Ever seen a cop appear at the perfect time and bust some idiot right in front of you?

In My Humble Opinion
1

As I watched a van blow through a red light today, I was pondering this…

Have you ever seen a cop appear precisely when you wished one would?

I did, once, many years ago. I made a right turn at a major intersection and saw that some butthead on the cross-street thought he was better than those waiting patiently to make their left turn at the light. He simply pulled into the oncoming traffic (my lane) so he could drive around all of the left-turners and cut in the front of the line. Though this bold move may be quite acceptable in some locales, suburban Jersey isn’t one of them.

As soon as I was staring into his headlights I simultaneously leaned on to the horn and drove onto the shoulder to avoid him.

Suddenly, I saw a township police car magically appear from a hiding place a few driveways down the street. The officer immediately sized up the situation, hit the lights and nailed the butthead :cool: .

I was almost giggling with glee all the way to work.

Ever had a similar experience?

2

Close. One night, on the way home, I got into it with this guy at a red light. Not a fight, but, you know, one of those “let’s go” moments. So the light turns green and we take off. He goes 50, I go 55. He pushes 60, and I match. Now by this time, we have been driving about a mile. I was in the left lane.

Up ahead on the right, there is a drug store at the bottom of a hill (with us being on top of the hill). I look ahead to see the cop stopped at the little exit way for the drug store, so I slow down to 45. The other guy thinks I have conceded, until he speeds past said cop. Cop pulls up onto the road and pulls this guy over.

And to my luck, they pull over right next to a red light that I got held up at!

The light quickly changed, and off I went.

I wonder if he got a warning… nah he probably didn’t.

3

The dumbest ones I’ve seen are a couple of examples where the cop’s presence was utterly obvious before the idiot driver did his thing. The first one was when I was waiting at a light and the idiot was in the other lane. The cop car was behind me. Light flips green, idiot does massive, smoking burnout, cop thinks it’s Christmas, sirens come on, guy gets pulled over. All in about four seconds.

Second time was just recently, when another young punk burned a whole buttload of rubber leaving a parking space on the main street. The cop car was coming down so close that if he’d been any closer, the idiot would have had to give way. No other cars on the road. Same deal, lights and sirens appear instantly.

Was fun to watch.

4

Kind of. Waiting for a train at 5am at Manchester Piccadilly (those who know will shudder at the thought). A rather, um, ‘lively’ local is wandering around the concourse, shouting/harrassing/intimidating anybody within stumbling distance.

Two policemen arrive. One sits him down on the seat with its back to mine, to have a quiet chat along the line of “isn’t it time you went home?” The response was “so I’m fucking drunk - what you going to do, arrest me for it?”

Answer: “I’m arresting you, for being drunk on railway premises. You do not have to say anything…”

5

Sort of.

New Years eve, some years back. I was driving home at about 1 AM. Hadn’t been drinking (I don’t drink), but I’d forgotten that the area I was driving through was a -notorious- speed-trap, and I -was- speeding (possibly 40 in a 25 zone that most folks agree should be a 35). Also, my tags were expired.
I saw the cop pull up behind me, close enough to start taking down my license plate and look close at the tags, and I felt a sinking feeling in my stomach.
Suddenly, from the bar we were passing by, a driver swerved out into the road and began weaving drunkenly from side to side. After (slightly) regaining control, he stomped on the accelerator and took off. I looked in my rear-view mirror, and I swear to g-d I saw that cop give me a, “You got lucky.” Look as he tore off after the other driver.

6

Oooo yeah. Went out late one night with a pal to watch the Perseids and then went in search of a snack after so this was about 2 AM. We stopped at a red light. Guy pulls up beside and guns his engine and does some guy-posturing ‘let’s race’ stuff.

We (not being guys and not being into guy games) just laugh at him and wave buh-bye as he takes off (apparently the fact we weren’t racing him didn’t dampen his enthusiasm for competing). We laugh even harder when we see a police car zing by after him. Our mirth was complete when we passed them on our way home and saw a tow truck hooking his car up and him sitting in the police car. 'Twas a fine evening’s entertainment.

7

I was driving home from work around 11:30 one night when some jackass in an SUV began to tailgate me. The road was dark and winding, and I was driving right at the 35 mile an hour speed limit, but for some reason SUV Guy thought that wasn’t fast enough, and since he coudln’t get around me he just rode my bumper instead. I happened to glance into my rearview just as we rounded a curve and saw something that SUV GUY had not yet noticed – HE was now being tailgated by a police car. About 30 seconds later the cops lights went on and I had myself a hearty laugh as SUV Guy was pulled over and (presumably) ticketed.

8

Just recently. Driving home during rush hour, on a major road, everyone’s moving along nicely. There’s a looong line of cars in the left turn lane at a stop light. One last driver is determined to squeek through well after the light had turned yellow. Amazingly, the driver hadn’t noticed that the car immediately behind him was a fully marked police car. Lights came on immediately.

9

In a related way, I was the [water] cop at the right place and right time. And as a bonus, the tale was relayed on another message board by the boater who was most happy to see us. From the message board:

Yes, we cited the operator for BWI. In addition the whole thing was written up in a local newspaper because we had a reporter on board doing a story on our enforcement efforts in that particular area. From the article:

The first post I quoted was, presumably, made by the boater who was nearly hit as described in the article above.

We don’t often get feedback in this manner, so it’s it was nice to find that m/b post.

10
  1. About six of my girlfriends and I were stuffed in a Blazer on the way to the Big Town for a Ratt concert. (If that doesn’t date me . . . .) This truck full of partying guys pulls up next to us (three in the cab, maybe six in the bed), there’s some posturing, obscene gesturing, and laughing before they dust us, taking off up the Interstate at 100 mph. (No exaggeration; this was in Montana; the highway speed limit is 75, which is how fast we were going.) A couple miles down the road, there’s the truck pulled over, guys all lined up on the side of the road as the highway patrolman talks to the driver. We honked and waved and blew them kisses as we cruised by. :slight_smile:
11

Driving on the highway on Christmas eve, going to see my husband’s parents, some guy in a black sporty Honda or Acura (I didn’t really bother to look) weaves in and out of traffic, going 150km, easy, even flashing his lights at cars to get out of his way.

My husband and I look at each other and make some comment about how there has GOT to be a cop on the highway tonight, and I hope he gets pulled over before he kills someone for Christmas.

2 minutes later, we see flashing cop lights in the distance. With the black sporty car pulled over.

The sheer amount of GLEE was enough to rival Christmas morning!

I had time to glance at the driver… young man, didn’t look happy AT ALL!
I have an “opposite” story, too. In Ontario, where cars have license plates on the front and rear.

Years ago there was a strike at McMaster University, and I was trying to get on campus one afternoon to visit my husband and friends, but the picketers were holding up access, making cars wait for 5-10 minutes, then letting a few cars through, then waiting again. As a result, cars were backed up pretty deep, and there were a couple of cops there taking advantage of the situation to check tags and licenses and look for beaters they could pull off the road.

So a cop finishes giving some sort of ticket to a car up ahead, and starts to walk down the line. He glances at my front bumper, and I see him look along the inside of the front window, and a small eager grin breaks onto his face. No license plate. Easy ticket. He starts writing on his ticket pad, comes up to my open window (it was summer, no A/C!) and asks me where my license plate is, didn’t I know it was illegal to not have one in front. He just looked so happy, having “caught me”.

Until I told him I was from Québec, they only issue a back-end license plate.

He was crestfallen. “Uh… sorry… have a nice day!” as he tears the ticket off his pad and shoves it into a pocket.

Fucker :smiley:

12

I was waiting to board a train on an open station platform, a couple dozen yards from the intersection of the tracks with a busy road. The train approached, the signals lit up red and ding-ding-dinged, the crossing arms for the north and south lanes came down, and traffic halted.

Except for one guy north of the tracks, who’d be damned if he’d wait for a damned train, dammit! He slewed past the car in front of him, zigzagged around the northern and southern arms, and triumphantly pulled back into the southbound lane.

Whereupon the police car idling in the parking lot between the platform and the road zipped out and nailed him.

:smiley:

13

While walking in Philadelphia’s Chinatown, I watched someone drive past a school bus with it’s stop sign out and red flashing lights on. He was noticed and pulled over before he even cleared the intersection. The cop was quite, er, insistent. I could still hear him yelling at the driver even though I was about a block away.

14

I kinda had the opposite happen, similar to a reply upstream.

There were four of us going from home in Northern Virginia to West Virginia to go camping. We were college students home for summer and as students are wont to do, we enjoyed several joints in the car on the way up. We were well into the W Va. hills and quite baked when a police car comes up behind us.

Four nineteen year olds in a smoky car on a Friday night in W Va. with a local cop following us way too close. This guy followed us closely for miles along windy mountain roads, I suspect waiting for us to make one false move so he could pull us over. We were screwed.

A car coming the other way started flashing their lights rapidly at us, and shortly we found out why. We caught up to a pickup that was all over the road - weaving, crossing into the other lane on every corner. We slowed down and the cops lights came on and he sped around us to stop the drunk. We drove by and were finally able to breathe again.

That is the only time I ever thought I was going to get arrested, and I was certain of it.

15

Working in a gas station on a busy street corner can make for good stories. I was outside, taking care of some of the daily cleanup duties, when this guy blows the red light and I mean REALLY blows the light. We’re talking light is green the other way for a good two-three seconds. Cop hits the lights and siren and pulls him over across the street. I laughed all the way back into the store.

Another time, the cops were running seatbelt enforcement. I’m sure they were doing other checks as well, but mainly it looked like seatbelt enforcement. It was a rather slow day and maybe the cops using part of the lot to pounce from had something to do with it. Anyway, they pull a guy over for not wearing his seatbelt. As a result, they got him for DWI, having an open container, possession (marijuana, if I remember correctly), AND not wearing his seat belt.

16

The Saturday night before New Year’s Eve, I was driving home from my parents house. The road is pretty rural, with very few streetlights, but it is well traveled. The speed limit is 50 and I was going about 55. There was a car behind me that wasn’t exactly tailgating but wasn’t as far back as he should have been–not annoying enough for me to pull over and let him pass.

We got to a straightaway and he pulled out to pass me even though a car was coming from the other direction. Then he floored it. About 3 seconds later, headlights appeared out of nowhere behind me and then the red and blue lights started flashing… Totally busted.

17

Only one time was it awesome, although there is a possible explanation, I suppose. On the island of Montreal, right turns on red are illegal and have ALWAYS been illegal. There are huge signs on every bridge into the city about how right turns on red are illegal. There’s an off-chance that the guy with Quebec plates didn’t know this, but I suspect it’s more likely that he just blew through the red light, no yellow or green in recent memory. The cop was right there. It was awesome.

18

Well, a few years ago some people saw me blast past them on the highway, and then got to laugh at me when I got pulled over a few miles later. What can I say, I like to drive fast.

I did see someone else do something completely boneheaded once, and get pulled over for it.

I was driving home from work one day on a two-lane highway. There were very few people on the road, and I was going about as fast as traffic normally moves there, 80 mph or so (limit is 55).

Anyway, a guy in a nondescript, older American car was following behind me, matching my speed. I’m in the right lane.

I come over a hill and see a car in the left lane, a good 800 feet or so away, that is very obviously an unmarked police car - antennas sticking out all over the place, wide tires, silhouettes of the strobe lights on the rear package shelf, all that. I realize that the cop is going relatively slow, maybe 70, so I slow down. The guy behind me tailgates me for a little while, and then changes lanes into the left lane, accelerating back up to 85.

He heads down the road, comes up right behind the cop (who was still in the left lane, doing 70), and tailgates the cop! After a few seconds, the cop moves over to the right lane, the guy passes him, then the cop goes left again, turns on his lights, and pulls him over.

As I pass them, the cop gets out his car with a hilariously exasperated look on his face.

I mean, I drive fast too, but I have enough sense not to tailgate freaking police cars…

19

Just about half an hour ago some idiot hit a house and a parked car as he was turning in to my street. Then he tried to speed off with a crumpled front end and dangling bumper. A cruiser happened to be patrolling and turned to face him just as he got halfway up. The siren went on, the guy tried to turn and then stopped and got out, and the siren went off. Everyone came outside to watch him fail his sobriety test.

20

I wish I had a story or two like that, but the cops don’t enforce traffic laws in Calgary. At least, not so’s you’d notice.