I got called in to work at 1130 last night. It was a few minutes after 1:00am when I headed back home. At that hour...there's not too much traffic on the streets. As I approached one of the intersections that I have to go through...I saw the stoplight was green but likely to change soon before I got there...if I didn't pick up some speed. If I got stopped there...it would seem like 5 minutes of waiting for the light to turn again...so I picked up some speed...and made it through just as it was turning yellow.
As I continued on my way...I saw some headlights come up behind the car...and then...the flashing red and blue lights from a police car. RATS!
I pulled over and grabbed my wallet for my licence and insurance card. I thought to myself that the registration was in the glove box and I should lean over and get it...then I thought...no...I better put my hands on the steering wheel and wait for the officer to get to the window and ask for it...and tell him I'm going to lean over to get it...rather than be reaching over as he approached and have him wonder if I was reaching for a gun.
So I sat still...hands on the steering wheel...and rolled down my window. I could see in my mirror that the officer was approaching with flashlight in hand...shining it in the back seat of my car...and I hear him say...'license and registration'...then a pause and he says...'just your license is okay'.
He saw I had my work scrubs on...and I'm just a mile from the hospital so he asked...'just get off work?' So I told him I just got called in for an emergency and was now on my way home. He said...'getting called in stinks doesn't it?', and I responded that it does when I'm going to get in bed at 130 and have to get back up at 530 to be back to work at 630.
He nodded his head...handed my license back to me and said...'get outta here'.
For a split second...I thought he meant for me to get out of the car and walk back to his car so he could write me a ticket...and then I realized he meant...GO HOME.
So I did.
As I headed home...I looked in my back seat to see that my white lab coat was back there. My guess is that he saw the lab coat...saw me in my scrubs...heard me say I got called in for an emergency...and he made an assumption that I was a doctor.
Whether that was it...or whether he knew I wasn't pulling out of the local bar at 1am...or he was just a nice guy...whatever...I appreciated being told to go home and go to bed.
530 was gonna get here quick.
Dan
Thanksgiving Letter to the Family
5 months ago
Ha! Loved this story!
ReplyDeleteI wasn't so fortunate recently when I went through an intersection under similar split-second time circumstances....but in rush hour in downtown Austin. A policeman on a bicycle zoomed up beside me SCREAMING for me to pull over. The shock nearly caused more trouble than my squeaking through on a yellow light. I may need a white coat for my back seat.