Fuming

After another long day of working on the house and the pool, Mitch and I decided carry out was in order. He usually goes to pick it up, but tonight I went. We live right off of the major street in our neighborhood, and there are three stop signs on it. I get so annoyed watching people run them, and I always make a point to stop in the middle of the lane so that the person behind me has to stop, and can't turn right beside me without doing so. I've been tempted for over a year to call the city about getting cops out here to watch the lights. Tonight on my way to Prespa's, I saw a cop turn on the other side of our street and turn around to face the stop sign. I was kind of excited to see that because I thought that maybe that would keep people from running the stop signs for a while. I turned to go the way where I didn't have to wait through any stop signs, and got dinner. On the way back, I decided to go the other way, the way that I had to stop at the stop signs. When I got near the first one, I saw a cop turn on to the side street, and I figured they had some kind of sting set up. I made a full stop at the sign, and then as I pulled into the intersection, I turned to see if the cop was actually turning around to set himself up to get people, and at that point, he was in the process of turning around. I was midway through the intersection as this was happening. I saw the guy behind me not stop all the way, and then I saw the lights come on. I pulled over to let the cop and the guy get around me, but the cop pulled me over instead. When he got out, he asked me if I knew why he had pulled me over, and I told him I had no idea. He said that I had run the stop sign, and I said I absolutely had not. Then he told me that he had it all on video, which I thought was pretty fishy considering he wasn't even facing me as I got into the intersection. That's when I informed him that the guy behind me had run the sign. He said that yes, he had run it too, but he drove off, and would be dealt with later. Then, he asked for my license and insurance. I gave him my license and began to dig through the car for the insurance card. (It was Mitch's car.) Of course it wasn't in there, so I thought I'd just call Mitch and have him bring it down. That too was a no go because I had left my cell phone sitting on the couch.

I sat there for a while stewing because I watch 3 other cars go straight through the next stop sign without stopping (out of maybe 5 total that went through the intersection) and I was upset that I was being pulled over for a bogus reason. I'm one to fess up to cops when I do something wrong, because I figure I get away with it most of the time. We all speed, and usually we don't get caught. If I'm speeding and I get caught, I'll tell him sheepishly and take my punishment. I was growing more and more upset as I sat there because I make such a point to stop at every single stop sign. I have only two driving pet peeves when it comes to following the law exactly...1. school zones, and 2. stop signs.

Eventually another cop came and stood at the passenger door of the first cop. I called him over to me and stated that I wanted to see this video tape because I knew for a fact that it did not show what the 1st cop said it did. He said I'd have to talk to the first cop about it when he came back.

He came back and asked for my phone number and I lost it. I said, "Are you seriously writing me a ticket?" Now, I know this isn't the best way to respond to a cop, but that's what came out. Then, I gave him my phone number. He said that he was writing a ticket for no insurance, as well as expired registration. I showed him the registration, and the fact that it wasn't expired because it said 07 08. Of course, it's backwards because it shows on the outside, so it actually expired almost a year ago. I was so mad, I could have ripped the steering wheel off the car. He told me I could get both of those waived by getting them taken care of and going to the court house. Then I began to argue with him about the stop again. He eventually told me that he hadn't written a ticket for that, but he would stop "being nice" if I didn't stop arguing. I was still upset about it, and asked one more question. I told him again that I always make ti a point to stop, and if feeling the car jerk to a stop isn't a stop, then to please tell me what is. He told me "When your car stops, it's a stop." I took the two tickets a drove off.

I came home and took most of my anger out on Mitch. Really, all it cost me was a trip to the court house, but I was already livid about the police officer lying, and then trying to make me believe that I ran the stop sign. And, I knew that he had absolutely no proof that I had.