It happened again. The Idaho State police pulled me over. Its all quite simple really. I didn't come to a full and complete stop before exiting the NAPA parking lot. At first I didn't think he would pull me over but as he followed me around the corner I saw him putting his hat on. "Crap," I thought, "He means business." His lights turned on and I made my way into the nearest parking lot.I still stand by my premise that police officers should never be allowed to ask if we know why they just pulled us over. If we agree to answer we waive away our 5th amendment rights, if we don't answer then they just think we are stupid.
I also don't think its very cool to have bad hayfever when you get pulled over. Then the police officer seems to think drugs have been taken and alcohol consumed simply because you have got red eyes. "Well," you think to yourself, "Officer you should lay off the doughnuts because your eyes are glazed!" But you don't actually say anything like that because you are the one who could be recieving the potential ticket. Darn those first amendment rights that get pushed aside while you speak to police officers.
So this officer pulls me over and guess what he asks? Thats right, "Do you know why I pulled you over?"
"Uhm, No."
"You didn't stop as you left the parking lot back there."
"Oh, I just thought I could yeild when there was no traffic."
"No, you have to come to a complete stop. Do you have your license?"
"Yeah. Do you need my insurance and registration?"
"No, that won't be necessary" - This is when I took a huge sigh of relief. "Do you still live at 110th North?"
Now here is the problem with that question, I don't live there. I haven't lived there for over two years. Matter of fact I have moved three times since then. So what do I say? I don't remember ever updating my address with the DMV. If he runs my driver's license number will he get an address from Boise? I wasn't sure, so I took a chance. "No."
"How long have you not lived there."
"About three months." - Yeah, an obvious lie.
"Well, your supposed to update your address within 30 days of moving. If anything happens to you we want to go to the right house."
"Oh," and this is where I thought a ticket was coming.
"I'll get you a form to fill out and you can mail it in."
That caught me a bit off guard. He wasn't going to ticket me for it but was actually going to give me the proper paperwork to update my address with the DMV. Amazing.
I'm not sure how I did it, but I drove off without a ticket. That makes four times that I have been pulled over this summer. The thing that I am the most proud of is that I'm still ticket free. No moving violations here. Now that is some sweet action.
