Y’know, as the author of the Autopian Asks series, I’m supposed to provide the copy – it’s kind of baked into the whole “author” concept. Sometimes, however, I don’t have enough juice to supply a suitably entertaining (to me, anyway) personal history or spicy hot-take on the question of the day, so I hit up The Gang for their stories. Today was not supposed to be one of those days. Despite assuring everyone that I had today’s Autopian Asks handled with my own tale, I suspected they might have their own silly-stop stories to share. And boy did they! David alone offered three! Now all I have to do is copy-paste; happy Friday to me.
Torch
In college, I was pulled over because I was a 19-year-old kid with longish hair driving a VW Beetle. There was a Dead show around Atlanta, where I was driving, and I think I just fit a profile. I never liked the Dead. They searched my car, too, looking for drugs. Can’t cops just get their drugs from the evidence room? Anyway, they didn’t find anything though I did find out later my girlfriend at the time was carrying. I had no idea.
Another: I once drove my Beetle while it was stuck in reverse backwards through town at three in the morning to get it to a shop to fix it, and had zero cop interactions. But in LA, I’ve had my truck impounded for being a month out of registration.
Matt
I’ve only been pulled over three times in 25 years of driving and those stops mostly made sense, although I was once pulled over for crossing a double yellow into a parking spot on a normal ass road. [Ed note: I agree, this isn’t much of a story. I just like that Matt left the hyphen out of “normal ass road,” which means there’s a non-zero chance it was a “normal ass-road.” – Pete]
Thomas
I once got pulled over because my license plates were too new for the ALPR system. I had a back seat full of winter tires, an exhaust leak the size of a baseball, no license plate light because it had rotted off, and I was driving an Ontario-registered car that the ministry accidentally registered to an address I didn’t even live at anymore, on a BC license … and they just let me go without even so much as a warning.
Stephen
Pulled twice for drugs (no drugs found either time), but mostly for being a kid in a rusty ’84 Cougar and a ’96 LHS. “Pulled” once for being a potential mass shooter. I pulled up to a beach bar by the pedestrian barricades and pulled a mic stand out of the trunk of my New Yorker for a beach bar gig. Sheriffs mistook it for a long gun and had me on my knees with a gun to my back in 30 sec. “DROP THE WEAPON!”
“It’s a mic stand! I’m a musician!”
Laurence
Last year my partner and I were on a backroad and late to a mate’s wedding in Project Cactus. We were going down a long straight into a valley and I wasn’t watching my speed. The one time I let the speed creep up, and of course there was a highway patrol car parked in the valley. I pulled over right after I went past him before he even put his lights on. The cop came up to my window and just laughed. He said “I had to check the radar a few times to make sure, didn’t think this thing could get over 100kmh!” We had a chat about what Project Cactus is and he let me off with a warning since I pulled over before he even turned his lights on. Of all the road trips I’ve done in that ute, taking it into the centre of Brisbane and everything, my one cop interaction is on an abandoned backroad when the cop was probably having a nap!
David
1. I was once pulled over for literally no reason. I had just been off-roading with my brother in my 1992 Jeep Cherokee XJ, which was already a bit old and rusty. Add the mud to it, and I looked both poor and a bit, I dunno, adventurous. Regardless of what looked like, I wasn’t doing anything wrong – I was just sitting in my car in a northern Michigan hotel parking lot taking a bit of a break. I pulled out of the lot, got the reds and blues, and the cop asked me for my license. I asked why he’d pulled me over, he raised his voice: “LICENSE AND REGISTRATION.” He then later gave it back and stated his reason: “You were looking suspicious.”
2. I got pulled over for doing 40 in a 40. Both cops ran to my car on either side and beamed flashlights into my eyes. Why would driving the speed limit get me pulled over? Because there was an inch of snow on the ground and I drove past a cop. This was the situation that made me lose faith in the American judicial system; I had great tires on my Jeep, tons of snow-driving experience, and an inch of snow wasn’t causing any significant handling issues. When I fought the ticket in court, they agreed to take the three points off my license but made me pay $190. Why? Because the damn magistrate was friends with the cop! The judge asked me “Did you or did you not drive past officer [what’shisname]” and when I responded with “Yes, but …” he cut me off and said, “We’re done here.” What an absolutely pathetic judge, pathetic cop, and pathetic system there in Troy.
3. On i-75 in Michigan, no drivers observe the speed limit of 70 MPH. Everyone does closer to 80. Everyone. If you were to use a radar gun, you’d probably find that 95% of all cars are doing over 75. That’s just how it is. One day I noticed that I was driving past everyone, and I was only doing 77. “What the?” I wondered. Then I saw it: There was a cop at the front of this big line of cars, and no car ahead of him for miles. “This is strange,” I thought. I set my cruise control for 71 MPH, and I slowly, slowly, SLOWLY passed the officer who IMMEDIATELY pulled me over to fulfill what was simply a power trip. Look, I appreciate cops and what they do for our communities, but in Michigan, especially driving my old junky cars, police were extremely unfair towards me (and I’m sure to many, many others — I hate to even think about what others have had to deal with), and it was simply unacceptable.
Your turn! What’s The Dumbest Reason You’ve Been Pulled Over?
Top image: framestock/stock.adobe.com
Early 1990s, driving though Slower Delaware, i stopped to gas up as well as to get some snacks and drinks, which included a can of Arizona iced Tea.
Next thing I know, i’m being pulled over by a Sussex County Sheriff who sees me take a swig of my iced tea and thought it was a Coors Light Tall Boy.
It was the only time i had a cop apologize to me.
Similar situation, except I was drinking a Full Throttle.
Driving home after a weekend of partying and whitewater rafting. We were all exhausted and didn’t want to deal with traffic so we set the cruise at exactly 55 mph and stayed in the right lane. Cop pulled us over because we had a CD hanging from our rear view mirror. I think the real reason he pulled us over is because he suspected we were following the law so closely we might be transporting drugs.
I was driving a “Dodge” Colt on a rural road in North Jersey (they exist) at something like 2am. The speed limit was 45 and I was doing 45ish, because I was a young driver and knew better. But I did not know that the yellow sign at the curve that displayed “35” should be strictly obeyed. I was pulled over for doing 45 in a 35. I got a ticket.
I was driving my 1998 Saturn SL1 through Brookline Mass., also about 2ish in the morning, in the early 2000’s, when a police car started tailgating me within an inch of my bumper. I was used to this behavior from police in Brookline, because I had to pass through it often to get from Allston to Jamaica Plain (both superior neighborhoods at the time.) I had in my glove box a printed receipt and email for my online registration renewal. But, the cop had seen my sticker and decided that I was unregistered and wrote me a summons. I had presented the printed email to the cop, and he kept repeating “An email is not a legal document!” several times over. At the hearing, which the cop also showed up to, the judge ripped the cop a new one for knowing my car was legit just by running it through the computer, and said if it had really been an expired reg. it should have been towed. Long story over. Not the last time I’d be tailgated in Brookline for being out past the witching hour, either.
My favorite was sort of a non-pulling over. I was on the Mass Pike doing about 70 in a beat up 1991 Dodge Shadow when I saw the trooper behind me with lights, so I pulled over to the shoulder, and weirdly, the trooper in his car pulled up alongside me instead of behind, motioned for me to roll down the window, and angrily yelled, “NOT YOU!!!”
In pretty much all places in north america that’s straight up incorrect. Yellow is a recommendation for poor weather. If only those who enforce the law were required to know it.
If I wasn’t a recently licensed teen I might have known to appeal the ticket. I remember my father saying something to the effect of, “You’re a teen out in the middle of the night in a small town…”
yup.
it IS binding for trucks tho
I’ve been pulled over a lot, usually for speeding. I stopped counting after 13. Each and everyone was justified – I was definitely speeding lol. Only one ticket, though.
The only one that was kinda dumb was getting pulled over for touching the white line while making a left at an intersection. It was 0-dark-30 on New Years so it was obviously a drunk check. I’m not a drinker and all I had was a small amount of champagne at midnight so I was completely sober and I was sent on my merry way. Understandable, even if it was annoying.
Ok, one more. Not sure if it counts since I wasn’t really pulled over.
Once again, driving my 1968 Olds. As I’m driving, a cop is driving by in the other direction. His head pops out his drivers side window and watches me go by.
One minute later, I’m parked and his car pulls up and parks behind me. He puts both hands up and says…
“Oh, it’s ok. I wasn’t pulling you over. I just wanted to see the car!”
It turns out the 1968 Cutlass was his dream car and he really wanted one of his own. We ended up becoming friends and met a few times until he finally did get his own 1968 Cutlass.
I like this story.
I was driving my 1968 Olds back to work after a quick lunch-time trek by a high school near my house when cop pulled me over. At the time I was in my early 40s and the cop looked embarrassed as soon as he looked at me. He asked for my license and registration, which I handed him, then..
Cop: “Before I put my foot in my mouth…”
Me: “You thought I was a high school student leaving school?”
Cop: “Uh… where are you going?”
Me: “Back to work. At my office. And I wish high schoolers were into cars like this.”
Cop: “Have a good day.”
I’ve found that some cops are power hungry dickheads, and some of them are ok. I’ve been very lucky that every time I’ve been pulled over for being naughty, I’ve had to deal with the latter kind of cop.
(Being white and polite has probably helped there)
When I was younger, I was more stupid, and zoomed onto a motorway, speeding, and under-taking a couple of cars…in front of a cop car I’d not seen. They pulled me over, and checked my car, noticing the two practically-bald front tyres (don’t put off replacing your tyres kids!). I’m sat in the back of the cop car, and as I saw the cop check the tyres, I knew was boned. He comes back, calls me an idiot, and points out that between one charge of dangerous driving, and two unsafe tyres, I was looking at nine points and being up in front of a magistrate. “That would be a waste of everyone’s time” say the cop, and gets on his phone, and eventually decides that he can charge me once for both bald tyres. At some point the dangerous driving stopped being mentioned, and I drove home with just a single charge of having bald tyres.
It was the next day when I suddenly realised that the cop had just been trying to “scare me straight” and had never wanted the paperwork/court time.
It bloody worked though; These days I always keep my tyres legal, and don’t undertake.
Back when I was in (community) college I’d often go to this little coffee shop in a neighbouring affluent city to do my homework. I’d regularly get pulled over just after entering said town, and the conversation ALWAYS started with “What are you doing here”
The best one, I was giving a kid a ride home from the pizza shop we both worked at, because his family was moving that day and his parents couldn’t pick him up. He was like 14 or 15. We got pulled over within sight of his house. Standard license, registration, Why did you pull me over (I wasn’t speeding, I drove that road several times a day.)
(cop) What are you boys doing here?
(me) I’m dropping him off after work.
(cop) Where do you boys work?
(me) Local Pizza Place
(kid) Hat t-shirt, not a fashion statement.
(cop) Where do you live?
(kid) See that moving truck right there, that’s my house.
(cop) You don’t know your address?
(kid) See the moving truck, we are literally moving in right now; no, I don’t know my address.
I again asked why I was being pulled over, the response was I was swerving around, and they thought I’d been drinking. I was just driving a clapped out Samurai on typical Michigan roads, no swerving beyond giant potholes making it bounce. They kept us there for fifteen minutes (they always did this) then sent us on our way.
When I was 16, I had just gotten my first car, a 1968 Ford Mustang. The officer pulled me over for not waiting the full 2 seconds at a stop sign. I think she let me off with a warning. That’s not the bad one. When I pulled away, I peeled out a little bit and she pulled me over AGAIN and gave me another warning, for reckless driving or something. No tickets though, so I win.
I remember I was driving my 97 Grand Cherokee on Route 9 in New Hampshire. Speed limit was 55. I was going 53, but we had maybe half an inch of snow on the ground. Everyone else was probably going 45, and I was in a passing zone. Despite growing up in New England and being good at driving in the snow, I had Missouri plates at the time, and was back visiting family. Cop pulled me over, and told me that I didn’t know how to drive in snow because I was from Missouri. I told him I was from Maine, and had been driving in snow my whole life. I asked if I was speeding, and was told, no, but that I was driving too fast for the conditions. I promised to match traffic speed and was let go with a warning, but that was a weird one.
I don’t think it was dumb, but the interaction was funny.
Was going fishing offshore the next morning in the OBX, and was wayyyy late getting down there to do the “pre-trip” stuff on the boat. Check the fluids, start thawing bait, etc. Boat was leaving at 4am, and we were rolling onto Roanoke Island at 11. Got everything done by 1am, and went rocketing along the two lane road through the marsh and a couple sleepy hamlets to get back to the hotel to get a nap. Road is one of those 55 to 25 back to 55 types of deals when you pass a few houses/church. I….didn’t slow down.
Got pulled over by 3 (THREE) cars with 6 (SIX) officers, who probably thought I was running drugs from the marina (which was/is a big problem down there).
“You were doing 65 in a 25 back there by the church, what’s the rush at 1am?”
After running my plates, and asking a few questions rapid fire “whats the boats name, what marina, what are you after tomorrow” and seeing the rods in the back of the truck, the head officer said “I’ll still be in that lot at 330am, if you’re going one MPH over, you’re going to jail, catch em up tomorrow”
Drove past at 330am at 20mph, waved and honked. He did the same.
I got pulled over once for dim tail lights on my 69 Ford galaxie 500. The officer had me sit on the side of the road with my friends in the car for a very long time and when I asked, should I get them looked at he said no it’s an old car and let us go. It was probably just a pull over car full of teenage boys.
In 2024 I was pulled over in Berkeley CA at 0730 on a Sunday morning because my car had not been registered in California since 2017. I live in Nevada. The car is registered in Nevada and has Nevada plates. I bought the car new from a dealer in Sacramento in 2017. Three days later, it was registered in Nevada.
The camera in the police car read my Nevada plate, referenced my VIN, and let the officer know that my California registration had been expired for seven years. He did apologize after I produced my current drivers license, registration, and insurance card.
I technically wasn’t pulled over, but I had a police officer follow me to my apartment. As I was getting out of my car, this officer pulls up behind my car, no lights or anything though. He asks to see my license and what not. He asks if I live there and I say yes. He remarks how that’s not the address on my license. I tell him I’m just there for school (university campus is just over 2 blocks away) and that my actual permanent address is what’s on my license.
After all that, he finally gets to the point. “You were going little fast around that turn back there.”….What? The speed limit was 30 MPH on both streets and no point did I exceed 25. Well he says because it was wet out (more like slightly damp) that I should slow down. He also pointed out that there’s kids and a church. This was like a Tuesday afternoon or something. The church was empty and kids were still in school, and you know, I was going kinda slow. Still, he told me to slow down and left. I was so confused. I guess he ultimately quit bugging me because I had just bought lunch and was standing there holding it the whole time.
From what I figured out, there had been complaints about cars driving way too fast in the area (not me mind you). This cop had been parked in the parking lot of a dentist’s office watching traffic in the area and I guess the lowered Civic with an aftermarket exhaust turning onto this street without the brake lights lighting up made him think I was going too fast I guess. Seriously, I wasn’t going anywhere near fast enough to need to brake, just down shift.
Got pulled over by a dyslexic cop who read my registration’s expiration date of 07/08 as 08/07.
A guy was running from the cops. He zoomed up behind me and stuck to my bumper for a mile. The cop started straddling the line with lights and siren with no oncoming vehicles. I went about another mile to see if the truck would pull over. I decided to do what they teach in driver’s ed in case the cop pit’d the truck. Move to the right. As soon as I did that the cop hammered it past the truck up right beside me. I’m almost on the shoulder and braking fairly hard. The cop stabs the brakes and the truck swerves all the way to the shoulder on the other side to avoid becoming one with the cop. We all come to a stop, 3 abreast on the country highway. After a few seconds the cop reverses and the truck peels off in a cloud of smoke. “License, registration and insurance.” I asked why I was being pulled over and the cops smiles and says, “Well, you pulled over.” Later when he handed me a speeding ticket and I asked why since I was 3 below the posted and he was obviously chasing the truck. He responded “I was chasing the truck, but he didn’t pull over. Getting close to town and quitting time.”
Talked to the traffic prosecutor and he sighed hard when I told him what the cop said. Told him I’d have to contest the ticket and bring the other people in the car as witnesses. Negotiated down to $40 since I didn’t have time or money (poor college student) to pay court fees to contest. Nothing would show on my record if they never catch me breaking another law in 6 months. I told him the hell if i was ever going back to his county to give them another chance to write me a ticket. Mailed cash to a different name and PO Box in the neighboring county. Never did see the ticket on my driving record.
19 YO daughter was pulled over for an expired PA state inspection sticker. I had just bought the car 5 days prior for her and had done the work to ensure it would pass. Fortunately she had a copy of the bill of sale (30 day exemption) and an appointment lined up for the next day. It passed.
I’m still sorry the experience terrified her.
I don’t understand why the experience would terrify her. I can’t even count how many times I’ve been pulled over. Never once did I feel terrified. I don’t drink and drive. I don’t have a warrant. What’s the worst that can happen? I get a speeding ticket once every few years? I just consider it a road tax. Respectfully and truthfully answer questions, and move on with your day. I’ve been pulled over at 3am on my way home from swing shift a few times. Didn’t come to a complete stop at a stop sign or whatever they want to come up with. I know it’s just an excuse, looking for under the influence drivers. That’s fine. Doing their job, doing what needs to be done in our society. With a valid license, valid registration, valid insurance, no drugs, no drinking, no warrants, and a little respect, it’s always carry on, have a nice day. It’s really not that hard to play by the rules. It makes everything in life a lot less stressful.
This has always been my experience – but it is not this easy for a large portion of our population. I get the benefit of the doubt when others may not. I can be sure most police interactions will be civil when others may be in fear.
How different could this stop have gone had my daughter been a minority driving a car not registered in her name with an out of date inspection?
The very first time I was pulled over was probably the most ridiculous. Coming down the main road in my home town one weekend evening I passed a side street where a State Trooper was stopped, waiting to pull out. Well, he pulled out right behind me and followed me for several miles. Being 17 and freshly licensed, I immediately turned into just about the best rule following driver in the world. I kept the speedo needle spot on the speed limit and tracked dead center down my lane. I made several turns on the way to my destination and the officer matched each one. When he followed me down a small side street I knew I was toast, and sure enough he lit them up about 100 yards down. The cop walks up to my windows, shines his flashlight in my eyes, and says “You were driving too carefully, are you high?” I was still too nervous to feel any outrage so I simply replied “No, sir.” He then asked if the reason I was driving so carefully was because I saw him following me. Uh, yeah!!! He smiled and wished me a good night. Pulled over for driving too carefully?! Couldn’t you come up with a better line than that?
This is all a great reason to get a dashcam with both front and rear cameras.
The dumbest reason was a bad tail light. A town officer saw me at 3 am driving, assumed I was drunk and followed me to the highway. I didn’t know he was 3 miles behind me.
Suddenly on a road with no lights I see the car rush up on me and hover at my bumper, I couldn’t see his headlights. I push a throttle to get some clearance (A couple of miles over* and blue lights.
He came out and started getting cocky, and we he found I was not drunk he was getting mad. It didn’t help I use a law in my state. A town officer can pull someone over on the highway but the State Police are the only ones who can take action.
He stormed off to his car and tore out of there.
So I’m driving in St. Thomas, Ontario with a friend in the passenger seat in my Suzuki LJ80 Convertible with the doors removed and the windshield folded.
Two sizable adults sitting up there in the breeze wearing diagonal shoulder belts. We got stopped for a “seatbelt check” two cops and about half an hour later were set free, no tickets, no nothing.
So many others over the years, car and motorcycle, but that one stands out for me today.
Try riding a motorcycle, particularly a sport bike,
You get pulled over all the time for license checks, vehicle checks, anything, regardless of whether you’re riding responsibly or not.
I was pulled over on my 250 Gamma due to a report of a stolen Gixxer 750 and had to not only explain the difference between a 250 2 stroke and a 750 four stroke (as well as show my registration to prove my engine size was different).
Half an hour later, and after lots of back and forth radios between him and the station, he lets me go with a “you should probably get your engine checked, you’re pushing some blue smoke”.
/thanks, smart pants!
Oh there’s been so many but the absolute stupidest one was my own stupidity. I was heading home from work and I had a lot on my mind. As I was ruminating, I was approaching a three-way stop on a little backcountry road in Scappoose Oregon. There was a county sheriff coming directly opposite. We were going to arrive at about the same time and I was taking a left. I locked eyes with him and slowed to about 15 miles an hour and hooked left, never touching the brake. I also pulled over before he turned on the lights and was laughing when he came to the window. He asked me what the hell I was thinking, I told him I had no idea. Was very surprised to leave with a warning to put my freaking brain in gear before I put the car in gear.
I had a beat up Buick Regal (late 80s coupe) during college/just after, that I had bought from a coworker that had a bunch of cosmetic issues, one of which was a hood that was blue while the rest of the car was maroon. Driving home was always interesting because we lived in an affluent neighborhood at the time with 3 sets of police – town, county, and neighboring town. I would get pulled over pretty often because of the color mismatch with the hood, they would realize I wasn’t Hispanic, and would send me home with a warning.
*side note – the hood flew up one day on the highway (it was “tied down” with Cat5 cable and stayed up because of the hood struts, so I opened the side window and stuck my head out to get on the hwy shoulder so I could remove the hood and push out the rest of the busted windshield to drive the care home with no windshield and no hood. Bonus though, found a matching color hood in a junkyard to make the car whole again!
Same car, but with basically all of my friends in it and trying to get to the movies – me driving, my best friend (a guy) in the middle of the front bench, a girl in the passenger seat, and then 4 more girls crammed every way imaginable in the back. Cop pulls us over going down a main road in our town, looks over the jenga puzzle of attractive under-20yo girls in the back, the girl in the passenger seat, my friend in the middle, and then at me and says “be safe out there and have a good time buddy” and lets me go. He definitely could have ticketed us for lack of seat belts or too many passengers, or something, but I think he was honestly psyched for how my evening was going to pan out.
I make a left on red at 230 in the morning because that light takes forever and I just want to get home. There is no one around for what seems like forever…. Except the cop I missed. He asks if I know why he stopped me, I say “of course, I made the left, I’m sorry officer….I’m just beat from work”.
He notices that I work in a computer store (name tag), asks me when we think we’ll get in the (then new) Neverwinter Nights game, I tell him, and he lets me go with just a seat belt violation. Fine by me!
Same car but it’s lost first gear at this point and has been suffering from blow-by for ages so it’s down on power. I’m leaving a friend’s house who has a flat street and then a big hill. I basically gun it on the level street (maybe hitting 30mph) and then barely make it up the hill and crest the top to exit the neighborhood when a cop pulls me over. He says I’m doing 5 over the posted speed limit and to slow down. I tell him the car is a step away from death’s door, didn’t think I’d even make it up the hill, and ask if he wants to drive it. He doesn’t want to hear anything from me and I get a ticket.
Driving myself, wife, and the in-laws down the east coast in their Odyssey packed to the gills and we go through Georgia. I’m not speeding at all (in-laws and in their car plus Georgia with out of state plates) and notice a cop is pulling up behind us. I stay the same speed and he tailgates us for about a mile. Finally turns on the lights and pulls us over. Come up and asks me for lic and reg, asks me to get out of the car and open the tailgate, asks if we’re transporting anything (yeah, it’s furniture, we’re moving a 90yo woman and her crap to assisted living), asks me what I do for work, and about 9k other questions. Finally tells me I can get back in the car and that “you were wandering all over the road” so that’s why he stopped me. BS. Knew he was there the whole time and my Father-in-law was pissed on my behalf and he’s usually very relaxed. Georgia cops and out of state plates man.
David was the only one who got proper cop treatment. American cop treatment.
The “I don’t look like I am on the up and up, so harass me and ruin my day for fun” treatment that is usually reserved for minorities, but in the northern states… well, they don’t get many so they have to go after the local scumbags in hoopties. Small mountain towns have the same harassment for no reason other than existing.
Bored cops.