I have never been pulled over by a police officer... until tonight.
I was driving Grace to cheerleading practice, and there is a stretch of road that has notoriously badly timed yellow lights. Usually, I can stop in time (or at the very least hit the gas and get through the light in time), but tonight... in the Nazarene Limousine... with slick stuff falling on the ground... I hesitated to make my decision about whether to slam the brakes or gun it...
In the end, it was one of those moments where you know you're not really going to get through the light before it turns red, but you can't safely stop either. Ordinarily, no problem, except as I looked to my left I noticed that... oh, crap... there was a Sheriff's car stopped in the turn lane...
Well... I managed to stop right in the middle of the intersection... nice.
It occurred to me that I could just sit there looking like an idiot, or I could get out of the way... effectively running the red light. I don't generally think it is wise to sit in the middle of an intersection, so I opted to drive through.
And to be honest, I couldn't really tell you if I pulled over before or after the lights started flashing, because it was so painfully obvious that I was going to get pulled over, resistance was futile...
In the moments it took for the officer to get to my window, I thought about all the stories I have heard about women breaking into tears to avoid tickets. But I was so stinking irritated that it occurred to me that I would never be able to pull it off. Instead, I put the car in park (I think I forgot to turn it off), pulled my license out, and waited.
When the officer got to my window (after shining a light in my van of all things... yeah... I guess the fact that my 10 year old daughter was the only passenger must have clued him in that I wasn't smuggling illegal aliens or anything), I decided to speak first. I simply said, "I'm sorry sir. I tried to stop, but I couldn't". Then I slipped my license out the window (which he gave a cursory glance but did not take).
He asked if I knew why I couldn't stop in time. I told him I didn't, because I was going the speed limit. He told me I was going slightly over the speed limit and that I had not applied my break in time. I so wanted to respond with either, "duh," or, "yeah, my husband says I never apply the break quickly enough." Thankfully, both of these responses eluded me at the time.
After a somewhat long-suffering look, he said, "I'm just on my way home. This one's on me. Everyone saw you run the light, so they expected me to pull you over."
It was about all I could do not to laugh...
But I didn't...
I just said, "Thank you, sir."
And off I went...
I'd like to go another 16 years before being pulled over again, though...
Knock on wood...
Lisa
P.S. I think Grace found the whole thing quite amusing (usually she just gets pulled over with Daddy), and she is the one who gave this post a title...
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