[Rick Lee]

So, last night at about 11:45 I was headed home from a lady’s house on the Ffx. Co. Pkwy. Wasn’t in a hurry, kept the radar detector off, had a few drinks in me, but knew I was fine after a phat meal and few hours. A Camaro pulled up beside me and stayed right next to me for a good five miles. I kept it at 59mph, not wanting to provoke anyone or attract attention. Again, no hurry (for once). At the intersection south of Pope’s Head Rd. we came up to a red light side by side. When I’m first in line at a red light, I always redline it away when it turns green. I got to 59mph in 2nd gear pretty fast when the Camaro pulled behind me and on came the telltale blue lights. I thought this was ridiculous, as he could have nailed me for 9mph over way back.

Cop came up to my window and his first words were: “So you’re gonna let some punk kid in a Camaro bait you into street racing.” In my mind I was thinking “entrap” rather than bait. But I digress.

Me: “Officer, had I wanted to race you, I would have left you in my exhaust about five miles back. Just because she’s loud and fast does not mean I was racing or even more than barely speeding and I kept it at 59mph the whole time you were next to me.”

Officer: “Is this a 993?” This is when I knew I was safe. He went on: “I once let a Carrera S get up to 130mph on the Beltway before I put a stop to it.”

Me: “Well, an S has this same engine but weighs more than this car, so I would have gotten to 130mph a lot faster. But I’d never do something like that.” (No, never, never.)

Anyway, he went on the ask me how much I had had to drink. Then he asked me if I had a warmer jacket so I could stand outside for a few minutes. I said, “Warmer than this North Face Summit I’m wearing now? I don’t think so.” So he told me to get out of the car, put me through the field sobriety tests and then said I was ok and was not going to jail tonight. Then he told me to fire her back up and get warm while he ran my license. This took a while and I got a little nervous. But since no other cops had appeared, I was pretty sure he’d let me walk. Then he got out of the car, came up and looked at the front of my car. Now I knew he had me for no front license plate.

A few minutes later he came back and gave me some ridiculous explanation as to his probable cause for pulling me over. I don’t remember the exact legalese, but it was something to the effect that I was “intending to race”, which could land my car in Fairfax Co.’s possession. He said he shut the “race” down after about 100 ft., so it would not be entrapment. Whatever!!!! He told a few quick stories about some of the ricers that he had nailed and then said I should know my car can crush his and should thus not be tempted to “race” him. Mind you, this was all very friendly and there was no tension at all. I told him again that I was not racing and barely even speeding.
So he let me go with the whopping $25 and no points ticket for lack of a frot license plate. Oh, the humanity!

[VaSteve]

You had better buy a couple of tickets to the policeman's ball, or donate some cash next time they call you on the phone.

[BW911]

You get stopped for racing and given a field sobriety test and a ticket for no front plate, and there's "no tension?" Geez, RL, sounds like Tension City to me. But congrats on your near miss. I'm sure our Virginia counsellors, Marc and Dan, are equally relieved.

- Bill W.

[Marc A]

It would have helped if you had shifted into second while you were doing 59 might have cut down on the noise level.

[Rick Lee]

Update...

Just read my paperwork and noticed a $55 "processing fee". Now I'm very chapped and am seriously considering taking a half day, getting 110 rolls of pennies and paying the fine in person - a check for $25 and $55 in pennies. Of course, I'd do it the right way and print out labels with my contact info to stick on each roll. I'll make sure they use $55 worth of time to "process" my money. $25 ok, worth it to me to have the fron of my car looking right with no front plate. Call me a scofflaw. But the "processing fee" - they will lose money on me again.

[scphelps1]

Wow! Glad to hear you WEREN'T in a hurry (as you said, for once, LOL!), but sounds like quite the ordeal. At least he didn't try to stick the street racing bit. 55 bucks for processing does seem a bit steep, to me; pennies may only put a red flag in their database, though, in which case, the next time might not be so "friendly".

[vove]

You are soooo lucky Richard, I can only wish that was my outcome when I got pulled over on route66 for 95mph in a 60. Gottah be careful in Fairfax County guys.

[Rick Lee]

Why is everyone saying I was "lucky"? I wasn't doing anything wrong and the cop had next to nothing on me. I know police encounters can be unpleasant, but I was sober, really was taking it easy and usually do when on the Pkwy. late at night with light traffic. I was very polite and even a little chatty with the cop, who was the same. A friend just read this, called me and asked what was I thinking, pulling away so fast. No rate of acceleration is illegal - certain velocities are. If that cop really wanted to see how far I would have gone, he could have followed me another 1/4 mile after that intersection and would have seen that was not gonna exceed 59mph, as I had not done all the while I was driving alongside him. He was looking for a reason to pull me over and found a very flimsy one. BTW, he asked if I had any open containers in the car. I did, but it was a bottle of Scotch in my book bag and I wasn't drinking from it. He didn't even ask to see it and didn't mention open container again. Not really sure why he had such a hard-on for me, but was so friendly. I got pulled over a few years ago and told the cop I had a .45 in my bag, showed him my permit and he didn't even look at it. He just wanted to gimme a speeding ticket.

[targa911man]

Richard--

I for one am outraged that this officer violated his oath to uphold the law by ignoring your flagrant disregard thereof, thereby denying me the opportunity to offer you reasonable doubt for a reasonable fee.

[Rick Lee]

Dan, I have your cell phone # programmed for just such an occasion, and visions of you pulling up in your Targa with bathrobe and slippers danced in my head.