So this morning I was leaving a doctors appointment heading to work when I cop pulls out behind me. I think nothing of it cause I have on my seat belt, my phone is in the passenger seat and I putting down the road in traffic going 35mph stuck behind a truck pulling a crappy looking boat. About a block later he turns on his lights. I think hmm. . . he didn't turn on his siren so I don't think he's trying to go around me, is he pulling me over? So I pull over into the drive way area of a parking lot that is under construction (not in the parking lot but also not really in the street either). He pulls up behind me. I park and roll down my window and wait.
He walks up to the car and asks if I mind stepping outside the vehicle. I said sure. At this point I have run through every possible law that you can break in a vehicle in my mind and I can't come up with anything I have done wrong. I've gotten speeding tickets before but that's it and I always deal with those immediately. Then it hits me, instantly! Last year we reported the registration sticker on my license plate stolen they must think something weird about that stolen sticker, but how can that be?
He asks me to face the car and says that he has to DETAIN me for a few minutes because my car has been reported stolen!!!!! I say ok and while he's placing me in HANDCUFFS I told him that we reported the registration sticker stolen last year but not the whole car. He was super nice the entire time! Never once treated me like a criminal. He even apologized several times during the whole situation saying he knows that I didn't steal the car, he could tell the moment he saw me I didn't steal the car. He asked me if I had my ID with me and I told him where he could find my ID, registration and insurance. I sat in the back of his police car while he got those things from my car. He came back to sit in his car and I told him the whole situation about the stolen registration sticker. By the way I was laughing the whole time, cause this was the most ridiculous thing that has ever happened to me. LOL. He was even laughing too when he learned that my dad is a lawyer and the police office that took my statement about the registration sticker was a friend of mine. Also that I worked in the elections office at the time of the indecent so the offices just wondered over to the office which was down the street from them to take my statement. I did leave out the part about the county sherriff is a close friend of my dad, I thought that might be too much (but it did cross my mind. Sitting there in the back of the police car imagining my dad and Mr. Reggie laughing about this). He even joked, "great now I'm gonna get sued" to which I replied, "no, my dad will think this is the funnest thing on earth!" I thanked him for being so nice. We both had a good laugh. He said "now you're gonna have an exciting story to tell". I said, "I
know! I've never been in a cop car before or in handcuffs. This is a
first for me". He laughed.
The dispatcher reported back that the report says "car stolen/decal stolen" and that she didn't know what that meant (cause really who cares about reporting a stolen decal if the whole car is stolen). So he told her that he was going to undetain me and let me sit in my own car cause he knows that I didn't steal my dads car. So he let me out of the backseat and took the handcuffs off and I got back in my car. I spent less than 10mins in the police car, hardly a scary experience. He stood outside the car chit chatting with me while the dispatcher tried to get in contact with the Lee County department to figure out the stolen car report. The police officer and I talked about his camaro he had growing up, an old pick up truck he had, my dad's Model-A, all sorts of stuff.
Finally he asked me if my dad would be at work by now and if they could reach him there. I said absolutely! So he calls my dad's office and one of the secretary's answers and tells him that he's out until Monday! OH CRAP!!! I remember he and my mom are on an antique car club weekend trip! So then he calls my dad's cell phone hoping to get him even though I know that's not going to happen cause dad NEVER answers his phone. Sure enough after 3 tries dad still doesn't answer. So I tell the police office I can call my mom and tell her that a police office is calling dad and to answer the phone. He said that if she answers she can just hand the phone over to my dad and that would be fine. So I call her. The phone rings, rings, rings, SHE PICKED UP! "Hey, what's going on? How are you doing?" (in a cheerful motherly way) to which I responded, "I'm standing here with a cop, give dad the phone" (in a why don't you people ever answer your phone kind of way). She hands my dad the phone, I hand my phone to the police officer. He tells my dad who he is and simply asks, "Has your chevy cavalier been stolen?" To which my dad obviously replied, "No. The registration tag was stolen last year that we had to file a report for though" The police officer laughs saying he knows but had to confirm with the owner of the car and breifly explains the situation and that he's letting me go and that their department is in contact with Lee County's department to get the report fixed.
The police officer hands me back the phone and tells me he's letting me go and is sorry that all this has happened and to have a nice day. We laughed some. And he left. I then sat on the phone with my mom telling her the whole story. She was cracking up laughing with my dad and aunt, who was with them, about it. I was laughing too cause the whole situation was surreal. To get detained! Sit in the back of a cop car, handcuffed with the police officer being incredibly nice and joking back and forth with one another. All over a mistake on a police report. He truly was the nicest police officer I've ever met at least the nicest one that has ever pulled me over. LOL.
And that is my story about my 1st and hopefully only experience inside a police car.
