Last Saturday when I was taking my son and a dog he had found and sheltered for the night to the Humane Society, I was pulled over.
The officer, a young white man, asked if I knew where he had been sitting before following me. I hadn't seen him; he said he had been on a side street checking out cars at a stop sign. He said something about the car in front of me, then said he didn't think I had come to a full stop.
I was nervous for a couple of reasons - first, my son, who is mentally ill, is often in trouble for minor offenses, and since he often misses court dates, there are sometimes warrants out for him. Second, I did not have my current insurance card with me. I had noticed this some time ago - I have no idea what happened to the current card, but the new period starts early next month so I thought I might make it through.
I gave him my driver's license and the insurance card I had, telling him he could call, since I had the same insurance and agent. He took the one I had, saying it was not too long ago, and didn't even wait for my registration.
He asked my son for his name, and I asked why he wanted that. He replied that he "likes to know who I'm dealing with." My son gave his first name, and asked if his last name was the same as mine. I said I was looking for the Humane Society, and he said he would help me afterwards.
He spent some minutes in his car (while my son found my registration in the glove compartment) and I began to worry. When he came back, he returned my my license and out-of-date insurance card, and waved the registration away after a brief glance at it. He gave me a warning for the stop sign violation, and another for the insurance card, with an admonition to get the right one into my wallet.
Then he turned to my son and thanked him for his cooperation. And gave me directions.
I was flabbergasted - I didn't even get a summons to present the right document in traffic court.
I am a white woman in my 60's, and this happened in Tucson, AZ. My son is a little exotic looking, but generally is assumed to be white as well. I wondered what the stop might have looked like if either or both of us had been Hispanic or black.
I've been toying with the idea of writing about this stop; reading this diary decided me.