Apparently I'm a dangerous terrorist or something

So traumatic that I’ve crossposted this to both my journal and to fathom. But I’m freaked out by it so I have to. Apologies in advance.

So I decided to go to one of my surgery support group meetings for the first time in ages. (I have a…uh…personality conflict with one of the people so I’ve not gone, but it turns out she doesn’t go anymore so I’m gonna start going again.)

Rob wasn’t home from work yet, so I drove to his office and dropped off Dominic, then drove to go to the restaurant that the meeting was at. It is in the Reston Town Center, which is very close to Rob’s work. It is on the wrong side, however, from the way I’m used to going. I knew there was a back road into it, but didn’t know which one it was. I think I passed it.

So I got to a light and turned left, hoping that went through. It turned out to just go into an office building. So I turned around and went back the way I came on the main road, because I knew I’d missed the proper street.

I got to another light and figured what the hell, I’ll see if this one goes through. This light was very close to the other one and the light was green so I just zipped in. It turned so I couldn’t see where it went until I had already made the turn… but when I got to the bend I saw that there was a big gate and guards. Ok, I’ll turn around. But then I made my fatal mistake. I figured hey… there are four guys standing there–I can see now that they are cops. I’ll just ask them if they know what road goes through. So I pull the car to the side and get out.

Bad move.

All four jump up and start screaming at me to get back in my car. I start backing up toward my car and call out “I just want to know how to get to the Town Center…” but they keep screaming at me. Now they have their hands on their guns and they’re jogging toward me.

I’m at my car, getting in, and I say again “sorry! I am just trying to figure out which street goes through to the town center!” but they are still coming at me, still shouting. They tell me to get in my car and turn off the engine.

I do.

Now a fifth guy with a big rifle comes running over. He stands about 15 feet from my car looking all menacing, holding his rifle. All the other guys still have their hands on their guns, but at least they haven’t drawn them. They surround my car.

They start asking me what I’m doing. I tell them that I was just trying to find a street that went through to Reston Town Center. They take my ID and then they ask me where I’m going. I say… Reston Town Center. They ask me who I am meeting. I tell them it’s my weight loss support group. They ask me whose car it is. I say it’s my husband’s (he is the one who usually drives it)… they keep asking me questions… the same questions over and over… where was I born… who was I meeting…

They asked me if I knew my registration was expired. They wanted to see my registration but I couldn’t find it. I don’t usually drive the car, I drive the van. Again with the questions… who am I going to meet… where was I going… where was I coming from and where did I live? Where was I born?

They told me I was tresspassing on federal property, and apparently there were signs but I didn’t see them so I don’t know. I was maybe 100 feet onto the property… I mean the driveway was pretty damned short (I couldn’t tell that when I turned because it curves).

They kept me for about 20 minutes, interrogating me. Two other guys came out and asked the same questions. They all kept their hands on their guns, and the rifle guy just stood there staring at me. About 10 minutes into it I was crying.

They finally let me go, and I got to the restaurant. I was still crying. It took me probably another 20 minutes to stop shaking.

The actual support group was great though–everyone was very nice. After dinner we walked over to Starbucks and got coffee and sat outside talking for a long time. At one point a guy walked by and we stopped talking for a moment. He stopped and said “I’m just walking by! You don’t need to stop talking” He seemed nice (he also seemed very gay, but maybe that’s just me) and was just teasing us. We joked back with him and said he could sit with us. He laughed and kept going. A while later he walked by again and said hi and we pulled out a chair and sat with us for 5 minutes or so. He seemed really nice.

I’m going to try to go next week.

Just make sure you don’t make that wrong turn at Albuquerque again. :smiley:

Sounds like a shitty experience.

Fortunately they are usually at someone’s house. They just had it at a restaurant this time because no one could host it this week.

You would think that if it were that all-fire important that unauthorized people not turn up that driveway that they might want to consider, oh, I don’t know, maybe something like a gate or something. Maybe a guard at the edge of the property rather than a (obviously easily overlooked) sign and a group of overreactors who go ballistic on unsuspecting housewives who make a wrong turn on their way to the friggin shopping center nearby.

I mean, if you had been ill-intentioned and hadn’t stopped, what would’ve kept you from running the lot of them over and continuing beyond the curve in the driveway to whatever it was on that particular property which was in such dire need of their hand-on-gun protection? :smack:

Find out whose property it is (like what department), and who was on duty that night. File a complaint with their superior. It’s fine that they stopped you and asked who you were–that’s probably their job, but there’s no reason they should have grilled you.

There was a gate. I stopped well before the gate. They came running at me from the gate.

I agree with NoCoolUsername. Even in this day and age, there is no call for the treatment you got. IF the facility they are protecting is so important and vulnerable, why can it be accessed by one wrong turn from a public road?

Proper response: “Ma’am, please return to your car. This is a federal facility with restricted access.”

OpalCat: “I’m sorry, I was just looking for the Town Center.”

Guard: “You’ll have to turn around and take a left at the light. It will be about 50 yards on your right.”

OpalCat: “Thank you.”

Really, how many times a day do people accidently turn down this street? What happens if a vanful of teenagers turns down this street while these guys are sweating down OpalCat? Do they shoot first and ask questions later?

Seriously, I would find out what facility this was, who owns it and who is responsible for guarding it. File a complaint and note the date and time so they can be sure to know who was on duty. Making a wrong turn in a city does NOT mean that you can be shaken down by a bunch of goons.

You make good points… I’ll have to think about it.

I totally agree with NCUN and pilot. That is just ridiculous and uncalled for. And they made our OpalCat cry! Shitwads.

When I asked the guy “is this all because of the expired tag?” he told me that it was because I’d gotten out of the car. When they yelled at me to get back in my car I didn’t immediately walk back to my car. I started backing toward it rather than keeping on walking forward, but slowly and I called out my question to them. Apparently that was my main mistake–but I hardly think it was worth what I went through afterward. I was really confused as to what was going on, though. It took a minute for it even to really register, you know? And one of the additional guys who came out during the interrogation was asking me why I was so upset! HELLO??

It’s 3:30am and I’m still feeling all shaken up. I’m such a wuss :frowning:

Well, if you insist on maintaining a site that proclaims an intent to dominate the world. . . .

Another idea re: making a complaint – since it’s federal property you could complain in writing to your Senator…

Senator is better than any federal department.

Based on your description I’d say you either ended up on CTIS or NRO out there in Reston/Herndon. CTIS and the National Reconnaissance Office does a lot of satellite intel stuff for many departments. They’re both on stepped up security with the ‘war on terror’ and I’d bet the guards are jumpy.

I know where you were. My brother used to work in the building next door to there, and the first time I went to visit his office, he told me, “Now, don’t turn at the first road, because that’s the [CIA or something] and they’ll hassle you.” Sounds like they’re even more jumpy these days.

If they’re so afraid of terrorists, you’d think that the lot of then wouldn’t rush in close enough to all be wiped out by an explosive. I guess that’s one more example why firemen call cops “blue canaries.”

“Blue canaries?” That is the FUNNIEST thing I’ve heard in ages! And it’s funny because it’s true.

It’s your smell, you know.

I live in fear of taking a wrong turn anytime I head to NoVa or SoMa. You just never know when there’s going to be some big scary secret facility crawling with gummint spooks.

Spy. You’ve been infiltrated.

OK, I was born and raised in Reston, and I’m dying to know exactly where you were. Do you remember the name of the street or anything?

:rolleyes:

Just for the record I find it disgusting that you find the nickname funny. Police Officers risk their lives everyday and you laugh at them for protecting you.

I come from a family of firefighters and I am on the list for the Police Department and I have thakfully never heard of said nickname from anyone I know. Any firefighter should think twice about using it as well. What would you call the firefighters who were in the World Trade Center? Are they “red canaries” for going into a buring highrise building? Are our soldiers in Iraq “Green Canaries” when they are attacked and killed by suicide bombers? I think not. I would never disrespect my friends who died there or the soldiers in Iraq like that.
Opalcat sorry that you went through what you did. It sounds like you made a really bad wrong turn. Saying the cops over reacted is difficult for anyone here to say. They most certainly have been trained to react to specific behavior and unfortunately you seem to have behaved that way (as they explained). I guess you would be a bit protective too if the next “wrong turn” could be a terroist attack.

They probably figured out you weren’t a terroist pretty quickly but they can’t take their chances. Also they wanted to make sure your story checked out to be sure you weren’t doing recon for the actual attackers. You could have been going down the road on purpose to check to see how many guards were on duty, distance to guard booth/gate etc. This could be why you can’t see them from the road and the signs you missed advise you against going there.