Roushe

I had an unusual incident the other night and thought I'd share it with y'all.

I was leaving a residential neighborhood where the street widened out to a major artery. The street went from a two lane residential to 4 lane with center turn lane at an intersection. A car had been trapped behind me for a couple of blocks as I had taken the lane (too narrow to share), but it was a downhill run and I was doing at least the speed limit. When I got to the light where it widened out, there was a cop already stopped in the left lane. I took the right lane, but I didn't expect the car behind me to intentionally remain behind me. I didn't understand why he did that but I quickly dismissed it. I then heard someone yell, "but he's in the f&cking ROAD!!!" I looked back and saw that the driver was listening to the cop. After the light turned green, he remained behind me as I ground up a steep grade despite the open lane to the left. I never saw the cop pass me. I just kept riding. After a minute or so, I heard the cop's loudspeaker announce, "Just merge to the left and pass him." The cop had apparently pulled in behind the driver tailgating me. The driver went passed me, barely missing me while gunning it up the hill. The driver yelled for me to get on the sidewalk. The blue lights lit up immediately and we all pulled over. I pulled up onto the sidewalk. The cop said I could leave. I replied, "I wanna watch." He just shrugged and said it was a public sidewalk. That REALLY irked the driver. The cop shined his flashlight around the interior of the car while asking the usual questions and noticed an empty beer can and a gun.

Yes, things went pretty much as you'd expect. After assuming the position and getting a pat down, the driver had to do stupid human tricks on the side of the road (which he passed). The cop did a plain sight search of the car and found more empties rolling around the back seat. How he didn't get a DUI, I don't know because there was at least a six pack back there.

Citations: Open container, failure to safely pass a cyclist, and harassment of a cyclist. The driver complained about what that was going to do to his insurance rates. The cop asked him if he wanted a careless driving citation to go with the rest of his collection.

Pure stupid.

howsteepisit

Now that's a good stupid driver story.

tergal

I hope you got the Officers name, and you send him a X-mass card every year from now now !

GrouchoWretch

This may be the greatest thing I've ever read.

K'Tesh

Amen!

JonnyHK 

I always like the 'gentle hint' to STFU.

look566 rider

Best law enforcement-bicyclist interaction I have heard in a long time.

smasha

Awesome!

also worth "reporting" the officer to his supervisor for doing an awesome and professional job. we need more cops like this.

i guess it's legal to drive around with a gun in the passenger compartment?

at least he didn't do a "Charles Diez" on you - https://www.streetsblog.org/2009/11/2...t-in-the-head/

jerseyJim

This made my day!

I would write a letter detailing the incident to the editor of my local paper and another one to the chief of police thanking them for protecting cyclists from hostile drivers.

jerseyJim

Wow it's unbelievable to me that even when there is no threat to your personal safety you could fire a weapon at someone with intent to kill and only get 120 days in jail.

Myosmith

This is a great story and a prime example of why we as cyclists need to foster a good relationship with law enforcement.

UnsafeAlpine

Awesome story. Make sure you write a thank-you to the P.D.

JoeyBike

I wonder if the officer also rides a bike now and then.

Notso_fastLane

If you didn't get the officers name, I would highly recommend you do this. If nothing else, just because of the *****storm it will cause with many of the local yahoos who feel the same way as stoopid guy.

kmv2

Maybe, but even if not, his job is to provide an unbiased assessment of the situation to uphold the law; to serve and protect.

And this was a pretty funny story.

Commodus

Good story, but I'm slightly horrified that this guy was not only pissed off at you but also apparently had been drinking and a firearm in the passenger seat.

MMACH 5

I want to nominate this for post of the week. Or month. You might need to have the mods change the title to "Stupid motorist. Pure greatness."

GrouchoWretch

That's alright. It's South Carolina.

Commodus

Okay but...why just lying on the seat? What other reason could there be than to shoot at things/people you see while driving?

Maybe the holster is uncomfy while sitting...

kmv2

That's how i picture the typical American.

Beer cozy w/beer in lap, gun on the passenger seat, heading to WalMart or McDonalds of course!

gmt13

Instant Karma! I love it. Truly stupid behavior on the part of the driver.

-G

no motor?

Me too, thanks for sharing.

Clarabelle

Not sure if this still applies, but having the pistol visible on the seat avoids it being a concealed weapon. Loved this story. Too few of them posted on this site.

Keith99

Police have been good to me when I'm riding.

Had one time where a driver turning right against a red light forced me across 2 lanes of traffic (right turn lane and one normal traffic lane). Pretty major street, 2 lanes each way and a left turn lane. There was some police activity on the other side, never got a good look at that as I didn't trust the driver that did this. I can be rather loud and when I yelled What teh F^*% are you doing it seems a Motor officer look across the road in time to see enough.

Unlike the OP I wasn't close enough to see the bust. I was turning right immediatly after this interaction.

There are quite a few times I think Motorcycle officers identify more based on number of wheels than engine or not.

Roushe

LOL.

Actually this happened while I was visiting in Alabama which is an open carry state. Down there, you can have a pistol on the hip without a permit. The law down there also requires that it be in plain sight while in a vehicle even if you have a CCW.

Russ