So I got pulled over...IN MY DRIVEWAY!

Yup you read it right.

i was driving home from dropping my girlfriend off, she only live about a mile away. After i dropped her off a cop drove pass me while i was at a stop sign. so i get onto the road behind him, doing the speed limit. he pulls off to the side of the road after 2 minutes and right then i knew he was just doing it to get behind me, he did.

So I pull up to a stop sign, come to a complete stop signal with my arm, then signal with my arm to pull into my road. He follows me all the way to my house. I park, turn off my lights, engine and open my door to get out. Right at that moment BOOM he turned on his lights, shined his spot light at me. My first words were, "are you fucking serious?!" my thoughts were "this is gonna be fun"

DISCLAIMER - Iam always nice and respectful to cops, even when they pull me over for that they dont know the law on such as year of manufacture plates, tabs, and turn signals. but since this some was compleatly in the wrong i was a smartass knowing he couldnt do anything. he couldnt have been more than a year older then me (im 22 and have a clean record)

Cop walks up to me in my driveway and says, "do you know why i pulled you over?"

I confidently say (knowing i didnt do anything wrong), "you didnt pull me over, im in MY driveway PARKED with my engine OFF"

Cop - again said "do you know why i pulled you over?"
I laughed, "no what?"
Cop - "you dont have a license plate light"
Me - "oh the one over my GREEN licence plate with my 1960" tab?! yea i dont have to have one because its grandfathered in as a R.C.W. since this car was never MADE with one."
Cop - looks at me all confused
Me - "i have the RCW right here in my car if you want to brush up on some of the laws"
Cop - "oh is that right? do you have your licence, registration and isurance?)
Me - "I dont have to give you any of that since your lights came on after i was parked and my door was open with my keys out of my ignition. but SURE ill give em to ya"

I hand him all my paperwork and he tells me to stay in the car.
Im laughing my ass off while hes in his car as all my neighbors in my cultasack are looking.

He finally returns and says "your registration says you car is red (car in in primer mostly) was it red when you bought it? or are you planning on painting it red?"

I just respond, "theres red on it"
he hands me my paperwork and stomps off to his car and drives away.

This just goes to show everyone on here needs to know their laws WELL. And it never hurt to have your RCW's on your car in your glove box.

 

whats an RCW?

 

You are right about knowing the laws that pertain to old cars. The cops know a lot of stuff, but often don't know the specifics on the old stuff and classic tags. I have had a few situations where their lack of knowledge worked to my advantage. I will say that even though you were in right here, you sure didn't make friends with Johnny Law.

 

Great one... I love to get stopped knowing I am totally in the right also.

Sounds like a good topic.....

 

That's a riot. I was coming home in Modesto late at night in heavy fog. I turned onto a nearby street and recognized the car in front of me, but mistakenly thought it belonged to one of my neighbors. It was actually a near identical car that a man who lived two blocks away owned. I saw him signal to turn into what I thought would be the last block before getting to my culdesac, but instead he was turning into his own driveway. As his garage door went up, I discovered I was right behind him on his driveway. I quickly retreated before he ID'd me as the idiot behind him. Very embarrassing.

 

yeah whats an RCW? and what car were you driving that wasnt made with a licence plate light?

 

I'm laughing my ass off on this one! While I have due respect for the law I have zero respect for clowns who suffer from rectal-cranial inversion and use their badge to harass people who don't meet their image of "proper".

 

Whats a RCW??????????????????????

 

RCW means Revised Code of Washington im sure they have it for most all the states

 

eh its whatever to me im on great terms with most all the cop around here because they come into my work from time to time. Im not worried at all about another encounter with him, just another opportunity to make him look stupid

 

It's funny but i live in a smaller town i don't want to be "marked" for that guy to nail me for anything else i am doing. Around here they will find something

 

Make sure you know the law yourself before copping an attitude with a police officer. If an officer observes you commit a violation on a public highway, just because you have now pulled into your driveway does not mean he can not stop you and take enforcement action against you. You sound like one of these guys on a COPS episode that gets into a pursuit and runs home only to look surprised when the cops still arrest you in your driveway. Now if the cop was wrong about the violation, then explain to the officer why he is mistaken. Take it as an opportunity to educate a young officer on some laws that are most likely not being explained to officers in their academy. Giving him attitude and trying to make him feel dumb is not the way to go. Believe me, he will go back to the office and study up on everything to do with hot rods and customs and will in the future take out his frustrations either on you or some other car enthusiast instead of maybe taking a positive interest in these vehicles and their owners. Don't screw over some other car owner inadvertently by being an ass. If the officer is rude to you for politely explaining his mistake, then kill him with kindness at the scene and file a complaint later with his superiors.

 

Still waiting to hear what type and year of car it was that came without a licence plate light.

 

thank you for your comment and your service to the public.

i was in a private neighborhood when he pulled off to get behind me.

the past several time ive been pulled over for thing such as this i have been nice and polite exsplained myself and the cops were nice about it. the 4th time i got pulled over for my licence plate i had had enough i went down to the police station and was VERY polate and talked to the head of the place and just explained that it was getting old and he understood and told me everyone in the department needed to know these laws anyways since my town has a ton of cars shows.

im my work i work WITH the local police department so please dont get me wrong, iam on the cops side 99% of the time

 

i don't know if "nice and respectluf" are accurate from what i read, but maybe for you, that was "nice and respectful". seemed a bit disrespectful from what i read.but were all raised differntly. now i'm going finish off the night watching al's facial expressions.

 

Aint it great when you know the laws better than they do?? The last cop i went around with even had a pro street 57 chev truck being worked on by a big name shop i've done work for. Just started pulling out laws one by one for 30 mins or so....

 

lol my grandma just said, "whats with all these teachers and cops not knowing anything anymore?!"

 

If he's young he's got a long career to get you in , even if he was in the wrong making him look stupid doesn't help

 

the young ones get transferred out of my city once finished with training

 

The cop being wrong or right.. still gotta be as nice as possible when dealing with them. You don't want them out looking for you every time you fire up your ride, been there and done that.

Bob

 

Your age (22) explains alot. These guys don't forget and being a wise ass won't help. You can be right all you want but you better get used to alot of aggravation from the cops.

 

Seeing as you won't say what kind of car you were in, I'll assume it was your 1960 Galaxie. In which case I call Bull Shit because indeed it came from the factory with a licence plate light and working directional signals. Both of which in Wisconsin are defective saftey issues and you can be ticketed. Your state may vary to some degree but in most states the cops like to be able to read a licence plate at night.




Cop - again said "do you know why i pulled you over?"
I laughed, "no what?"
Cop - "you dont have a license plate light"
Me - "oh the one over my GREEN licence plate with my 1960" tab?! yea i dont have to have one because its grandfathered in as a R.C.W. since this car was never MADE with one."

 

yes it was my galaxie and this state it doesnt matter. my bumper has no holes of any kind around my license plate indication that it should have one

 

Im sory dude but this is BS. So, just because he has a badge and because i know he is gonna lay his frustrations on me/you im gonna play along and let this happen over and over again?
He was pulled for no license plate light for fuck sake!
Althou i understand it is for safe living that we do it, I bet most cops have an attitude cause we let them. Police should protect us, instead they harrass.
I lost count of how many times i got searched, beaten and held at gun point, and im talkin as a teen, not now. /rant

 

couldnt have said it better myself thank you

 

You really showed him with your inoperative license plate light and that R.C.W. thingy

 

Same here, Ford had them starting back in the Model T era.

 

1960 Galaxie, I called bullshit first !

 

Good thing there was no alcohol involved. Before they started using data bursts I used to hear the license plate light stops on the radio all night long.

My '46 came with 'em, by the way. So did my '64 Galaxie which in the 70s was a popular car with the local cops.