cop stories

[Taka Mizutani]

I have a few stories..... :-)

Coming back from work, on the NJ Turnpike, driving at a decent pace,
but same as traffic, in the far right lane. I see someone behind me
approaching at a very high rate of closure, far left lane is clear,
middle lane is clear. This guy passes me on the right shoulder (!?!)
doing approx. 100-110mph. NJ State Trooper. WTF is this guy doing a
pass on the right shoulder? No emergency lights or anything. Very
dangerous maneuver.

I've had the spotlight thing done to me a few times: once, I saw a cop
in a gravel parking lot, pretty far off the road- all of a sudden,
hits me with the spotlight, I slow down, he turns off light; another
time, I was on the NJ Turnpike (again) and cop pulls alongside me with
me doing a steady 65mph (exactly the speed limit), hits me with the
spotlight, I ignore him, he keeps on going. The third time, I was
driving on local roads, all of a sudden, cop car with lights on comes
flying up behind me- I pull over, thinking to just yield the road, he
pulls behind me, turns on both spotlights, approaches the window,
looks in with Mag-Lite, I ask him "what's the problem?" and then he
says "wrong car, you can go," gets back in his cruiser and drives off.
That was odd, to say the least.

The best was when I was driving home, punk kid in an Accord V6 coupe
(all riced out, too) decides he wants to race me, starts revving his
engine at a light- I'm driving a yellow 2.0 automatic Beetle with
steelies and no hub caps, great challenge. I ignore him, drive
normally, he's pacing me the whole time. I continue to ignore him,
keep driving, he slows down for some reason. A cop approaches from
behind, closes up to the point where I can see his badge number
practically, paces me for a good 1/4 mile with me doing exactly the
speed limit with the cruise on. Cop passes me, does the same thing to
a pickup truck and the pickup truck slows down to 40mph (55mph speed
limit). I switch to the center lane (was in the right lane), pass the
truck and the cop, still doing 55. The kid in the Accord coupe chooses
that moment (I'm about 4 car lengths past the cop) to gun it and do a
ricer flyby on me, approx. 75-80mph, right past the cop, right past
me, far left lane, full throttle, big mufflers bellowing. Cop
immediately lights up his light bar, nearly takes me out doing a
double lane change and pulls the Accord over. That was classic. :-)

Taka