As I turned left onto 50th, I saw a Lubbock Police Department SUV behind me with the lights flashing in my side view mirror. This did not compute, so I looked in my rear view mirror, and I just barely could see the roof top light bar on the SUV lit up, just for me. I thought about stopping in the left most lane, but decided that was not safe on 50th Street, so I slowed and pulled over to the right most lane looking for a place to pull off 50th Street. I found it. The CVS parking lot. So, that is where I went with my tail behind me.
I stopped the car and shut it off, lowered the window, then remembered to leave my hands on the steering wheel where they could be seen. The officer approached and said "I bet you don't know why I pulled you over." I said "You are correct." He proceeded to tell me I had a brake light out. I think he said it was on the left side, but I was too rattled to remember. He asked if I had my insurance and license and I said I did. I produced the insurance first, folded into a tiny little square. He looked at it and returned it to me, noting he folded it the way it was. I then gave him my license, which he took to his unit.
Shortly thereafter, he returned and gave me the license back. I apologized to him if I did not stop soon enough. He said that I was fine, that if I hadn't stopped in a timely way, he would have "given a bump of the siren." He then thanked me for responding by slowing down, pulling to the right and finding a place where we were both safe. He then asked me to get the brake light fixed at my earliest convenience. He came to the car without his summons book open, so I figure that was his plan all along.
As we were talking, I saw his partner get out of his vehicle. I suspect the partner thought I was giving the officer some grief.
The officer at my car said they would back out of my way, so I could go. I told him I was going to go out the other direction and get the brake light repaired right then. He thanked me and I thanked him.
I went to Bolton's Oil Change just down the street, where I get the oil changed in the Vue and have inspections done. Since my oil life was down to 36% at the beginning of October, I decided to get the oil change done the same time I had the brake light repaired. I told them I had been stopped because of the brake light, and they got a kick out of that. They were surprised when I said I did not get a ticket!
Then I went to a very late lunch. As I paid out, the cashier asked my how my day was, and I told him that it was good, that I had been stopped by a police officer who told me I had a brake light out, and asked me to get it fixed but did not get a ticket. I said I thought the Lubbock Police Department is a good police department, and the cashier agreed, and then I said Lubbock was a good place to live, and he agreed. He seemed sincere, but what do I know.
So, later I got on the Lubbock Police Department website, and learned you could send complaints or commendations to the Internal Affairs Department. I sent a thank you acknowledging I did not think to get the officer's name or badge number, but he was very polite and professional.
No comments:
Post a Comment