Is the problem race or something else when a police officer overreacts? I was driving up from Florida on one of my many trips to Florida and back. I stopped at Kings Dominion in Virginia to get gasoline. It was dark. I wasnt able to see the lines on the road and I wasnt sure of where I was. After getting gasoline, I started to make my way back to I-95. When preparing to turn right, I saw that the traffic directly in front of me was heading towards me to make the left onto the same road I was trying to get on. That startled me because I began to think that maybe I had started to move while the light was red and they were going to hit me. Because of this, I made the turn without noticing that I only had one lane to pull into and not 2. The second lane was the turning lane for traffic coming from the direction I was turning towards. It so happened that a police car was using that lane and at the last second, I jerked right to avoid hitting him. Immediately he turned on his lights and rushed to turn around and get to me. I pulled over immediately and stopped. Once he pulled in behind me, he jumped out of his car with his gun drawn. His first words were for me to get out of my car. I saw the gun and raised my hands. I immediately attempted to calm him down. I started with whoa and then I told him I had 2 kids in the back. By this time they had already started to cry. I got out of the car and went with him to his car. I have no idea how I kept my composure while this was happening but I did. I told him that I was not his enemy. For the next several minutes we sat in his patrol car. He checked my license and I continued to talk him out the trees. It turns out that he had been a patrolman in Buffalo, NY so we started talking about NY. He even shared stuff about his own life and why he moved to VA where he could make more money, etc. He never gave me a ticket but did eventually apologize. We hugged and I went on my way. There was no way he knew I was a Puerto Rican. There was no way he saw me as a minority. What I saw was a man who had been scared to death and who was acting irrationally to the situation. I did all I could to calm him down. I cooperated the best way I could. That diffused what could have been a very horrifying encounter. I treated him with respect and consideration. He appreciated that. We parted in peace. No harm done.
Posted on: Sat, 06 Dec 2014 11:29:22 +0000
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