Better Safe Than Sorry

[husker boxster]

Just got home from a company outing - a paddle boat ride on the Missouri and dance. Things were winding down so I decided to head out. When leaving the parking lot, you turn onto an access road for a 1/4 blk, then onto another access road for a 1/4 blk, and then onto a main 4 lane street. While waiting at the light for the main street, I notice a police car pull up behind me. There were 2 officers in the car and they were laughing and looking at my car. Light turns green, I turn left.

They do too. Then the cherries come on. I pull over to the right lane thinking they'll go by. Nope, they pull over with me. There wasn't anywhere to pull over, so I stopped on that street. Turn the car off, leave my hands on top of the steering wheel. The officer walks up and says I rolled through the stop sign from the 1st access road onto the 2nd. I probably didn't come to a complete stop, but it would have been a pretty slow rolling stop.

Anyway, that wasn't the big fish they were trolling for. He asked me if I had been drinking. I said yes, I had had 1 drink (which was a bit of a fib - I had actually had 2 beers in the 2.5 hrs I was there). He wanted to do a field sobriety test on me. I've never had to do this before but I felt confident I would pass. He had me do the following:

the alphabet
count from 87 to 68
stand on 1 foot with the other 6" off the ground for 30 sec
9 steps heel to toe down and back on an imaginary straight line
tilt your head back, close your eyes, and tell him when 30 sec had passed
then lots of conversation - about the dance, work, my car
then the breathalizer

I passed the 1st two without any trouble. Standing on 1 leg was more difficult than I thought it would be - my 51 yr old legs were a bit nervous but maybe I was drunk (I'm 5'10" and 190# and not a big drinker, so who knows?). I found my stablizing point and didn't fall over. No problems on the next two and was more relaxed as we talked about everything. Did the breathalizer and he handed my license back to me. I thanked him for keeping the streets safe.

He packed up his kit and was about to get in his car. I said "out of curiosity, what did I blow?". He said .018 - about 1 drink.

I got in my car and carefully proceeded on my way. It could have been a much more interesting evening, but I'm really glad it wasn't.

Stay thirsty my friends.

[vath2001]

I believe the term is "probable cause". I have figured out, that if your driving a Porsche, the cops already have probable cause to pull you over.

I'm not innocent either.

[Frodo]

Quote: "There were 2 officers in the car and they were laughing and looking at my car."

Posted by husker boxster.

Surely there was no connection between their two actions??

I suspect you weren't the only one pulled over following the festivities...my guess is they were parked somewhere waiting to nab unsuspecting partiers, assuming most had, at least potentially, been imbibing.


Quote: "I believe the term is "probable cause". I have figured out, that if your driving a Porsche, the cops already have probable cause to pull you over."

Posted by vath2001.

Yeah, that probable cause thing can be a real bugaboo at times. I remember working on the NJ Turnpike (collecting tolls) back in the '70s. They'd deny it, but it often seemed if you were either long-haired or were black and relatively young, driving a late model expensive vehicle (especially if outlandishly modded and/or brightly colored) they had probable cause to stop you. I'm not opposed to reasonable law enforcement (other than when I'm stopped for doing 11 over the limit but otherwise driving in a more-than-safe manner ), but I really did see some abuses of the system under the guise of "probable cause."

(If Grizzly was still hangin' out here, he might just rake me over the coals on this! But that's okay...I can take it!)

[wtf]

Originally Posted by vath2001

I believe the term is "probable cause". I have figured out, that if your driving a Porsche, the cops already have probable cause to pull you over.

I'm not innocent either.

weird, in australia cops wouldnt usually give you a second look driving a porsche, because its.. err.. a porsche..

I used to get raped by cops daily when i drove japanese imports.. As soon as i got bmws and lexus, the cops just turn a blind eye unless your being a complete idiot. Generally dont just pull u over for the "random" breathtest and so forth.


to the OP, that sounds like u were copping a pretty hard time from them.. The sobriety test thing weirds me out, we dont have it here, its a breath test and thats that. The stuff you got asked to do I probs would have been struggling to do totally sober!

[fatmike]

"especially if outlandishly modded and/or brightly colored) they had probable cause to stop you"



Are u saying his car is "brightly colored"? I hadn't noticed.

[Brucelee]

Wouldn't the breath test be sufficient.

I am not sure I could do the other stuff dead sober.

[wtf]

Originally Posted by Brucelee

Wouldn't the breath test be sufficient.

I am not sure I could do the other stuff dead sober.

maybe you need one of these visor stickers :P

[husker boxster]

Originally Posted by Brucelee

Wouldn't the breath test be sufficient.

I am not sure I could do the other stuff dead sober.

I'm sure they were filming me while doing the test. Probably addl evidence in case something wasn't done correctly when administering the breathalizer. Good old CYA.

The officer was polite and wasn't copping an attitude (pardon the pun) because I had a Porsche. I didn't get snippy with him either because I knew the stop sign thing was PC. I think he said something to me as he handed my license back about watching my rolling stops. He could've said I could collect a million dollars, I wasn't listening too well at that point.

And I don't mind them doing their job. I am alive today because one Fri night back in 1987 I decided to drink Coke instead of liquor. On my way home, a drunk driver fell asleep on a 2 lane highway and was 2 car lengths from hitting me head on. My reactions saved a head on collision but we still collided. I'm convinced my girlfriend and I would not have survived that head on crash. Had I been drinking that night, I may not have had that extra second that I desperately needed. The guy blew a .18. So I hope the police can rid our streets and highways of drunk drivers and I support them. The 20 min I spent with them last night was OK with me.

Do I really have a brightly colored car?