Got pulled over by the cops tonight.

[donsrods]

Tonight I took my roadster and drove over to the next town because my Son Don's band was playing there and I wanted to see him and maybe run into my old GF who goes to all his gigs when he plays at that place. I had open headers and made the whole trip with zero problems.

I took my car back to the shop and put it away for the night and Dan came in from his gig and Don did also, so we sat around and shot the breeze for a while, then they left to go get some dinner while I got in my daily driver and started home. As I pulled out of our parking lot (about 12.30 am) I saw car headlights way down the road but I pulled out in front of him and started the drive up the road from the shop.

All of a sudden I see these flashing lights coming up on me at high speed so I pulled over, thinking he was heading for some emergency. Nope, it was me he was after. I opened my door but stayed inside, and handed him my license. He said "I was just wondering what you were doing down there at this time of night ?" I explained my shop was there and my Sons and I were just leaving.

He looked at my license and handed it back and said "Have a nice night." I thanked him for keeping an eye on the area, and he was nice about it all. But it sure is weird to just get pulled over when you know you haven't done anything ! Wonder if it would have gone the same way if I was in my roadster with open headers ?

Don

 

[YBeNormal]

Tonight I took my roadster and drove over to the next town because my Son Don's band was playing there and I wanted to see him and maybe run into my old GF who goes to all his gigs when he plays at that place. I had open headers and made the whole trip with zero problems.

I took my car back to the shop and put it away for the night and Dan came in from his gig and Don did also, so we sat around and shot the breeze for a while, then they left to go get some dinner while I got in my daily driver and started home. As I pulled out of our parking lot (about 12.30 am) I saw car headlights way down the road but I pulled out in front of him and started the drive up the road from the shop.

All of a sudden I see these flashing lights coming up on me at high speed so I pulled over, thinking he was heading for some emergency. Nope, it was me he was after. I opened my door but stayed inside, and handed him my license. He said "I was just wondering what you were doing down there at this time of night ?" I explained my shop was there and my Sons and I were just leaving.

He looked at my license and handed it back and said "Have a nice night." I thanked him for keeping an eye on the area, and he was nice about it all. But it sure is weird to just get pulled over when you know you haven't done anything !

Don

So you managed to get pulled over being innocent. [cl. Makes for a good adrenalin rush for the drive home.

 

[donsrods]

Yes it does. I had a beer and a Captain and Coke around 8 pm, but then switched to Club Soda the rest of the night, so I wasn't worried about a DUI. However, I grabbed one beer out of our shop fridge to drink with my dinner at home because we are out of beer there. It was laying on the passenger seat, but sealed. Still wouldn't have probably looked real good, David.

Don

 

[CR55]

Consider yourself lucky that your shop is being watched.....I used to love it when the local police used to ride thru the development I was building...never had anything stolen...plus you probably needed that adrenalin rush Don!

 

[Willowbilly3]

I think we all have a little felon's guilt and when those lights come on, just for a scond maybe, it's cops and robbers running through your brain. Yeah fire sure a rush

 

[Dirtyrat]

The positive is that obviously they are watching that area, and you definitely handled it well as I know giving the police a hard time over things like that never gains you anything then or in the future other than unwanted attention =)

 

[Tripper]

I'm thinkin' he may have been stoppin' a suspicious lookin' character!? [ddd[ddd[ddd

 

[sneakysnake]

If I have to be pulled over I prefer to be doing nothing than to have just bald a tire or something.

 

[donsrods]

I agree it is good they are patrolling our shop area, it is just strange that he tore after me like I was Bonnie and Clyde, or something. Dan went out the other driveway and said he saw in his rear view mirror the cop blow past our place at like 100 mph with lights on, coming after me. I didn't even see him as I sat at the light, waiting to turn onto rt 41, but saw him right after I started pulling out.

He was nice about it, and your initial thoughts are to say "You stopped me without probable cause ?" But there is always something they can say, like "Your windows look tinted too dark (mine are) " So you just grin and be all polite and stuff like that.

We have been in that shop for 8 years and only in the last year have we ever seen a cop down there. You will remember the incident where two cops came into our shop with hands on their guns a few months ago, and now this. Either they are stepping up their coverage of the area or they are just noticing that we are there into the wee hours of the morning.

Don

 

[Dirtyrat]

The good thing is that you know your things are safer when you are not around!

Yea I always worry about the tint thing too, it is illegal here on the front side windows...

 

[donsrods]

Down here in Florida tint is almost a must. They frown on limo tint but to a certain darkness they allow it. My car was done when I bought it and to me it looks somewhat over the limit.

I also want as many "friends not enemies" on the police force because of our hot rods. We have been very fortunate, even driving around with open headers, with no problems. A lot of that is because we always drive at or under the speed limit and don't play games and do stupid stuff. Don got followed out of his gig last night (he drove his T bucket too) by a cop in a Charger, but the cop did a U turn after a while and left him alone.

Don

 

[Bamamav]

They know hot rodder's aren't meth or crack heads, but also know a meth or crack head will steal whatever to support their habit, including a hot rod. Late at night, coming out of an industrial area, I'd be checking you out too. Chances are pretty good they thought they might find a cache of stolen tools and stuff.

I'm friends with a few of the local and county cops around here, too. Just so happens they are rodders, too, three have Vettes and one races a mud truck. Always good to be a friend with the guy {or gal} with the gun and badge!

 

[donsrods]

I just got off of the phone with my Son Don, and he was not happy that I was just pulled over to ask why I was in a particular area. I am an American on an American highway, where I have the right to be at any time of day or night. By all rights, I could have questioned the cop on what his probable cause was, but we all know who wins that battle. A cop can always say, "I noticed you weave a little back there, or you didn't use your signal." So it would not be to any advantage to do anything but simply be polite and let the event end.

But I do sort of understand how some decent blacks and other groups hate cops for stopping them for really no reason other than the color or their skin or the kind of car they are driving. What makes me pretty mad is that I see cops all the time doing things I would be pulled over for, like rolling through stop signs, no signals when changing lanes or turning, and speeding when there is no emergency.

But I am 100% supportive of those men and women of LE who put their lives on the line for us every day and deal with lots of people most of us do not want to know the existence of.

Don

 

[21willys]

I wish I could get the cops in my town to care. My shop has been broke into, wife's car stollen, sons bike stollen, and some other stuff. Our town Marshall is to lazy to even file a proper report.

 

[VonBoneMan]

Don . That black Charger is one fast SOB . The cops must be running 100 mph down 41 at 3:00 Am .I can hear them and i'm a half block off 41 .
Herb .

 

[donsrods]

Yeah, Herb, he was about a half mile back of me and within a minute or so he was right on me. Good thing I wasn't in my 27 because I wouldn't have heard him over the open exhaust and my rear view mirrors are useless.

Don

 

[Neverdone]

My run ins with the cops don't usually go that well. Most of them end with them saying "sign here, mail your payment to _____________ or we will see you in court". Doesn't matter what I am driving it always seems to end the same.

But yeah glad they are watching over the area!!

 

[mikec4193]

Hey DonsRods

As a kid my dad had a old 1952 Dodge Pilothouse truck that was ratty looking but everything worked and cops were always stopping him for BS..trying to find a tail light out or something stupid like that. Since those days (1960's) forward...I dont trust any of cops in this world....I work with them more now that our shop fixes their vehicles...still dont trustem...
I can still remember that day I was with him and this nice police officer stopped my dad (I was maybe 8 at the time)and how my dad ever so politely told him to tell all his buddies that this truck legal and just stop buggin him...never had any trouble after that....
Never felt comfortable around them...always nervous and jerky when they roll into the garage....the ones with the dogs in the back seat....they make me even more nervous....
Just me I guess.

MikeC

 

[Gastrick]

Don,

If he can't stop you for just being in the area, by the same token he can't stop the crook pulling away from your shop with a trunk full of your stolen tools either. As a side note, he could have used a totality of circumstances as a reason for stopping you. Time of night, closed business/warehouse, recent crimes in area...etc. It sounds to me like there may be some crime issues in your area that has caused an increased police presence, or a nearby resident/business requested extra patrol.

 

[donsrods]

That makes sense, Bill. Like I mentioned, we really are happy to see them looking out for us..........the alarms and triple padlocks we have only go so far. Our neighbors love the fact that we are there until the wee hours of the morning a lot of nights, and I have followed a few suspicious cars myself who I saw just cruising through the area after midnight.

Ft. Myers is becoming not the safe place it was years ago....our murder rate is climbing stupidly high. I keep a couple of guns sitting around the shop where we can get at them if something happens. Shame we have to live like this, isn't it.

Don