One day while I was on patrol I saw a vehicle without a license plate on the back. Now some people would think “So. What’s the big deal?” For police officers like me whose job it is to do traffic stops, that is a neon sign that says “Please pull me over.” The reason is that many vehicles without a rear license plate have something else going on. By something else, I mean warrants, no insurance, no registration, suspended license or anything else that prevents one from legally driving a vehicle.
So I got behind the vehicle and hit my blue lights button. The car came to an immediate stop in the middle of the roadway and the driver decided to jump out. I just sighed and thought “Oh great, here we go” and before I exited my vehicle I called for backup. “Sir, why are you out of the car?” I asked him. The man just said, “Uhh… sorry I’ll go back inside.” The man then started walking towards me but then took half a step backward. “Don’t move,” I said calmly. “Just relax.” I then began to walk towards the male while I continued to talk to him. “I pulled you over for not having a license plate on your vehicle”. With a terrified look on his face, the man said “OK.” “Do you have your driver’s license on you?” I asked. When I said this, I recall being 3 or 4 feet from him. The male said “Yeah” and began to back up. “Stop moving,” I told the male again. He replied “Uhh sorry” and continued to back up as though trying to create distance between us. With this little dance that seemingly we were doing, of me advancing and him retreating,we were now at least two yards away from his car. It then dawned on me that he was debating a “fight or flight” strategy. I grabbed his arm before he could get any further away. The man immediately tried to jerk his hand free and when he realized he couldn’t escape my grip, he turned aggressive towards me ready to fight. Before he could even swing, I ducked under his arm and grabbed him. He resisted but I was able to put him on the ground. While on the ground, the man kept swinging his arms, but I had them pinned. I repeatedly told him to stop resisting. Although he said that he wasn’t, for whatever reason he kept swinging at me. A few seconds after that, backup arrived. He pulled out his Taser and showed it to the man. Then my backup very calmly said, “Stop resisting.” “Ok…” the man said with a defeated look on his face. We put him in handcuffs and almost like a switch flipped, without any resistance at all. The man then said “Sir, please let me go; I was on the way to traffic court and I don’t want to be late” “Why do you have to go to court?” I asked. “For driving on a suspended license.” I looked at him perplexed. He can’t be serious, I thought.
I was not able to identify the man because everything happened so fast. But now that he was in custody, I had time to check his ID. His license was still suspended and his car had no insurance or registration. I just laughed at the absurdity of the whole situation. This man was driving on a suspended license to court for a suspended license ticket.
I told the man that the next time he goes to court, that he should just get a ride from someone.
Originally posted on my blog (https://ourstoriesfrombehindthebadge.wordpress.com/)