To LEO's

[erik_26]

On a lighter note, any of you want to share the weirdest excuse you have heard from someone speeding?

Or how about a terrible excuse but you let the person go anyways.

I know you are not bad people. I have had good experiences with police (even when getting a ticket). While I may not be excited to be getting a ticket, I know I deserve it and the LEO was courteous and professional. I have also been let off with a warning even though I deserved a ticket.

[SoCalDep]

Excuse for BLOWING through a red light:

"My girlfriend and I are leaving for a cruise in an hour and I forgot to get condoms"

(He saw me come after him (before I hit the lights) and tried to loose me in a neighborhood...He didn't realize once he went in there was only one way out so I just waited for him to come out from the opposite direction...He got a ticket...Had he just stopped I'd have probably let him go with that excuse!)

As for letting people go...something to the effect of "sorry" usually gets a pass...It's a terrible excuse but an excellent answer...

[llamatrnr]

Officer to speeder: "I've been waiting all morning for you"

Speeder "Sorry, Officer, I got here as fast as I could. . ."

(He got a pass)

[johnthomas]

My brother blew through a red light a few years ago right around this time of year. The city was all lit up with Christmas lights. My brother told the officer that with all the colors around the light, he got confused and thought the light was green. He got a pass.

[1-M-42]

After stopping guy for 45 mph over the speed limit...."sorry officer, I spilled my beer"....yep, turned into a DUI arrest.

[DirtNapKing]

Not sorry one bit!

As for letting people go...something to the effect of "sorry" usually gets a pass...It's a terrible excuse but an excellent answer...

I doubt I would say "sorry" if I got t-stopped for a traffic infraction. I just follow the procedures/directions while being pollite. The officer is doing his job! So will the judge if one decides to show up to court and not mail in there fine. I'm not going to say "sorry" to somebody that has to do there job. I have never had an officer tell me sorry for pulling me over or writing me a citation. Which knock on wood was many moons ago. But I deserved that one. No reason for sorry but myself and the officer had a good laugh over my impeccable driving skills and my decision to just pull over before he attempted to make a stop on me. He was still parked when I stopped. Further more I keep a very tidy vehicle and my paper work is always clipped to my visor where it is visible and easily retrieved. No fumbling through that trash can some people refer to as a center console or glove box. The last 2 places an officer wants to see you sink your hands into on a dark night. My wallet is not kept in my pocket while I am driving. It's visible and handy as well. When it's dark I have in the past out of courtesy turned on all my interior lighting with one switch, during a stop. Even though they have your car glowing with 4000 watts of flood lighting I still do this again out of simple courtesy. I always make eye contact with the officer. I treat him or her with the same courtesy I would like to have in return. At this point you might wonder why I speak as if I have alot of exp. in traffic stops well let me kill the speculation process right here. I owned a very super clean Suburban that is lowered and black. Windows are all clear. It was ordered from GM special order with clear glass. Looking for more of that Nomad, muscle era style before there was tinting. So it's not like I am trying to hide anything or block out those harmful UV rays. In the last 4 years I have been stopped a dozen times. In all 12 stops I was never issued a citation. Only one officer mentioned that I didn't have a front plate. Generally the officers that contacted me were decent. Some were a bit pissed that I was not a Jose or Luther. But in these events I never played the profile card even though I wanted to. I just went with the flow and finally last month decided that filling a 40 gallon tank and being a cop magnet was not worth the hassle. I sold it to another white guy up the street.

[erik_26]

Further more I keep a very tidy vehicle and my paper work is always clipped to my visor where it is visible and easily retrieved. No fumbling through that trash can some people refer to as a center console or glove box.

This is a great idea in so many ways. Besides being easy to find and access, it reduces exposure incase you have something in your glove box or center console you aren't supposed to have. (Not that you would).

I did have a CHP get nervous when I opened my truck glove box. It was during the morning twilight hours. For a second he thought the plug for my trailer lights was a gun. Once he shined his flashlight in the glove box he figured out what it was right away.

My wallet is not kept in my pocket while I am driving. It's visible and handy as well.

Also a good idea.

[erik_26]

I got let go when I was ~15 or 16. I was driving a moped around my neighborhood. I did not have a permit nor license. The moped wasn't mine (not stolen). It wasn't registered. It didn't have a plate. And I was not wearing a helmet.

The cop was cool. He stopped me and asked, " you are just pushing it home, right?" Even though I was clearly riding it when he pulled me over. Then he pointed out all the issues I mentioned above and said basically, "don't make me have to do all the paper work."

I also got let go when I was 16 and had just gotten my drivers license. I was doing 40 in a 25. I was on my way to boy scouts and had my uniform on. He asked me if I knew what the speed limit was. I didn't lie and admitted to speeding. He told me to slow down and set me free.

Another time I was doing 75 in a 35. I knew I was busted. It was actually funny because I saw the cop do a double take in his patrol car when he looked at his radar gun. It was as if he couldn't believe how fast I was going. It was my 18th birthday. He let me go. I figured I was going to jail for going so fast.

Some guys on the force are a little too serious. Those are far and few between. Most of the cops are cool guys. They are human and are just one of the guys when they are off duty.

[IrishJoe3]

Not speeding but....

"Hey, I pulled you over because you don't have a license plate, any reason its not on your vehicle?"

"because it looks stupid"

I gave her a warning just for being honest. Besides, I was laughing too hard.

[J_B]

Happened to be covering a friend on a vehicle stop and a lady blows the stop sign in front of us.

"I have diarrhea." Is all she said.

I couldn't help but smile, wish her a better day and tell her to go home, which was a few houses away.

[Adehtla]

While I'm not a LEO, I've had some rather entertaining encounters with various LEA's. But none of mine even come close to this one. A coworker was on his way to South County Airport in San Martin, CA when he was stopped by a local LEO for speeding (75 in a 35 or 45)...

Officer: Pilot's license and flight plan please.
Coworker: Uh, ok... I'll have to go in to my wallet and that bag.
Officer: Sure.
* Coworker retrieves his pilot's license and the flight plan he was going to file *
Officer: I've been using that line for 25 years and no one has ever had either. Slow down on the roads and save the speed for the air.

[retired]

I actually had one young guy tell me something I had only seen/heard on tv.

Me: "Why were you going so fast."

Him: "I was trying to get to the gas station before I ran out of gas."

I looked at him carefully to see if he was bsing me, but he was serious.

I would probably have let him go, but he had modified his antenna on his VW Bug so it was bent backwards along the roof, but sticking out away from the body. Since it was twilight, I couldn't see it and the sharp tip of it hit me just below my eyeball, drawing blood and causing a lot of pain.

Yeah, he got a ticket and I infrequently gave tickets, usually warnings only.

[ak_in_ca]

Had a buddy get off in his classic camaro topped out, officer asked him how fast he was going. Buddy said I'm not sure, Speedo ends at 110. He got off with a warning.

[IrishJoe3]

I caught a DUI driver that way....Saw a car come screaming up on me from the rear and doing a hard brake application as he passed my patrol car. On the stop I asked him how fast he was going, he said "before I saw you? 110...."

[Notorious]

I don't like giving tickets unless it's egregious or you lie to me. If I pull you over, I already saw something you did that warranted it. If you lie and say you didn't do it, then you just called me a liar. Then we have to go to court to have a judge decide who is more credible because I am not going to have you call me a liar and win on the street. That's not how it works. Sorry if it sounds bad, but I am not out here to have a debate and concede victory just because you say you didn't do something. If that was the case, I might as well pack my bags because everybody tells me they didn't do it.

So... I let a lot of people go when they just say they're sorry and that they know and they won't do it again (when you know they will) or whatever. I know you know what you did, just tell me what you did and if it's not that bad, we'll be on our respective way.

Sometimes I have to push them a bit when they give me the "I don't know... what did I do..." schtick, but I just tell them, "Look, I know why I pulled you over, you know why I pulled you over, you tell me the truth and we'll work it out a lot easier." That gets about 95% of them to just say, "Fine... I ran the stop sign." or whatever else they did. Then I can let them go.

For those mouthy ones that want to fight on the side of the road, I tell them, please save it for the judge, I am not here to debate this here and now. Press hard, you're making 3 copies.

Best excuse... well... it wasn't so much of an excuse as a funny story... pulled over this car at night, did a California roll through a stop sign. I walk up, 2 young kids, guy and girl. I start my schpiel, he admits it, starts talking about how he needed to get flowers and the prom and whatnot.

I ask him, "Is that your girlfriend next to you that you're taking to the prom?" He says, "Yes". Simultaneously, she yells out, "NO!" I look at him and say, "I think you have a problem."

He says, "Well... she will be. I was going to ask her tonight... but since you asked, I just let it out." I ask her, "is that true?" She says, "NO! He's my best friend, I don't think of him that way!"

At this point... I just felt so bad for the guy... so I tell him that it looks like they got some things to discuss tonight. He then gives me this very confident look, "Don't worry, she's saying that now, but I'll convince her. She'll be my girlfriend." The girl is just laughing at this point... she can't believe her best friend is spilling it all in front of a total stranger like me. I let them go... they got bigger issues on their mind that night after talking to me.

About half a year later, I was at the local stop n rob getting a soda. I see a car pull up and some kids in there looking at me. A girl gets out the back and runs in the store full tilt right up to me and asks if I remember her. I was like... no... and she reminds me that she was the girl in the car that said no to her best friend and all that. I start laughing. At this point, he walks in too. So I ask them if they hooked up yet. She says, "Hell no! He's my friend." He gives me the same look and says he's still working on it. Ah... good times.