Funny stories of your run in with the law/cops?

[ichy]

I was riding with a friend once, that had a bit of contraband in his car, he got pulled over and before the cop could get out of his car he jumped out, pulled his pants down, cupped his junk and yelled, "IS THIS WHAT YOU'RE LOOKING FOR, OFFICER?!" He got a ticket for indecent exposure, and the car was never searched.

If the cop doesn't have probable cause to search your car then he can't do it without consent. No need for some indecent exposure stunt, all you have to say is "I'm sorry sir, but I don't consent to any searches" when a cop asks to look through your car.

 

[sdifox]

Ages ago I was coding in the computer lab and decided to get some fresh air. So I grabbed a buddy and we went to run around the block. We almost made it back to the lab and we got pulled over by the cops.

here is the conversation, more or less

cop: "What are you two doing running?"
me: "we are jogging to clear our heads."
cop: "At 2AM? What are you doing here?"
me: "we are working on our assignment."
cop: "Really?"
me:"Yeah, see that door over there, walk in and you'll see 20 people sitting at the computer working."

cop thinks for a moment and turns to my buddy :"Get your friend an oxygen tank."

 

[ichy]

I once nearly ran a cop off the highway by accident while I was driving a U-Haul (yay for crappy visibility.) The cop was PISSED, but much to my surprise I didn't get a ticket.

A friend of mine was pulled over once on suspicion of DUI. Being the awkward, uncoordinated guy he is he failed every field sobriety test, but when they pulled out the portable breathalyzer he blew something laughably low like a .02 (he was 6'4 & 200# and had had one margarita the whole night.)

 

[SearchMaster]

The funniest story I have was in college. We were underage and lived in the dorms and had just had a keg party, and were going to a friend's nearby off-campus apartment to watch a game. One of my buddies, who isn't that bright, decided he wanted to take the half-full keg to the party, but we weren't going to drive since it was so close. So he grabbed a shopping cart that was near the dorm, loaded the keg into it, and headed down the street. The rest of us knew he was a moron who was going to get busted, so we stayed back a few hundred yards to distance ourselves from him.

Sure enough, campus police nabs him. He rats us out and tells them we're with him and it's our keg. So we all get taken down to the station. We ended up getting the charges dropped but I'm sure the cops got a huge laugh out of nabbing these idiot kids pushing a keg down the street in a shopping cart.

 

[dac7nco]

Edited for statute of limitations.

 

[mikelish]

this is one reason why cops are such douches. all these kids are getting away and it's pissing the cops off

 

[1sikbITCH]

I got chased down the road naked once while pool hopping after a party and escaped by hiding under one of those big dumpsters that hook up to a tractor trailer.

Evidently the cops were laughing so hard with the rest of our crowd that they didn't bother searching for me too much. My friends are still teasing me about it 30 years later.

 

[gsellis]

Why they were drinking green plastic screw tops of wine is probably a whole nother story

Just the living room in the headmaster's house is 45x25.... Lots of people. Wine by the gallon avoids financial ruin with 100+ people at a time.

 

[zanejohnson]

If the cop doesn't have probable cause to search your car then he can't do it without consent. No need for some indecent exposure stunt, all you have to say is "I'm sorry sir, but I don't consent to any searches" when a cop asks to look through your car.

ha! yeah, try that in a real world situation... at least here in Texas that shit don't fly, they'll say they smell pot.

 

[zanejohnson]

i actually did try to be a dick once to a cop, rolled down my window 3 inches to hand him my license/insurance, he asked me to roll it down farther, i said i know my right, he told me to get out of the vehicle haha and proceeded to look around without my permission/even asking... i didnt have anything on me.... he griped at me for a good 5 mins and finally let me go

 

[jtvang125]

Was out hunting with my brother in the country side. We were far out enough that we could discharge a firearm and we also had permission to hunt on the property. Sheriff comes out and stops about 200ft out. We never thought to unload our shotguns and put them down so all that time we had them in our hands. Finally calls out to us unload our guns and put them down. Once we did only then did he drive up to us. Tells us that neighbor reported us shooting at her horses. House was more than 3 football fields from where we were shooting. He said there was no way at that distance that we were harming their horses firing shotguns.

2 more officers arrive and check our IDs and hunting license. They run my ID through and said there's a warranty out for my arrest. The searching begins but it turns out that the person with the warrant had same first and last name but physical descriptions don't match. We get released but not even an apology for the mix up. Totally ruined the mood so we left.

 

[dougp]

ha! yeah, try that in a real world situation... at least here in Texas that shit don't fly, they'll say they smell pot.

Amazing, ZJ is right for once. I really wish I could find the article written by a lawyer where he listed biggest misconceptions about the rights of police - primary one being the right to search, and the need to obtain a warrant.

More or less, cops just need probably cause to conduct a search, and by denying them their request just causes them to become suspicious.

 

[ichy]

ha! yeah, try that in a real world situation... at least here in Texas that shit don't fly, they'll say they smell pot.

Thankfully I live in Maryland where the Constitution still means something.

A couple years ago I was asking a guy who worked as a defense lawyer in Western Maryland (the more conservative, rednecky part of the state) if cops could pull the sort of stunt you described. I figured that in rural parts of the state there'd be a good old boy thing going on between judges & the police, but he said I was wrong. Judges will not hesitate to throw out any evidence gained from an illegal car search. He said he'd never seen a situation where a citizen was screwed over by standing his ground & asserting his rights.

 

[ichy]

More or less, cops just need probably cause to conduct a search, and by denying them their request just causes them to become suspicious.

Denying a cop's request to search your car is NOT probable cause.

 

[dougp]

Denying a cop's request to search your car is NOT probable cause.

No, it's not "actual" probable cause, but you can rapidly increase suspicion and then they can use a number of reasons to search your vehicle.

I really wish I could find the CNN article, but this is what my google-fu has come up with so far:

http://ezinearticles.com/?What-Are-...fficer-Wants-to-Search-My-Vehicle?&id=1307816
http://www.associatedcontent.com/ar...olice_can_search_your_vehicle_pg2.html?cat=17

 

[biostud]

Once I biked home from a party I was really drunk and very tired, so I fell asleep while I biked, hitting the curb and crashed. I didn't really realize what had happened and suddenly two officers where looking down on me asking if I was ok. Turned out I only had some minor bruises, and since I was only like 300m from my apartment I just biked home. Pretty embarrassed but also glad that I didn't have any teeth knocked out or worse.



I also once got a $50 fine for biking 40m on the sidewalk. The only reason I was biking on the sidewalk was because there were some road work being done. But there were three signs saying that you should dismount the bike and walk the 40m.....

 

[shocksyde]

I was driving through downtown College Park (University of Maryland) blasting Chuck Berry and my passenger was kicking his feet out the window to the music. We had just left a wine/beer festival in Baltimore.

I took a turn into a parking lot, and as soon as I pulled into my spot, a cop pulled right behind me and hit the siren. Scared the shit out of us.

Anyways, he walks up to my window and says "Saw you take that last turn at like 50mph, Mr. Andretti. And did I see legs kicking out the passenger window? What the hell is going on here?"

I thought about it for a second, and figured honesty was the best policy. "Well, to be honest, sir, we were listening to Chuck Berry and got a little carried away..."

He just kinda chuckled, took my license and walked back to his cruiser. Came back 10 minutes later, gave me my license and told us to have a good night.

Chuck Berry FTW!

 

[ichy]

No, it's not "actual" probable cause, but you can rapidly increase suspicion and then they can use a number of reasons to search your vehicle.

If a police officer has probable cause to search your car then they're going to do it regardless of whether you consent or not. Refusing a search doesn't give them probable cause so there's no way it can harm you. Every attorney I've ever heard discuss this or write about it has said that there's never a situation where you can help yourself by waiving any of your rights. If a cop uses the whole "well if you're a law-abiding citizen then you shouldn't have a problem agreeing to a search" line then he's an a-hole, and that just gives you more of a reason to refuse to consent to anything.

 

[Zedtom]

I was at the pool at an apartment complex I lived at when I heard an alarm go off in the management office which was closed. I was in the locker room, so I ignored it and got dressed and gathered up my wet items and wrapped them in a beach towel and started to head back to my apartment. I had just exited when a cop ran into the hall and ordered me to drop the stuff in my hands. He then told me face the wall with my hands up. I explained that I lived there and had an ID to prove it.

He asked me my name and then pretended to write it down on his hand with no pen in his hand. I laughed at him and asked him what he was doing. He told me get my stuff and leave the area. I did, of course, but I was still shaking my head at this rookie idiot.