At the time, I was working night shift for a dispatch office. I went in every night at 11. And, for two weeks straight, every night at 10:45 I got pulled over by the same police officer.
He would give me a field sobriety test, ask me how much I'd had to drink, and ask me if I have any drugs or weapons in the car. Every once in a while he would search my car.
So, one night on my night off I'm at a friend's house watching movies. A mutual friend phones up because she'd left her purse at my house earlier and could she come here to get it. I say that I have to go home first, and everything is fine. It didn't even dawn on me that this was around 10:00, and the place I was at was along the same route as going to work.
So, on my way back, I get pulled over. This time my wife is with me and she is totally freaking out. She didn't have a driver's license and her state ID had expired and the cop was giving her grief about it. He takes me to the back of the car and frisks me. While patting me down, he squeezes my jacket pocket and says, "What's this?" in an Ah-ha I got you tone.
So I tell him, "That's my crack pipe, sir." Now, up to this point, I've been polite and respectful to him for two weeks of harassment. I've always called him Sir, or Officer. But, you know, enough is enough.
He declares that he now has probable cause and makes my wife stand by the side of the road while he goes through the car. His buddy makes me empty my pockets into a little box and then helps go through my wife's purse, and our friend's purse.
After at least half an hour of this, they finally let us go. And, as always, he warns me, "Keep out of trouble."
Now, the funny part. Remember that friend I was watching movies with? We would get a group of 5-10 people and watch 3 movies every weekend, all three picked by one of the group. So, there were 6 people waiting for us by the time my wife and I returned, all waiting to start the third movie. The host was upset because now, instead of getting finished at midnight, we were starting at midnight. And this week was his pick. And a lot of people were talking about just leaving rather than watching. Oh, and he'd saved his favourite of the three for last.
This friend just happened to be an old fraternity brother and a then-current city magistrate.
About one month later, and there are two new city ordinances that have been proposed. One states that a police officer accused of harassing a citizen without approval will be suspended without pay for the duration of the investigation. The other states that it is a misdemeanor to lie to an officer for the purpose of annoying him or otherwise wasting his time.
So, I guess he got both of us. ;-)
Theno