Is it possible to get pulled over for no reason?

[MrElussive]

Hey,

I was with my friend tonight between 11 and 12 and we were looking for an open Japanese restaurant, as we wanted to take out some food (Late-night hunger strikes again). So we were in this parking lot, I parked my car and my friend went into this restaurant to see if they had anything good and then came back in my car, only to tell me that it was Korean place.
So I pulled out of the spot and started maneuvering around the parking lot to see if there were any more restaurants in the area (it's a big parking lot with stores and stuff all around), and this cop car was following us the whole time in the parking lot. Then he follows us onto the main road and then onto this other main road and he turned his lights on and pulled me over. Keep in mind that the entire time, I didn't do a SINGLE thing wrong as I knew there was a cop behind me.
So the cop comes over acting MAD friendly and is all like, "Hey how ya doing tonight?" And I'm so freaking nervous and I'm like, "Uhh yeah good" and then he asks to see my license. I whip out my license and he looks it over and I ask if he wants to see registration and insurance information also. He says no and then he pops the big question..."Did anybody just jump in the car, back at the parking lot?" And I was like, "No officer, I just parked for a minute as my friend went to go checkout this restaurant, then he came back in." And then he was like, "That was it? No girls jumped in the back or anything like that?" and as he asked, he looked into the back to see if anyone was there (nobody was in the back, just my friend and I) and I said "No sir, nothing like that". And then he was like, "Oh...I don't think is the car we were looking for, yeah this isn't even the car." At this point I was thinking WTF IS GOING ON. Then as if his gayass questions weren't enough he then asked where we were headed. I felt like an idiot explaining that we were just making a food run and were looking for an open Japanese restaurant at this hour. He then directed us to a very closeby restaurant that was still open and was very easy to get to and I thanked him for the directions and he told us to have a good night.

Can somebody please tell me wtf this was all about? I thought I had to be doing something WRONG for a cop to pull me over.

 

[Kirby]

I don't think that you have to do anything wrong to be pulled over, but it does create a Public Relations problem ("Nazi Cops") so they usually try to avoid it unless they have some reason. In this case it sounds like they were looking for someone and the officer, right or wrong, thought your car might be it, so he may have had a valid reason.

You can look at it two ways:
1 - The cop was hassling you for no good reason
2 - He was doing his job to make the area safer, which is to your benefit

 

[M_Six]

You got off easy. I got pulled over on my bike once. I was all alone on a local stretch of highway. I saw this cop come down the onramp and I made sure I was doing just under the speed limit. He pulls up really close, almost touching my leg with his bumper and drives along like that for a bit. Then he hits his lights AND siren and yells at me to pull over through the loudspeaker. He gets out and snarls at me, asking me if I knew how fast I was going. I said I knew exactly how fast and told him. He snatches my license and registration and heads back to his car. A few minutes later he comes back with a $275 ticket for doing 75MPH, tailgating, and illegal passing. Again, we were the only two people on an empty stretch of two lane highway. I told him he was insane and he blows up at me yelling, "This is for all the times you did that stuff and got away with it!" [80?]

Needless to say I went to court with it and he didn't show, so they dropped it. Still, goes to show how there are some really unprofessional cops out there.

In your case it may have been legit. You never know what they were told to watch for.

 

[Bmw 325i 7803]

That reminds me when I almost got arrested for admiring my own car... I almost had to prove I lived here and it was mine. (probably thought I was looking at it to steal it)

But I am glad they were watching out, since it appears to be a good inquiry by the police, just on the wrong person. Even with all of BMW's anti-theft features you can never be too sure.

 

[MrElussive]

Well the way he commented on the whole "wrong car" thing seemed more like they weren't looking for any car at all. I think he just pulled me over for the hell of it and as soon as he started talking to me and knew I was up to absolutely nothing (as usual), he decided to be nice and give my restaurant directions. The cop was MAD friendly the whole entire time and I was respectful back, but every time I get pulled over, I just get mad nervous and I hate that.
I pretty much just needed to vent as if I haven't had enough shit to deal with, with that totally bogus ticket of supposedly going 62 in a 35 and now this. I swear, one of these days you guys are gonna turn on the news to see a high speed chase of a black G35 Coupe followed by a fleet of cop cars with my left hand out the window giving all the cops the middle finger.

M_Six, I remember you telling that story once before. I know this other guy (who works at my local BMW dealership as a salesman) who actually had a bad experience with a police officer...cop pulled him over for supposedly running a red light and was then ticketed for that and something else that was totally irrelevant. The thing is, cops HATE riders (particularly racing bikes) because cops know the only purpose for them is to go ridiculously fast on the highways.

 

[Dinan55]

I haven't been randomly pulled over (yet) but I'm sure it's going to happen soon. I've heard so many stories of people getting pulled over because they're young and drive nice cars.

 

[theBMWenthusiast]

i haven't been pulled over yet...just got my licence about 1 month and 6 days ago so so far no...they can pull you over for no reason if they suspect something, at least he pointed you towards a good restaurant

 

[MrElussive]

Yeah, I just wish he had pulled somebody else over.
The thing is, in that town (Fort Lee, NJ) there is always shit going down. There is a club there called Tribecca that has gang wars like every single week-end. Also, on Main Street, there is always SOMETHING going on. Every time I go to the Fort Lee area at night, there are always mad people getting arrested. I think the cops are just trying real hard to keep the streets safe, but I don't think it's working so they've resorted to random pullovers.

 

[M_Six]

The thing is, cops HATE riders (particularly racing bikes) because cops know the only purpose for them is to go ridiculously fast on the highways.

That's right. And I was on an FJ1200 wearing red, white, and black racing leathers. The sad part is, we were all alone and he was a good 1/4 mile behind me when he came off the onramp. If I had gunned it, I would have left him in the dust. By the time he grabbed his radio, I'd have been off the next exit and gone. But I played it legal and got hassled for it. Still, running almost always ends up bad.

 

[Bmw 325i 7803]

Yeah, I just wish he had pulled somebody else over.
The thing is, in that town (Fort Lee, NJ) there is always shit going down. There is a club there called Tribecca that has gang wars like every single week-end. Also, on Main Street, there is always SOMETHING going on. Every time I go to the Fort Lee area at night, there are always mad people getting arrested. I think the cops are just trying real hard to keep the streets safe, but I don't think it's working so they've resorted to random pullovers.

I don't think the cops prefer war zones, and people who carry weapons. I think they'd rather cruise around and pull over a few people, and maybe they get lucky and find some drugs or whatnot. If you're young and drive a nice car and you get pulled over you have nothing to fear... so long as you're doing nothing wrong.

 

[codex57]

He prolly thought you guys looked suspicious. I mean, if this was night and some guy's driving around a shopping center just cruising around, it looks weird. Plus, you had a passenger pop out, take a look around, and then pop back in. Sounds a lot like you're casing the place or possibly dealing drugs.

As for the cop going, "oh, this isn't even the right car," when I went on a ride-a-long a couple years back, a lot of the cops were clueless as to the import cars. If it was an import car introduced in the last couple of years, they had no idea what it was. They knew the American cars perfectly, but they only knew the more famous imports like Civics and Acords. You say Subaru WRX and they go, "Suba what?" Just depends if the cop likes all types of cars or not. Not everyone's a car fan.

So basically, I don't think you should sweat it. Cop was prolly just checking you out cuz you were acting suspicious and remotely resembled a car they were looking for. I say remotely cuz it might have been an excuse to pull you over to see what was going on.

 

[Abdoman]

Sometimes the cops don't even know the make of the car, just the color and description of the individuals inside.

 

[MrElussive]

Well, the thing is the cop never saw my friend get out of the car, and my friend went inside the restaurant and checked out the menu, then he came back in. Cop was too late to see that, only when I pulled out started driving towards the exit, the cop started following me.

Oh and btw, my car is at my local window tinting place getting 15% tint on the side windows (to match my rear windshield which was tinted at 15% many months ago) as I type this...now I'm definitely gonna have more run-ins with local law enforcement but it's worth it...if I get pulled over for doing absolutely nothing, I might as well get the tints.