So I head out for lunch break. I’m in a really good mood as we’ve made
a lot of progress at work today.
The sun is shining, it’s a beautiful day, so I figure I’d go to Taco Cabana for some fajita tacos.
I get to the restaurant, order my food and then think to myself: “What could go better with my fajitas than a ice cold beer?” So I get myself a beer.
As I’m waiting for my food, I notice a cop in there. He seems to be giving me the evil eye. At this point, I shrug it off thinking it’s all in my head. Finally my order is ready. I pick it up and take it to my table.
No sooner than I sit down the cop walks up to me and says: “IF YOU DRINK THAT BEER, THEN GET IN YOU VEHICLE, I WILL ARREST YOU!”
Dumbfounded, I politely ask the officer: " Is there something I have done that gives you the impression that I’ve been drinking previously to this?"
He responds with: “I DON’T CARE IF YOU’VE BEEN DRINKING OR NOT. IF YOU DRINK THAT; I WILL ARREST YOU!”
I then tried to explain to him that drinking one beer isn’t going to put me over the legal limit. He continues to yell at me about how “technically” I don’t have to be over .08 BAC. Something about how if he feels the alcohol has effected my ability to drive safely; he can take me to jail.
So I take the beer, that I haven’t even opened yet, and throw it away.
WTF!! You sir, give cops a bad name.
It take a real piece of shit to abuse his power like that. Please die.
I wonder if the owners like him curtailing their sales like that. You may want to let them know. Typically they like cops being around, but probably not if they are haranguing customers and discouraging sales.
What a douchebag. It’s the kind of thing that if I didn’t have anything better to do I would kind of want to pursue.
“Badge number, presinct, please? Thank you for your input officer I will certainly be taking up your perception of law enforcement with your superiors, have a great day.”
Or how about; “Wait, let me get my phone, can you repeat that please officer?”
You don’t even have to ask, for the badge number, it’s right there on his name tag. Oblige him, then call the prick in.
What did the people sitting around you have to say about this? That shit wouldn’t go unchallenged by others, where I live.
Assuming the cop wasn’t just having a psychotic episode, I can’t wrap my head around what the hell was going on with him. Were you staggering, slurring your words, have bloodshot eyes, or smell like a brewery? Were you wearing a “I Hate Pigs” badge? Anything?
Not to excuse how he handled this but were you wearing anything that might have made him think you were a truck driver? Commercial drivers are not allowed to have ANY alcohol in their system.
No, the only thing I can think of was that I was being ever so slightly silly with the cashier. I can’t remember exactly what I said to her but it was something to the effect of: " Hey! can’t have fajitas with out a beer. It’s like milk and cookies!"
No, I’m wearing a button down bowling type shirt with blue jean shorts.
It is true that you don’t have to be above the “legal limit” for him to detain and cite you; however, you do have to demonstrate some outward sign of impairment or unlawful activity before he can issue any citations or even detain you.
Cops are like other people; some good, some bad, and some are good people having a bad day. However, if I was accosted like that by a peace officer in the manner that you describe I would have made a complaint to the watch commander, not just to satisfy your own sense of self-worthy but because the WC needs to know if an officer is having some kind of attitudinal problem that is causing him or her to behave erratically.
I understand what you are trying to get across, but the thing is other people do not have the option to tase you if the whim hits them. I have a friend who is a cop. He has warned me repeatedly to beware of cops. Per him, the entire process selects for assholes.
Shakes: if you didn’t have to go back to work you should have enjoyed your beer, then gotten another, smiling at him all the while. After your fourth or so you could have calmly walked away, returning for your car at some later time.
While there is no love lost between myself and LE, your story doesn’t jibe realistically. Stranger on a Train nailed it mostly with this:
This. Add the fact that the officer was in an establishment that he probably knew sold alcohol and the story just doesn’t add up. Incidentally, were you the ONLY patron drinking a beer? If not, why did he single YOU out?
Construction workers are also not allowed any alcohol or drugs while on the clock (at least at my husband’s company - yeah, I know how well that’s enforced).
Drinking and driving is bad; having one beer for lunch and driving back to work before the alcohol has even really hit your system does not seem like a horrible thing to me, however. I dunno; maybe the cop was at a traffic fatality caused by drunk driving last night and has a hate on for everyone who drinks and drives. That’s not completely unlikely.
Disgusting examples of humanity like this guy don’t usually die doing anything heroic. If the shit hits the fan, he won’t go down in a hail of gunfire defending the public. He’ll be hiding behind his squad car pissing his pants and begging for his momma. He’s a bully, a thug, who will, unfortunately, probably have a long, long life. To paraphrase Lewis Black, the good die young, and the pricks live forever!
Yeah, cops are human, “one bad apple,” etc. But when your job is to protect and serve the public, you don’t make your job or that of your organization any easier by giving the people you’re supposed to be protecting a reason to hate you. That seems…counterproductive.
I’m willing to bet he also waves Old Glory around and thanks troops for securing “our freedom and the American way” even as he pisses all over everything that those brave people died for by his disgusting behavior. Ironically, his attitude is more in line with law enforcement in North Korea or Iran.
As long as you weren’t in one of those jurisdictions where cops go into establishments where drinks are served and test everyone, and arrest those who are over the limit and have car keys on them, whether or not they actually have a car close and are planning on driving it home. While this certainly isn’t right, it happens. If the cop saw you doing that and the law will let him get away with the above scenario, he certainly would think he could get away with arresting you if he saw you near your actual car.
So then he had reason to believe your judgment was impaired?
I don’t understand… was he there getting food, or was he on a detail in a Mexican restaurant in the middle of the day? If it’s the former, was he planning to just sit there until you went back to your car? What if you were planning on sitting there for an hour?
Based on being the child of a cop, the nephew of two others, and having worked as a deputy sheriff, I’d say that is correct. The job, historically, doesn’t pay well. Further, it’s guaranteed that most of your interactions with people will be unpleasant. You’ll either be dealing with them when something bad has just happened to them or you will be enforcing the law “against” them. A significant portion of the public will regard you with outright hate and hostility. Bottom line? You just about have to be something of an asshole to want to be a cop anyway. For many, the assholishness does run toward enjoying being in a position of authority over others. For others, it gets even less wholesome.
That said, there are still good cops.
