind the police station?

Hey, that cop was cool. He just smiled and waved as I cruised on past with
smoke still coming off the tires and the police station totally engulfed in
smoke. No harm done and no danger, so no problem I suppose.

Cory