I had a run in with a Washington State Trooper tonight and had a weird experience I'd thought I share.
BACKGROUND:
The car in front of me almost got into an accident with another vehicle. It was driving in two lanes at once and then brake checked the other car. This caused horns to honk and some fingers from the other drivers. This didn't affect me as I was behind watching the action take place.
PRECURSOR:
After the above incident I was at a stop light behind said driver. We were both turning left to merge on the highway. Once the light turned green, I shit you not, this driver decides to go 7MPH to MERGE on the freeway. There was about 100 Feet left of the on ramp. I was still in the top part of the funnel where it merges to one lane. So judging off of this drivers last performance of the side-swipe-brake-check maneuver I witnessed, I did not want to wait for this person to do whatever fuck up he thought was necessary for me. So I took the proactive approach and passed him on the right. Keep in mind this wasn't a floor it and eat my shit pass either. It was slow enough to see the persons face, I mean come on! They were going under 10MPH. Not more than 5 seconds later I see cherries in my rear view... there was a Trooper behind the other car! I'm thinking to myself "finally a cop when you need one". While I was still driving ahead it took about TEN SECONDS for the driver of the other car to yield right for the officer to rip past them and ride my ass for about 2 miles. (He only turned his lights on to get the other car out of the way. When he was behind me the lights were off.) After the 2 miles the lights came on behind me and I yielded right.
THE PULL OVER: Now I conceal carry a gun almost everywhere I go. So the first thing I do is dome light on, car off, and hands out the window.Then when he came to the window I said to the officer, "Officer there is a firearm in the vehicle and I do have a permit for it". EVERY single time I've been pulled over the officer would say "OK thank you for telling me, where is it?" I tell them whether its on me or in the car and that's the end of it. In this particular time it was in the center console of the Soup (it fits the Glock 26 perfect btw). THIS IS WHERE IT GETS WEIRD! This officer tells me to HAND IT TO HIM!! In my mind I was thinking "Holy shit! The last thing I would need I a cop interpreting something wrong and I end up on the 11 o'clock news as me trying to harm an officer". Seriously the Seattle cops are under investigation for it! The feeling of giving him my gun was like dropping something important down a malfunctioning garbage disposal and sticking your hand down to retrieve it!! I know I didn't legally have to give it to him, but I didn't want to give him a reason to make it personal. I was like " OKAY I'M REACHING DOWN , I'M GRABBING THE BARREL, and did a play by play pretty much to not only have it on the recording, but I was hoping I was less likely to get shot. Keep in mind his hand on his gun the whole time...
Long story short, he gave me a ticket for "Improper lane usage" and I have him knowingly recorded saying the other driver was at fault.
THE QUESTION: Has anyone had an officer pull you over and ask you to HAND THEM YOUR GUN? And if you read the whole story, what would you do differently?
BACKGROUND:
The car in front of me almost got into an accident with another vehicle. It was driving in two lanes at once and then brake checked the other car. This caused horns to honk and some fingers from the other drivers. This didn't affect me as I was behind watching the action take place.
PRECURSOR:
After the above incident I was at a stop light behind said driver. We were both turning left to merge on the highway. Once the light turned green, I shit you not, this driver decides to go 7MPH to MERGE on the freeway. There was about 100 Feet left of the on ramp. I was still in the top part of the funnel where it merges to one lane. So judging off of this drivers last performance of the side-swipe-brake-check maneuver I witnessed, I did not want to wait for this person to do whatever fuck up he thought was necessary for me. So I took the proactive approach and passed him on the right. Keep in mind this wasn't a floor it and eat my shit pass either. It was slow enough to see the persons face, I mean come on! They were going under 10MPH. Not more than 5 seconds later I see cherries in my rear view... there was a Trooper behind the other car! I'm thinking to myself "finally a cop when you need one". While I was still driving ahead it took about TEN SECONDS for the driver of the other car to yield right for the officer to rip past them and ride my ass for about 2 miles. (He only turned his lights on to get the other car out of the way. When he was behind me the lights were off.) After the 2 miles the lights came on behind me and I yielded right.
THE PULL OVER: Now I conceal carry a gun almost everywhere I go. So the first thing I do is dome light on, car off, and hands out the window.Then when he came to the window I said to the officer, "Officer there is a firearm in the vehicle and I do have a permit for it". EVERY single time I've been pulled over the officer would say "OK thank you for telling me, where is it?" I tell them whether its on me or in the car and that's the end of it. In this particular time it was in the center console of the Soup (it fits the Glock 26 perfect btw). THIS IS WHERE IT GETS WEIRD! This officer tells me to HAND IT TO HIM!! In my mind I was thinking "Holy shit! The last thing I would need I a cop interpreting something wrong and I end up on the 11 o'clock news as me trying to harm an officer". Seriously the Seattle cops are under investigation for it! The feeling of giving him my gun was like dropping something important down a malfunctioning garbage disposal and sticking your hand down to retrieve it!! I know I didn't legally have to give it to him, but I didn't want to give him a reason to make it personal. I was like " OKAY I'M REACHING DOWN , I'M GRABBING THE BARREL, and did a play by play pretty much to not only have it on the recording, but I was hoping I was less likely to get shot. Keep in mind his hand on his gun the whole time...
Long story short, he gave me a ticket for "Improper lane usage" and I have him knowingly recorded saying the other driver was at fault.
THE QUESTION: Has anyone had an officer pull you over and ask you to HAND THEM YOUR GUN? And if you read the whole story, what would you do differently?
