I met my second LEO up close and personal

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Patriot

Isabella is Lazarus
Joined
Dec 2, 2008
Messages
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Location
Metairie, LA suburb of Ole Nawlins'
Sunday May 3, 2009 around 3pm

Remember this thread <hangin' head sheepishly>

well, I'm on LA 65 south (2 lanes only) leading Miles da FJR_Mississippi and Brian my Yammy Vstar riding podna for the event.

pass a local LEO who is finishing processing a lawbreaker facing the opposite way on the other side, but I didn't take real notice or worry as I figured he was gonna be tied up for quite a bit more time.

I'm digging to my tunes and a good one is queued up and I increased the volume. I slow for a group of businesses with driveways/parking lot exits and then hit the resume. Must have pushed it a bit long as I increased to 72 and come to find out, speed limit was 55. Had my audio for the Adaptiv radar detector on and Miles had mentioned he's going to Laurel, MS straight through and had been running in a "spirited" way so far and caught up with us. He hoped to get home before, or shortly after dark. I thought I was helping with 68 punched into the AVCC until I was going 72 without worry.

Brian reported the LEO pulled a 9g U turn and passed him up and pulled behind Miles. Miles pulled off the road to stop and the LEO roared by. My mind was on the great times and people I had met at SFO, and cataloging the great experiences I had in the last 3 days. Looking out forward for safe riding, digging on the tunes, thinking about the next gas stop and starting to punch up one on the GPS, and all of a sudden, there's a white cage with blue lights and the sound of sirens in the distance barely overcoming the MP3 tunes. Crap. Hit the front brakes lightly to flash my brake light and blinking stopping hyperlites indicators, hit my right turn signal, and start slowing, pulling over to the right emergency lane. Then I hit my four way flashers.

The LEO gets out, throws his hat into the unit, and looks me over. I show my gloved hands to him and he starts walking toward me. I slowly take off my gloves and then my helmet as he walks up to my right. "Geez Sir, is all that stuff on that bike distracting ???" "Yes, Sir, I wasn't paying attention to speed" "Ah, yes, I was right on your tail with siren blaring for almost 1/2 mile" "Yes, Sir, I wasn't paying attention and I should have been doing so better" "OK Sir, I'm Officer Clampett (the irony) of the Tallulah Sheriff's office and I have pulled you over for speeding on my road." "Yes, Sir, no excuse Sir" "OK, Sir, may I see your driver's license and proof of insurance?" "Yes, Sir, of course. Driver's license is in this front pants pocket." "OK, Sir" He seems to be looking over the bike...PGR stickers and flags...lots of wires and stuff up front...smiles with a bit of shake of the head. "Officer, my paperwork is in the trunk...is that OK?" "Yes, Sir" He steps to the rear with me and I slowly open the trunk and the envelope of papers is right on the side on top. "Hand him my license and proof of insurance. "Sir, I'm gonna take this and sit in my car a minute, OK?" "Yes Sir, <smile>, I'll be right here" He smiles and walks to his unit and gets in. I sheepishly stand there and Miles and Brian ride by without even looking over trying to look innocent. 2 minutes later he gets out and comes back. "OK, everything checks out here and you look clean. You NEED to slow down. The speed limit on my road is 55...it's OK to do 65 max, but NOT 72, ya hear?" "Yes Sir, I agree" "OK Sir, anything over 65, and ya gonna end up in the ditch and I'm gonna have to deal with that, ya hear?" "Yes Sir, definitely" "OK, please be careful" "Yes Sir" I stick out my hand as he looks back at his unit. He vigorously shakes it with a sheepish grin. "Thank You, Officer, I'll be careful, be more attentive, and slow down" He stops and looks at the bike, then me, "ya know, we had a funeral for a young lad about 2 years ago" pointing to the PGR and Never Forget Flag. He nods and gets in his unit. I take a few minutes to thank my lucky stars and appreciate his concern and attitude; even if he had written me up. He waits the few minutes for me to gear up and pull onto the road to protect me. As I get a block away, he turns off his lights and pulls a U turn.

Brian is waiting at the next gas station a few miles up the road and smiles when I tell him I dodged another bullet. "Gee Mike, ya running out of LEO lives, ya know. I'm not surprised since you weren't gone very long. I guess Miles needed to get home <which is fine, I hope he got there not too long after dark>.

So, I'm taking dollar bills to purchase lottery tickets for anyone and I guess I'll buy a few myself.

Mike in Nawlins'

 
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Cool! Nice to have an officer that can use discretion. LEO lives...that's a good one :lol:

 
I hate to say this, but all those gadgets really can be a distraction. That's one reason I don't have tunes on my bike.

 
Congrats!

I guess with all this ticket dodging because you are sporting the PGR/USA/POW-MIA flags, When you eventually get stopped and get an undeserving ticket, You will be just as polite... right? ;)

Either way, I am glad to see some compassionate officers using discretion.

Continue doing what you do, My newly acquainted Soggy friend! :good:

Adam

 
Mike in Speedy-ville',

I think the officer is right about all that stuff. However I think it's messing up their radar guns and adding speed to the display!!! :unsure: :lol:

 
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I was zipping along the South Sound yesterday (Hwy 3) enjoying a moderate pace but clearly above the speed limit. I had my first experience in a long while with a fellow biker giving me the "heat is around the corner" sign. He used a palm down wave followed by a tapping on the hat. I interpreted these signs as "slow down, the fuzz is about to get you". I rewarded said signs with a quick showing of the brake lights (cause I was braking) and a thank you wave. Radar was not going off but I poked along for 1/2 mile and found the local sheriff in the weeds shooting the other way.

I was able to repay the favor to a group of cruisers coming the other way a very short time later who were going to roll right in on Mr. Sheriff. Good karma all around.

 
Soooo.... I take it you tossed your empty PBR outta the cupholer before you got pulled over?

:rolleyes:

Nice narrative. You know you're gonna have to recite that at EOM, right? :assassin:

 
On my way to work this morning on I5 in the rain, I hit a long open section with no one in front of me, but for some reason, perhaps some unexpected sensitivity to microwaves created by late night anticipation of far too many frozen burritos, I thought 'hey this would be a good place for a cop', and just as I thought that I saw a car on the right and I ducked to the side a shielding Honda Element and adjusted my speed. The cop was on the side of his car out in the open, crouching down like some master in a Jet Li movie, right beside his door pointing his radar gun at the oncomming traffic like some avenging alien God determined to sterilize all homo sapiens before calling the mother ship. He followed me for ten miles with me oh so prim and proper in the right lane like some law abiding, well programmed, little automaton. Then he pulled over into a rest stop. I didn't stop to gater evidence but I think he wasn't even after me, he just needed to pee.

Yeah some great adventure, ha, but I did manage to ride that clear rift I imagined appearing in the drift of the rain on the online dopler radar before leaving home, only getting soaked half the way. When a guys got to ride he's got to ride!

 
Patriot I would not to say I told you so but if you remember I spoke to you on Thursday night standing by your bike. I mentioned if I had all the gadgets you had on my bike I would probably run off the road while trying to monitor it all. Apparently you had a similar problem keeping track of your speed while doing all that other stuff. Glad you had an understanding officer and a free ride.

 
Ah... you should have showed him what a real siren sounds like! I know you can do it, I herd ya!

I shoulda rubbed your head for luck, gettin out of those tickets, poor choice in kickstand placement. Now that coulda cost ya! :lol:

 
On my way to work this morning on I5 in the rain, I hit a long open section with no one in front of me, but for some reason, perhaps some unexpected sensitivity to microwaves created by late night anticipation of far too many frozen burritos, I thought 'hey this would be a good place for a cop', and just as I thought that I saw a car on the right and I ducked to the side a shielding Honda Element and adjusted my speed. The cop was on the side of his car out in the open, crouching down like some master in a Jet Li movie, right beside his door pointing his radar gun at the oncomming traffic like some avenging alien God determined to sterilize all homo sapiens before calling the mother ship. He followed me for ten miles with me oh so prim and proper in the right lane like some law abiding, well programmed, little automaton. Then he pulled over into a rest stop. I didn't stop to gater evidence but I think he wasn't even after me, he just needed to pee.
Yeah some great adventure, ha, but I did manage to ride that clear rift I imagined appearing in the drift of the rain on the online dopler radar before leaving home, only getting soaked half the way. When a guys got to ride he's got to ride!
Huh? :blink:

 
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