A Honda Fit is not a getaway car

[Sapphire Silk]

Yesterday, I went with Evil Empryss to the VA in Winston Salem so she could get some copies of her disability paperwork.

Usually, she parks in an underground garage below the Federal Building. However, when we got there, a very nice agent told us the rules had changed and no public parking was allowed. Sweet talking by EE to use a handicapped spot were to of no avail, so we had to use street parking.

We feed the meter and realize we have to walk all the way around the building to get to the front door (there's no public parking on that side of the building anyway). So we walk down the street and turn right around the corner. As we do so, we see a silver Honda Fit blow through a red light, and cut off this white sedan. He really went through quick, screeching his tires, and the white car had to screech to slam on his brakes to avoid hitting the guy.

As we continue walking in the direction of that intersection, I look at the white car and realize it has a light bar on top.

Me: Oh man! That guy just cut off a cop!
Evil Empryss: Wow. I wonder if he's going to . . . wait, there he goes

Cue cop car blue lighting the Honda Fit. The car stops at a red light, and the cop gets out of his car.

Me: Busted!

Then, the Honda Fit revs its engine and starts to pull into the intersection.

The cop quickly reaches into his car and hits the siren. Woot! Woot!

Car stops at that point. Cop pauses to make sure he's not going anywhere, the moves towards the driver and EE and I move on having a good belly laugh. We'd have stayed to witness the whole thing, but it was 18 degrees outside and we were cooooold!

So, we go into the Federal Building and EE does her thing (very nice folks there). It takes us about 15 minutes.

When we walk back to the car, EE notices something.

EE: Hey! Isn't that the car that cut off the cop? *She points to a car parked on the street just past the intersection where it was stopped*
Me: Yup. And look, there's the cop car on the other side of the street.
EE: What is that building? Is that a police station?

We get closer and I can see the sign on the building. It's the Forsyth County Detention Center.

Looks like our reckless driver had a very short trip to jail! Our guess is he was drunk, had a warrant, or gave the cop some lip

[Kazim]

Does it have to be only one, can't it be all three?

[EricKei]

Heehee -- Ya know, it often is. Part of my job at the paper here is to write up arrest reports -- Had a guy recently with twenty-three violations (a new record for me!) on his arrest form: 4 felonies, a couple "resisting/assaulting a cop" type charges, and the rest were traffic violations, most of which were incurred during what appears to have been a post-accident pursuit. As happens over 90% of the time, they included stuff like expired tags, suspended driver's license, no insurance, and the like ^_^

[DGoddessChardonnay]

Heehee -- Ya know, it often is. Part of my job at the paper here is to write up arrest reports -- Had a guy recently with twenty-three violations (a new record for me!) on his arrest form: 4 felonies, a couple "resisting/assaulting a cop" type charges, and the rest were traffic violations, most of which were incurred during what appears to have been a post-accident pursuit. As happens over 90% of the time, they included stuff like expired tags, suspended driver's license, no insurance, and the like ^_^

And most of these yahoos finally get busted for some small stuff, like a broken tail light or even a random plate check.

You'd think that if one had that much stuff out there on them, they'd want to be inconspicuous, NOT out in plain sight.

[Chromatix]

Well, a general disregard for the law tends to result in a coincidence of general crimes and traffic offences. Good policemen regularly keep an eye out for minor traffic offences for that reason - it can provide an opening to discover evidence of a much more serious offence, or to pick up a wanted fugitive.

[protege]

I was always told, that unless you're doing something stupid, the cops will leave you alone...even if it's a minor offense like a burnt-out light. Why draw more attention to yourself? That's why I'm always careful when I take the project car out. The loud exhaust and lurid orange get enough attention. I'm not about to get busted for speeding in certain local areas--my borough being one of them.

As for the Honda Fit driver, he (she?) should go out and get a real sports car. Something like a Cavalier or Sunfire

[csquared]

Hey, hey! No knocking the Honda Fit. When I gave The Wife the Hooked on Driving session, one of the coaches had a Honda Fit on the track. It was keeping pace with the Benz and the Lexus. Granted, the track was pretty wet at that time and nobody was going too fast...

Still, it does look like a toaster.

[XCashier]

You'd think that if one had that much stuff out there on them, they'd want to be inconspicuous, NOT out in plain sight.

You'd think that, but if they're stupid enough to break the law and get busted multiple times, they're usually too stupid to think ahead and consider being inconspicuous!

[DGoddessChardonnay]

Well, a general disregard for the law tends to result in a coincidence of general crimes and traffic offences. Good policemen regularly keep an eye out for minor traffic offences for that reason - it can provide an opening to discover evidence of a much more serious offence, or to pick up a wanted fugitive.

And this is why (at least in my area) police officers usually run a quick plate check when they pull up behind a vehicle while at a stop light.

How do you think so many get busted for not having insurance around here or expired stickers? Also a good way to see if somebody has any outstanding warrants, too.

[wolfie]

You'd think that, but if they're stupid enough to break the law and get busted multiple times, they're usually too stupid to think ahead and consider being inconspicuous!

BTW, for the best fuel economy, drive it like you stole it - no "jackrabbit" starts, plan ahead to avoid maximum-effort stops - in short, don't do anything that would attract police attention.

[Geek King]

I was always told, that unless you're doing something stupid, the cops will leave you alone...even if it's a minor offense like a burnt-out light.

Not always. Around my old apartment, smack between two groups of bars and strip clubs, the cops would take any reason to pull you over just to look for drunks. When my headlight was out due to an accident, I got pulled over every Friday or Saturday until the body shop finally got me in to fix it. Never got more than a warning, but a bit of an aggravation, all the same.

[raudf]

One year, on the way to our birthday dinner, we had to stop in an intersection which had a couple of cops directing traffic. I'd forgotten there was a game at the War Memorial Stadium, so cops were directing traffic, rather than letting lights do the work. Light turns green on our side, but the cop still has us stopped. Cue a blue car racing from beside us, nearly hitting one of the cops.

Next thing I see is the cop doing a circular motion over his head and across from us, in the blocked turn lane, lights up a cop car, who speeds off after the idiot. As we made our completely legal turn, I see there is a line of three other cop cars JUST to bust people doing this! Oh, and a block down the road, we saw that blue idiot pulled over and being read the riot act by two very pissed off officers!

Then there was my friend, who was taking us to get food on his birthday. After midnight when we got done, paid and left, he decided to be stupid about his driving and give the car a little screaming tires and rear shake. Right in front of a cop. Of course the cop pulled us over! He got lucky, because as the cop was walking up, the cop heard ME chewing his ass for the stupid stunt, because I was pregnant at the time. I guess the cop felt my lecture on stupidity was good enough because all he wanted to do was run the license, which had.. expired just one minute before! The idiot didn't renew his driver's license! So he got a written warning, his ass chewed by me, laughed at by all of us and was forced to let his girlfriend drive!