a mellow evening at a local pub called the black swan filled with many laughs, several pints of guiness, and plenty of new and some familiar faces seemed a good break at the end of the workweek. about 1:30am or so the gathering broke up and all meandered to their respective vehicles, mine a white toyota pickup with out-of state plates.
while warming up the engine, i watched the county sheriff cruiser pass me and proceed down the main drag where my acquaintances were departing. i did a turnabout in a small drive behind me and went the opposite direction, having a sneaking suspicion that the officer was marking my vehicle for prey. as i hit the only marked intersection in town i saw the sheriff’s car speeding to intercept me, knowing that he almost certainly was going to pull me over. i stopped, then proceeded, just as the cop rolled the corner and immediately put on his lights. knowing i had done nothing wrong, but having a couple recent beers to my (dis-)credit, i stopped on the shoulder and was ready for whatever consequences.
(i should state at this time that i had taken the precaution earlier of chewing a stick of minty gum.) he asked for my license and registration, which i submitted, then asked if i knew why he pulled me over. to this i responded (with a just a hint of sarcasm), ”Not really.”
his response was: ”I don’t mean to be a smartass, but you didn’t come to a complete stop. The definition [this is where i knew he had nothing but b.s. and was hoping for a sloppy drunken driver] of a ’complete’ stop is a full and un-…”
(my attention trailed off). he went further: ”If you had rolled the stop and someone was coming from another direction and they rolled the stop, we could have an accident on our hands, that’s all.” (this is a four-way stop at 1:30am in a town of maybe 200 people, and nobody was coming from another direction except him, who did roll the stop at high speed.)
he checked out my license and when satisfied, returned my documents and wished me a ”good night.” i returned the same sentiment, though through clenched teeth. an alcohol-breath test would have most likely found me illegal, so in one way i got off easy, yet the episode began with unjust intent.