Well, I just wanted to relate a little episode that happened to a good friend of mine and myself a couple days ago when we were driving back from Nopi.
We were on I-20 Interstate and had just crossed over from Georgia to South Carolina.
I had previously warned my friend ( who was driving my NSX) to make sure and go the speed limit because we would make a fine catch for some patrol officer. Consequently, he set the cruise control right at 70mph (even though traffic was about 75-85mph), and we were crusing on our merry way when a big black unmarked suburban came tearing right up on our rear bumper and started flashing his red and blue grill lights.
We glanced at the speedometer and exchanged a quick WTF? before the officer approached my passenger side. I had the window down and the officer leaned in and sternly asked my friend to get out of the car and meet him at the back of the vehicle so that he can explain why he pulled us over.
I then watched in the side view mirror as my high school friend from Indiana got totally grilled for a solid 10 minutes or longer. I couldn’t hear what was being said, but I could tell the officer was being relentless about something.
The officer then approached my passenger side and stuck his head literally in the car ( a few inches from my face) and started up with me. Mind you, at this point, I have no idea why we’re pulled over. The conversation went something like this:
Him: So this is your car?
Me: yes sir, I’m just letting my friend drive it.
Him: your friend?....so you know this guy pretty well?
Me: yes, very well.
Him: Where are you guys coming from?
Me: Atlanta….from a car show
Him: what day did you get down there?
{I’ll now skip all my very polite answers and just list a few more of his questions?}
Him: What days were the show? What day did you leave? Which hotel did you stay at? Which Embassy Suites location was it? So if you were there for 3 days where’s all your luggage?
( I explained to him that we had UPS’d our luggage there and back to save car space…he gave me a look like he didn’t believe me)
He hit me with a about a dozen more questions along those lines. When I tried to reassure the guy by telling him I was a doctor, he just started grilling me on my speciality, location of my office as well as hospital affiliations!
Ultimately, he offered up that the reason he pulled us over was because he thought the windows were tinted too dark. I was in disbelief. Pulled over for tint at 70mph on the interstate!?! I told the officer that I had bought the NSX used from Florida where it was tinted, and I believed the tint to be of legal darkness.
The officer then had me put up my window and he scrutinized the tint. He then concluded that it was too close to tell for sure if it was illegal, and he said that he would just give us a warning on a tint violation. He then added ( with his head ½ way in my car still) , “Anyways, it gives me a chance to look around in here and make sure everything is OK”
With that, he let us go. The whole traffic stop took nearly 25 minutes. The officer had a hard time believing that we were who we said we were. My friend ( who is a big, slightly overweight, unassuming Midwestern Caucausion type with Indiana drivers license) and myself ( an Indian that could pass as black, Hispanic, middle east, etc..) was just too big of mismatch in his little mind that he thought he was on to something. Or perhaps it was just other factors….
At least that’s what my guess was. Who knows what the real motive was for pulling us over. I must say, that due to the extent of the questioning and hostile attitude, I did feel like my civil rights were stepped on a little bit. Am I going to do anything about? No. It’s not really worth it to me. I just thought I’d vent it out to my fellow NSX brethren.
We were on I-20 Interstate and had just crossed over from Georgia to South Carolina.
I had previously warned my friend ( who was driving my NSX) to make sure and go the speed limit because we would make a fine catch for some patrol officer. Consequently, he set the cruise control right at 70mph (even though traffic was about 75-85mph), and we were crusing on our merry way when a big black unmarked suburban came tearing right up on our rear bumper and started flashing his red and blue grill lights.
We glanced at the speedometer and exchanged a quick WTF? before the officer approached my passenger side. I had the window down and the officer leaned in and sternly asked my friend to get out of the car and meet him at the back of the vehicle so that he can explain why he pulled us over.
I then watched in the side view mirror as my high school friend from Indiana got totally grilled for a solid 10 minutes or longer. I couldn’t hear what was being said, but I could tell the officer was being relentless about something.
The officer then approached my passenger side and stuck his head literally in the car ( a few inches from my face) and started up with me. Mind you, at this point, I have no idea why we’re pulled over. The conversation went something like this:
Him: So this is your car?
Me: yes sir, I’m just letting my friend drive it.
Him: your friend?....so you know this guy pretty well?
Me: yes, very well.
Him: Where are you guys coming from?
Me: Atlanta….from a car show
Him: what day did you get down there?
{I’ll now skip all my very polite answers and just list a few more of his questions?}
Him: What days were the show? What day did you leave? Which hotel did you stay at? Which Embassy Suites location was it? So if you were there for 3 days where’s all your luggage?
( I explained to him that we had UPS’d our luggage there and back to save car space…he gave me a look like he didn’t believe me)
He hit me with a about a dozen more questions along those lines. When I tried to reassure the guy by telling him I was a doctor, he just started grilling me on my speciality, location of my office as well as hospital affiliations!
Ultimately, he offered up that the reason he pulled us over was because he thought the windows were tinted too dark. I was in disbelief. Pulled over for tint at 70mph on the interstate!?! I told the officer that I had bought the NSX used from Florida where it was tinted, and I believed the tint to be of legal darkness.
The officer then had me put up my window and he scrutinized the tint. He then concluded that it was too close to tell for sure if it was illegal, and he said that he would just give us a warning on a tint violation. He then added ( with his head ½ way in my car still) , “Anyways, it gives me a chance to look around in here and make sure everything is OK”
With that, he let us go. The whole traffic stop took nearly 25 minutes. The officer had a hard time believing that we were who we said we were. My friend ( who is a big, slightly overweight, unassuming Midwestern Caucausion type with Indiana drivers license) and myself ( an Indian that could pass as black, Hispanic, middle east, etc..) was just too big of mismatch in his little mind that he thought he was on to something. Or perhaps it was just other factors….
At least that’s what my guess was. Who knows what the real motive was for pulling us over. I must say, that due to the extent of the questioning and hostile attitude, I did feel like my civil rights were stepped on a little bit. Am I going to do anything about? No. It’s not really worth it to me. I just thought I’d vent it out to my fellow NSX brethren.
The officer then proceeded to write me a ticket for changing lanes without a blinker when they were pulling me over. 
