General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: What percentage of your interactions with police, over your lifetime, have been negative? [View all]ARPad95
(1,671 posts)Circa 1982. My good friend (she was also my college-mate, co-worker and future maid-of-honor) and I were coming back from a Friday or Saturday night out in the university area of Syracuse. It was about 2:00 am and we were within a couple of blocks of my friend's apartment house. I was driving and stopped at a traffic light that was taking forever to turn green. Since there were no other cars anywhere in sight and after discussing it with my friend, I decided to go ahead and make a left turn through the red light. Almost instantly, a city police car turned its emergency lights on and pulled me over. I can't remember what standard questions he asked, but I will never forget he deadpanned, "Ya know, traffic lights don't stop working after midnight." And he let me go without even a warning. My friend and I couldn't believe our good fortune running into a policeman like him.
By the way, I'm as white as can be and, at the time, was a pretty cute 22-year-old. My friend, another pretty cute 22-year-old, was and is black. Bravo to that police officer who used humor and followed the spirit of the law rather than the letter of the law.