[ESP]

Don't ask me how.

Orange County California.
405 Freeway North.
Carpool Lane right before the Jamboree road exit.

I move over the double yellow and into the buffer zone to pass 4 cars and after passing them, as I am moving back into the carpool lane I see there is an unmarked, all-white CHP car in the number 1 lane like 4 car lengths ahead of me.

I pass him slowly and he immediately moves in behind me and pulls me over.

As I am taking off my helmet, he is there with hand on pistol, ready.

He tells me about my violations (double yellow twice, speed over 80mph) and then asks me for my license and registration.

I realize I have left my wallet at home.

He asks me to write down my name and address and birthdate on a piece of paper and then he goes to his car.

He comes back and gives me a safety lecture about being take out because we are very hard to see for other cars and I should always stay on the left hand side of the carpool lane. He does not endorse lane splitting.

Then he says that if he ticketed me it would be over $1000 for passing the double yellow twice, speeding, and no license/registration.

Then he lets me go.

So I ask him if he is a God-fearing man. He says "yes" so I say a prayer for him and his family and fellow officers.

He says to me, "In my 10 years of service that was the first time anyone has ever prayed for me."

I say to him, "In my 27 years of driving cars and riding motorcycles, this was the first time ever got just a warning for breaking a traffic law."

We shook hands and that was end of story except for the motorcycle rider that went by and flipped him off while he was giving me the safety briefing.

I want to thank that officer. I don't know why he let me off the hook because I certainly did deserve the tickets. .

 

[josh61187]

wow, there are still some good ones out there.

 

[SoozQ650]

Wow, that's ridiculous. Way to luck out. +1 on good ones being out there.

 

[eisenfaust]

Bottom line: there are cops out there that give a ****.

I got pulled over a few weeks back when my ride (88 honda hawk) had a headlight burn out in the rain. IT was 10pm, pouring rain, etc, etc.

Cop pulls me over, and rather than reading me the nth degree about the headlight being out, the various other equipment violations on the bike (exhaust, signals, etc), and without even checking my lic/reg/ins, offers to escort me home if I could use some illumination.

:thumbsup

Very cool cop.

 

[circle7_elad]

Great story. Thanks for sharing.

 

[r3t1awr3yd]

People ask me why I drive like a girl now and it's because of CHP. In cali I was pulled over twice and the second time when I was doing 80+ in a 55mph zone, the cop warned me that I should slow down because a lot of people fly off the side of the mountain and die. He told me that he knows how valuable my life is and wouldn't want to see me lose it. Since then, I pretty much set my car on cruise at around 10mph over at the most. People even hate me in the right lane but I thank God that there are cops out there that actually care about people and aren't just trying to make the quota as it were.

 

[fastridingman]

I had a similar situation in my youth. About 2 a.m. I roll through stop sign and proceed at about 80/90 mph in a 55 zone. About 3 miles down the road I realize a cop is hot on my tail. I pull over with liquor on my breath.

He walks up to my car in the dead of night on a country road. He's a young cop but has a good attitude. After checking my license, etc., he proceeds to tell me about watching another guy being taken out at the same stop sign doing what I just did. He also warns me about my speed and about having anything to drink before getting behind the wheel. Lets me off with a warning about being careful.

25 years later I still make a complete stop at that sign no matter what time it is and I send a prayerful wish on his behalf every time I recall the incident.

His polite warning did more for my safety than any ticket would have ever.

 

[mg66]

Cool cop.

I have been let off way more times than booked in my riding lifetime.

 

[jdewkilla]

thats "not" illegal and thats a f*ckin j0ke.. I would have gotten a ticket just because i would have showed contempt for the officers judgement.

 

[Prophetsprofit]

thats "not" illegal and thats a f*ckin j0ke.. I would have gotten a ticket just because i would have showed contempt for the officers judgement.

Lol, what's "not" illegal? I'm confused.

To the OP: Great story. For me personally, I've had 2 run in's with good (read: nice, caring, considerate) cops, and 3 run ins with bad (read: ass-hats, power tripping, trying to write me up for everything they could think of) cops.
I think I'm rather lucky to not have run into any of them on my bike yet (unless you count my bmx bicycle when I was 16, getting busted by a total b-word cop for being out past curfew).
I also try not to hold a grudge against any of them, no matter what their attitude, but it's not always that easy.

 

[SDRider]

I'll have to remember that if I ever get lucky enough to get off with a warning.

I'm always very cooperative with Police Officers...even nice to them but I've never once gotten off with just a warning.

 

[RandyO]

I'll have to remember that if I ever get lucky enough to get off with a warning.

I'm always very cooperative with Police Officers...even nice to them but I've never once gotten off with just a warning.

my warning to ticket ratio on my bike is about 4-1, I've been warned more times than I can even remember now, and only 3-4 tickets on my bike over the past 10 years, 4 times that I can think of when I got warnings were in excess of a ton and they are all in 30, 35, & 40 mph speed limit areas

 

[svsRyanC]

the thing i have learned about cops is always be polite no matter what their attitude, i recently got let off for going 87 in a 65 zone exiting the 15 heading towards nevada on 395. i just said yes sir to everything he wanted and apologized. lots of times i have been with people who have been cited for much less traffic violations, they get angry at the cop for pulling them over and start arguing. i believe in lots of cases the cops will treat you how you treat them. however there are some cops who are just jerks no matter what

 

[sagvr4]

i feel like asking if hes a god fearing man is settin up for a threat or something lol i could never say that to an officer

 

[ESP]

yeah, that same thought occurred to me right after I said it but I think by that time we understood each other.. . he saw my Bible when I was looking in my backpack for some other form of ID since I had fogotten my wallet.

 

[JPOnion]

We shook hands and that was end of story except for the motorcycle rider that went by and flipped him off while he was giving me the safety briefing.

Oh crap, you think he saw me? :rock:

Good story, and glad you got off that lucky as it could have been really bad. I don't know if this is a federal law or just my state, but I know if you were going just a little bit faster you could have also had the bike impounded. Or maybe you could have anyway considering there was more than just the speeding involved.

I was lucky enough to get a warning my first and only time being pulled over, but I'll admit it was only because I wasn't honest with him. I told him I was late for a finals, which was believable since he followed me into the campus parking lot, but I had finished mine the day before. Still, lie or not, I think the key to any cop encounter (until the revolution is in full swing, at least) is not to be a rude *******.

EDIT: Actually, now that I think about it I did run into a cop that tried warning me to be safe rather than ticket me, I just forgot since he didn't actually pull me over. I was riding out north of Reno, a long strait boring road, and was hitting a pretty good speed. I'd say about 80 or so. Eventually I noticed this white motorcycle following me...following me really close. Just looked like another bike to me so I didn't slow down, but a few minutes later I checked my mirror again and he was gone. Freaked me out when I then looked to my right and there he was, right along side of me, and it was a motorcycle cop. He just stared at me, I slowed down, and then he pulled off an offramp leaving me to deal with my heart attack.

 

[Klyftonite]

Dude you got by a OC cop??

I was at the culver exit and shortly after before turning onto campus i ran a red light since i was going a little hot to dodge this car (rear wheel started to fishtail) so i ran the red

luckily of course, once i corrected the fishtail through the red a moto cop saw me and started to give chase

apparently i broke 5 infractions but he only let me off with a choice between excessive speed or running the red >=[

it was more of a crash or burn type of deal or a run the red safely kind of deal

 

[SteveP]

You prayed for the cop?

LMFAO

Lamest thing I've read on the internet.

 

[Whatever Dude]

Many of the won't shake hands, for fear that on the dashboard camera it could appear as though they are accepting cash in exchange for letting you go.

 

[mojj13]

You prayed for the cop?

LMFAO

Lamest thing I've read on the internet.

Lame? I think it's great. Way to be a blessing to others, ESP.