pmas76

I’m driving my girlfriend home last night at around 1:00 AM when I make a left turn, as the left turn light is turning red. After about a half mile an undercover flicks on his lights and pulls me over. When he comes over my car this is what went down:

Officer: license, registration, and insurance
Me: did I do something wrong?
Officer: where are you coming from?
Me: home
Officer: were you making a left off sunrise hwy?
Me: yes
Officer: was the light red?
Me: I believe it was turning red
Officer: it was red…stay put…I’ll be back

AFTER ABOUT FIVE MINUTES HE COMES BACK

Officer: I cut you a brake
Me: ..???
Officer: the insurance card you gave me is expired. Just mail in your current card with this ticket and the summons will be dismissed.
Me: thank you
Officer: do you know anyone with the same name as you?
Me: yeah, my father
Officer: well, it turns out there is someone with the same name as you that has a warrant out for their arrest. Isn’t that funny. I knew it wasn’t you because the description says he is bald.
Me: wow
Officer: do me a favor and roll your window up for me a little bit.

HE PLACES THOSE TINT LIGHT DETECTORS ON MY WNDOW

Officer: see that number…it should be 70 or higher

MINE SAID 12

Me: ohh, I wasn’t aware
Officer: yeah, you better get that fixed or you might get a ticket in the future
Me: ok, I will (thinking in my head, yeah right!!)

My questions are:

1) Why did he only give me an insurance ticket?

2) If I would have given him my current insurance card, which was in the car, but I accidentally gave him the wrong one, would he have given me a red light ticket or nothing at all?

3) Who the heck is this other guy with my name and what did he do?

2kSeattleMax

Thank god you didn't blurt out "I'm not only a member, I'm the club president!" It would have been BOOYA! You're coming with me!

02MaximizedVQ

LOLOLOL!!!

RC03MAX

Sounds to me like the cop was in a VERY good mood....lucky for you !!!!!!!

Anuj

wow...there's a serial killer with the same name as you!

foodmanry

iTrader: (15)

Oh man...this story brings back memories for me. In high school I use to drive this little red Chevy Turbo Sprint. Oh yeah a 3-banger with a turbo, actually a really quick car. Anyways there are not many cars like it at all and I was cruising to my mechanic's shop for some maintenance on it and I see behind me two unmarked police cruisers with their lights going. So I'm thinking, "What the hell?" It must be me since I was the only one on the road and I pull over. They get out of their cars with their guns drawn pointed at me. There was 3 or 4 cops. All have their guns at my head and ask me to put my hands up on the dash. I comply. They pull open the door and frisk me while in the car. Still pointing their guns at me they ask for driver's license, insurance, and registration. As soon as I give them that their mouths dropped and they put their guns away. Apparently there was a guy that looked exactly like me driving the same exact car as mine who they had an APB out on for some murder.

I was like...damn I'm just glad they didn't end up shooting me.

Maximax2

Yeah, when I was in college there was some idiot with almost the same name (slightly different spelling) that periodically got in bar fights or some other random thing. Anyway, regarding your questions - understand your interest but basically the answers are:

1. My guess would be that, like he said, he gave you a break. He'd called in the stop, and I think (don't actually know) that once they start officially calling in and checking records for a stop they have to do something (I could be way off, but that's what I've heard).

2. impossible to answer

3. ditto

vqman

[political sarcasm]oh my! that's chevy sprint driver profiling! did you sue the police department for profiling? that is a violation of you rights![/political sarcasm]

but seriously, it really is a good thing they didn't shoot.

-vq

slickrick

iTrader: (12)

1. because you technically did nothing wrong because he has no proof whether or not the light was red. "nothing good happens after 12" is what my dad would say about cops. hes a lawyer and says they just find any, any excuse to pull you over.

2. i dont think so. i had a friend who was speeding going about 17 over but he gave him the wrong card also. all he has to do is mail in the new one. he got no ticket for speeding.

3. who knows.

Young04

you got a really nice cop, dude. nassau cops start at 60K/year, last time i checked. maybe that's why they have some class.

hilarious story.

BioMaxDDS

iTrader: (1)

damn...that's some good money. they deserve it though, they risk their lives everyday to protect us (well most of them)

pmas76

it wasnt a Nassau cop. It was a Rockville Centre cop. They have their own cops because its an incorporated village. RVC cops are usually ****** because the town is so goody too shoes that they have nothing else to do but give lame tickets.

MichaelAE

iTrader: (1)

Was he a Deputy? The Sherriff's department in some places, cannot issue traffic violation tickets. They can only give you a "Proof of Insurance" form.

If there is a warrant out for the other guy's arrest...you might be able to stop by your local police department and ask them to look it up.

Andrew

iTrader: (5)

Pmas..

You know how those Nassau cops are. Especially if you are around the South Shore (Long Beach is the worst). The cop pulled you over because he probably wanted to get you for something that night. who the hell knows.

A-

PHATMAN5050

I doubt that the person with the same name of you that has the warrant out has done something terribly wrong. If they dide, the cop would have asked you to get out of the car or attempted to check if that was your real hair on your head.

SG01MaxSE

Based on... ahem... experience, I would guess...

#1 Failure to comply with insurance regulations is probably a "shall cite" code, rather than a "may cite" code. Meaning= the officer is required by law to cite you if he finds discrepancies with your insurance, but, like he said, it will be dismissed when you prove that it is valid. Sounds to me like he was patrolling in search of, perhaps, a DUI offender or something similar. He made a valid traffic stop, wrote you for what he had to write you for, found nothing else of note, and sent you on your way.

#2 Probably would have given you the exact same thing.

#3 Have you asked your Dad?!? Seriously though... I'm sure there were some other descriptors on the warrant that made him POSITIVE that you weren't the guy. We... ummm, I mean... cops around here have access to date of birth, SSN, address info, and physical descriptors on many of our warrants.


I just want to add one thing. Before everyone says that you got lucky and got pulled over by one of the "good cops"...

He approached you respectfully, and it sounds like you did the same in return. That's the way 99% of Police Officers are MOST OF THE TIME. It's the other 1% that make it seem like we're all ******.

KaxMaxSEAE

This sorta just happened to me a couple of days ago. I'm out at 1:30am, and a cop that's been following me for a couple of blocks turns on his gumballs.

I pull over, both cops get out. One comes up toward my window, the other has his service pistol out.

Turns out, there was some guy in a dark car (mine's charcoal grey) with a gun, driving the same direction on the same street that I was.

After they figured out it wasn't me, they jumped back into their squad car and took off.

Great way to start the day!