Sorry I haven’t updated in quite some time…
This evening I was going to pick up pizza for dinner, when the most aggravating, and even frightening, thing happened! I had to make a left turn into a parking lot to get to the pizza place. There was a car coming the opposite way, but was still a good ways from the intersection. The light had turned yellow after I was already in the middle of the intersection, so I (legally) HAD to turn. There was MORE than enough room for me (and even a car behind me if there was one!) to make my turn, so I did. I parked my car, and as soon as I got out, a police SUV pulled up behind my car, and the officer started accusing me of not properly yielding to oncoming traffic, and improper parking. Apparently this guy was the aforementioned oncoming car. Now, I must add, that in order for this guy to have made it through the intersection, he would have had to run the RED light, hence breaking the law his own damn self. I followed all traffic procedures correctly. This time, anyway. I will freely admit I am NOT the best driver, but I’ve never CAUSED an accident (been rear-ended a few times) and I have never caused harm to anyone in my car or any other. I would readily admit to any wrongdoing on my part, to anyone, not just to a police officer.
Now, when this guy accused me of not yielding properly to oncoming traffic, I said I didn’t even know what he was talking about. He said I didn’t break any laws, that he wanted to tell me to be a more careful driver. So, you’re going to follow me into the parking lot, to a parking space, and start harassing me, when I wasn’t even breaking a law anyway, just to tell me to drive more carefully, when I wasn’t even driving recklessly to begin with? Why not have caught me speeding a couple minutes prior to all this happening? And, as for the whole parking thing, that was a crock of shit as well. I was well within the yellow lines of my parking space.
I was flabbergasted, and after a minute I was growing uncomfortable. He kept trying to argue that I was not driving well, and I kept defending myself, He asked for my Driver’s License, and I said “Why, am I under arrest or something” and he said something like he WAS just going to give me a warning, as though my defending myself was making him consider writing me a ticket, for not doing anything wrong!! He radioed in my DL and Registration to have it checked (btw, do I legally have to hand over my DL if I did nothing wrong?) to make sure I wasn’t a fugitive or something. And, he’s telling me he has proof of my reckless driving, and goes to show me, and then is all “Oh, it hadn’t started recording yet.” BTW, I am not very comfortable with the idea of these police officers doing ANYTHING on a laptop WHILE DRIVING! And, apparently, he called for freakin backup, because after a couple minutes a second officer showed up! So this guy’s trying to tell the officer “what I did” when I continue to interject in my own defense, and also am telling the officer that I don’t appreciate him hunting me down when I did nothing wrong, that it was making me feel uncomfortable and even paranoid. He didn’t seem to understand why I would be worried about some guy with a gun hunting me down in a dark parking lot to complain about my (perfect, at that time) driving. Umm, sorry, I watch too many crime shows, and I happen to know that serial killers can wear badges (at least, until they’re caught). Not to mention he kept standing too close to me, and I kept having to back up to feel secure.
By the time this incident was done, I was having a nauseating panic attack. There were a couple of guys outside the pizza place who agreed with me that this “officer” had no business following me into a parking lot when I did nothing wrong. I went in and got my pizza, came home, and told Dave about it. He asked if I got the officer’s name, which I hadn’t because I was so anxious at the time, but I told him about the creep checking my DL and Tags and we agreed there must be some record of what officer requested such information, so I called. Unfortunately Officer Creep-o is the highest ranking officer this whole weekend. Figures. So I have to wait for the Lieutenant to call me back on Monday.
What really scares me, at this point, especially with filing a complaint, is that this guy has my freakin address now. I mean, he may not have actually noted or saved it, but he had my DL for a few, he ran my license plate, both of which are tied to the same address. And, maybe there’s nothing to be worried about right now, but once I talk to his boss on Monday? That will likely piss him off once he gets word of it. And, again, Officer Creep-o with a gun and little ole me who enjoys watching crime shows. ‘Nuff said.
This isn’t my first issue with the Moline PD either. Not long after we moved here, I was rear-ended, and the responding officer refused to write a police report, and I ended up incurring HUNDREDS of $$ in Chiro bills from whip lash as a result of the accident. Apparently if there’s minimal physical damage to the vehicles there’s no report to be filed. Period. And, since the vehicles weren’t noticeably damaged, we moved the cars, and my dumb ass self didn’t take pictures first. Needless to say, the other driver lied to their insurance, and there was no way to get my bills paid, despite the insurance appraiser finding the slight damage to the REAR of my vehicle, all because the Moline PD doesn’t ALLOW a police report to be written unless the vehicle is damn near totaled.
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