Mosaic Life

That time we got pulled over

So I remembered this incident that happened a couple of years ago and thought I’d share. You know how I mentioned in my blog about my car breaking down that it was my first pleasant experience with johnny law? Well, here’s one of the incidents that was kind of weird/unpleasant.

Shortly after we moved to Atlanta, Brandon and I were driving around the city to get to know the place. The sun was setting when a police car got behind us. It always makes people nervous to have a cop car behind them, even though they’re not doing anything wrong. I mean, if you’re not doing anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about, right?

So after the police car had been behind us for a couple of minutes, the blue lights started flashing. We went over a list of reasons the cop might be pulling us over. Speeding? Nope. Tail light out? Nope. Registration expired? Nope. Buckled in? Yes.

As the police lady neared the window, Brandon unhooked his seatbelt to pull his wallet out of his back pocket so he could get out his license. “Were you wearing your seatbelt, sir?” She asked. We assured her that he was. I was still buckled in. She looked unpersuaded. She then walked around the car, surveying it. When she returned to the window, she said “Are you sure you were buckled up?” Once again, scout’s honor. (Okay, girl scout’s honor. Okay, brownie’s honor.) “Well, okay then.” She left us with that.

What’s funny is that she didn’t even have anything she could say when she let us go. No “be sure to slow down.” No “be sure to get your registration up to date.” Nothing, because we weren’t doing anything. We decided that maybe she was bored, so she pulled us over. Or maybe she really thought in the dim daylight that she could tell he wasn’t buckled up. Whatever it was, I can say that it was the first time I’ve felt a bit ethnic. Good fun.