Abuse of Power
Yesterday morning I pulled out of our driveway onto our pin-straight street. Everyone speeds on our street. I speed on our street. The limit’s 45, I usually do somewhere around 55-60.
But yesterday morning as I pulled out onto the street a RI State Trooper was cruising along in the same direction as I. When I pulled out he was far enough away, so I wasn’t entering traffic right in front of him. Within seconds he was on my tail as the needle on my speedometer hovered between 40 and 45.
He instantly lost his patience and passed me. He crossed the solid double yellow lines that indicate a no passing zone. He didn’t signal. He didn’t flip on his flashing lights or turn on the siren. All I heard was the whoosh of his cruiser as he passed my Jeep. We were in a no passing zone because we were on a hill. He passed anyway.
A moment after he passed me the hill leveled out and I saw a car coming the other way. Had the cop passed me just a few seconds later, I would have had to stop and serve as a witness for a head-on collision caused by an impatient state trooper engaged in a moving violation.
Labels: the ordinary
posted by BJ Knapp at
7:00 AM
2 Comments:
Once I was waiting at a red light next to a county cop. It was a long light, and it was late at night with no one around. He waited for about 30 seconds, and then he put on his lights and siren, went through the red light, and turned off the fireworks as soon as he'd crossed through the intersection.
I mean, I guess they're allowed to do that, but it still seems pretty bad to me.
See, I don't like that. They are supposed to be setting the example. The cop should have waited, just like you did.
Though I've run zillions of lights when nobody was around. But it would have been interesting to run it right after he did then say "I was just following the example of the law, officer."
Actually, my friend did this. He sped behind a speeding cop on the highway. The cop pulled him over and he said "I was just following the example of the law." He got off.
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