Man am I heated right now, got pulled over last ngiht for "suspicion of drug dealing" WTF!!!

Long story short; My boy called me at 2am for a ride home. He was too drunk to drive and I was up playing Halo 2 on Xbox Live anyway. I drive down to the bar, pick him up and drop him off. As I'm letting him out in front of his apartment complex he's leaning in the passenger window and shaking my hand for the drive home. Just then a police cruiser pules up behind me. I say later and drive off. The cop tails me for about 2 miles (running my plate) then turns on his blues and pulls me over.

I wasn't speeding, swerving or doing anything wrong. I turn on my interior light and grab my registration. Roll down my window and wait for him to come over. To my surprise he comes over the loudspeaker and asks me to step out of the car?! Another cop pulls up and the first cop walks over,and asks for my license and reg. I ask him what I have done wrong and he yells "I said I want your License and reg!". He tells me to put my hands on the trunk and stay put. After a few minutes he comes back and asks
"Is this your car?" (He saw my fvcking name on the registration) Now I'm insulted, so I admit I get fresh. I say "No it's your wifes...of course it's my car and what the fvck kinda question is that? you saw my name on the registration!" The other cop comes over and tells me not to be a smart ***.

Then he asks me how a young kid like me could a afford a nice car like this. I am normally a very composed man, but at this point I am very angry. So I say "One of us went to community college and majored in racial profiling, the other has his MBA and is a succesfull business man in the financial industry...how the **** do you think I can afford it." The second cop now comes over and asks if I mind if they search my car. I let them know they'll need a search warrent and the shift supervisor if they want to do that. The two cops walk away and chat for a minute. The second cop returns to give me my license and papers. He says "You should be carefull around here, this part of town and a car like that could paint the wrong image."

Cliff Notes: Young Hispanic male doing the right thing get's racial profiled in New Hampshire.

 

If a person looks somewhat shady(tats,gold chains,white undershirt)--this stuff will happen. If they don't,that stuff is wrong--if it is based just on race.

Do you have expensive aftermarket wheels? If so, that could have "freaked" these cops out--rapper video on wheels type thing. Not saying all this is right, just saying this could trigger this stuff with some bored cops.

 

I was actually in sweat pants and a white T-shirt. The car does have rims on it, but I specifically went with blacked out wheels instead of the bling bling chrome in an effort to atract less attention.

 

Sure, racial profiling sucks, but what makes you think it was racial? Sounds to me like it was age and circumstances, not race. The only one who mentioned race was you. Remember, all they saw was the back of your car and the back of your head before you pulled away. They probably didn't know you were hispanic until after they pulled you over.

Look at it from the cop's point of view. Expensive car, bad neighborhood, they pull up behind a through-the-window encounter with a young man on the curb, and you take off. What would YOU think, if you were a cop?

And you could have handled the stop better. Your attitude toward the cops did nothing to make you seem any less suspicious. Rule one: don't antagonize the cop. Rule two: see rule one. You're lucky you didn't get your a$$ kicked by the police. It might have been smarter to stay put when the cop pulled up.

 

Oh, one more thing:

Nice ride, man. Good choice on the wheels. They work.

 

I understand your point, however our legal system is built on innocent until proven guilty...not the other way around. Had the cop been polite and told me why was being stopped we could have had a nice conversation and I would have explained the situation. Everything would have ben fine, heck I would have let them search my car. Remember he insuated that I had either stolen the car or purchased it through ill means first. Never giving me a chance to explain anything. I am a firm beleiver in you get out what you put in. If you don't respect me then don't expect me to respect you.

I understand that cops have a tough job, and I respect what they do for my community. However I also think there are a select few who use the position of power to exploit thier personal assumptions about people.

Also, he knew my race before he pulled me over, he ran my plates and my name is unmistakingly hispanic...If I were Bob Smith it might have ben a different story.

 

That was hilarious!

 

Also you live in Texas where there is a large mexiacan community. Do you have any freinds who made have had similar experiances?

 

Down here being a white boy puts you in the minority - by the definition of the word AND by numbers. The majority of cops are either hispanic, married to a hispanic, related to hispanics through marraige, or a local that has lived in the area their whole life.

Reverse discrimination or out of state plates are the biggies here. (Corpus)

 

Hmm... reverse discrimination?! I guess I can see how that would apply. Maybe I should move to Texas. In NH only 3% of the population isn't white..and you should move here.

 

Wow . . . The upside to this is that the situation did not escalate into something else. True, you were put into a bad situation. I might be more that a bit upset, myself. However, right or wrong, the officers were simply performing their jobsand sent you on your way . . . Even after your bold comments. In a different situation, you might have gotten intimate with Mr. Baton. Chalk it up to a bad experience.

 

I can't disagree with any of that. And the last name thing makes sense, you have a good point. All I'm saying is that the circumstances created a reasonable suspicion in the cops. It does sound like they were being dicks about it, no argument there, and there's no excuse for that. But I think what got you pulled over was the circumstances, not your ethnicity, and it looked bad when you started asking questions instead of immediately complying with the license and reg request. To a cop, that looks like you're being stalling and uncooperative.

Cops have a scary job and they want to keep control in unknown situations. Anything you do that challenges the cop will be seen as a threat, and will make him want to come down on you harder to establish his dominance of the situation. Sure, I know that in a perfect world we shouldn't have to kowtow to a cop, but when you're in that situation it just goes a lot more smoothly if you can quickly convince the cop that you are not a threat. Your first opportunity to do that was the license and reg request, and it almost spun out of control at that point, didn't it? It might have been better to hand him the documents FIRST and then ask the question.

I recommend reading "A Speeder's Guide to Avoiding Tickets," by James Eagan. The author is a retired state trooper, and although this particular thread is not about speeding, the things you learn about how to interact with cops and avoid trouble would have helped in your situation too. It's helped me talk my way out of more than one ticket.

 

NH is about the best place in the country to experince your individual rights - and ride a motorcycle and get respect from other drivers. That is apparent by the tude you gave and the fact they didn't make your night a lot worse. After 20 some pull overs I've learned respect goes further than any perception of harrassment boiling into anger and attitude.

 

How do you know he was running your plate when he was following you? Sounds like an assumption on your part.

Looks to me like both of you need a bit of an attitude adjustment. You were being an a-hole and his asking how you afford your car was inappropriate. This incident will color the way each of you views the other. Now you will think all cops in NH are racist ****** and now he'll think all young kids driving nice cars are loud mouthed punks. Congratulations to all.

 

Just curious-you said your boy called you- did you mean your son or just a friend as your story indicated that you were too young to have a son who drives?