I think I was profiled
 

So, I was heading from downtown St. Louis to my home which is roughly 25 miles south. It was 3:30 am Sunday morning. Roughly 2 miles into my trip I noticed a police officer in my review mirror. He followed me for almost 20 miles before pulling me over.

After pulling me over he never asks for liscense and registration, just asks what I was doing. I explain to him that I had gone to the Blues game earlier in the evening and was checking in on one of my projects that was going on downtown.

He says well you were speeding a little (68 in a 65). He then told me that since I was driving a "hot car" he was afraid I was going to run on him. So, he had called ahead to another officer for assistance.

I didn't recieve any citations or warnings, but the whole situation seemed extremely odd to me.

sounds like he just wanted to see your ride.... bored at 3:30 am

3:30 AM explains it all.

Could of also wanted to see if you had been drinking.

+1 is never do that, but that is what it seems happened...

+1 on probably wanted to see that car. Not a good reason for pulling you over though- kind of a jerk move.

Oddly enough while being followed I made a lane change around a slower moving vehicle. (roughly 50 mph in a 65). The guys driving was a little erratic as well and the officer stuck behind him for like a 1/2 mile. I figured the officer was pulling him over, but i look in my rear view to see him right behind me again.

I had a football coach in college that always told us nothing good happens after 11:00 pm.

Not much goes on at 3:30AM. He's just doing his job patrolling the highway. He saw a sports car, followed it for a bit and then pulled you over to check and make sure everything was okay. He was just doing his job and he's well within his right to pull anyone over for any reason.

I will let you in on something that the liberals do not want to acknowledge, profiling works. Flame on people, Duck proof, if it quacks, waddles, has a bill and feathers; it is probably a duck. The guy that bought the V-8 (me) is not going to drive it like a fart sniffing Prius driver. The guy in the bank wearing the mask with the gun is probably a robber. The guy in black with the backwards collar is probably a priest. When you are driving an attention getting vehicle like a gen 5 Camaro or a motorcycle, you can expect to get attention both wanted (hey man nice ride!) and unwanted(license and registration please).

And what was the good reason in this situation? Just because he drives a brand new Camaro? :facepalm:

Let me know when you see a cop randomly do that to a Toyota Corolla at 3:30 a.m.

Technically he needs cause. He MAY NOT pull someone over just because he 'wants' to. However, he definetly CAN pull someone over for any reason, he has the lights and gun.

SSN8R

Where abouts in St Louis? I used to tavel thru there on I70 all the time. The one of the worst areas IMHO is St Charles. Used to get speeding tickets there all the time..... on my way back to FT Campbell Ky.

Maybe he wanted to see if you were hot?:iono:

Cop will likely pull over any car at that time of night. And yes, he can pull over anyone for any reason (check if they've been drinking, check if the car has been stolen, check if they have all their proper documents, check if there's illegal tint, the list goes on).

Happened to me once before. Saw the police officer tailgating me for about 15 miles before he decided to pull me over at about 2:30 am. (I was going 70, the speed limit, the entire time). He asked me what I was doing. I responded "driving." Noticing my smart ass response, he asked me where and I said none of your business. I asked him the reason he pulled me over and he said because you I was "suspicious." I asked him if he was told during training that in order to pull someone over for a traffic infraction they must have at least reasonable suspicion. He didnt respond. I then asked him what about me driving was suspicious. He declined to respond. He then said I was speeding and asked for my license & registration (I also give him my Florida Bar Card for shits and giggles). I then let him know he was from Miami-Dade police and we were in Broward County, and this was an illegal stop. He gave me my documents back and said slow down. I asked for his name and badge number which he gave me and I wrote a complaint about him to his department a few days later.

I love enforcing my rights.

4th Amendment jurisprudence says otherwise, friend. A cop cannot simply pull you over for any reason. They need reasonable suspicion to even stop you for a traffic infraction.

I was on highway 55 heading south.

:thumbdown::facepalm:

His job isn't to randomly pull people over, that's actually against the law to pull over people without cause...

His reason was the OP was doing 2-3 MPH over the speed limit which is :bs:he was just doing random DUI stops hoping for the best.(which is unconsititional).

+1

You were profiled. Just like everything in this world. I believe it is called discrimination. When I drove my 2001 Yukon XL for 9 years I was never pulled over. In my Camaro I was pulled over several times. Yes, a hot car will get you attention.

+1, a hot car will draw lots of attention to cops, which is wrongfully so but whatever. It is what it is.

:)

That's the problem with some of these cops, always profiling. I don't care what car I'm driving, don't waste my time by pulling me over unless you have a reason to.

Umm, I don't think so...

i actually got pulled over like a week after having the car and the officer says to me i just wanted to get a look at the car...i thought it was pretty funny and he was real cool about it

Odd...driven this car for 4 months, frequently do 10 over and not even a second glance....15% tint....not a second glance. No stickers or anything top to bottom that would indicate a personal life style....it is so strange...

Or maybe, just maybe....we were speeding (whether blatant or slightly) and unfortunate circumstances caused us to be stopped in the camaro. If you do the offense, accept the responsibility. I certainly will when I finally get tagged, and I will...

Lastly to the OP..20 miles behind you? come on man....you can enter and leave numerous counties in 20 miles and you are telling me he followed you for THAT distance....

But I always welcome yet another post of people complaining of being profiled or 'bothered' when they YET AGAIN were not issued a citation...life is rough

Take some word of advice from HDDAN...we all bought a car that demands ATTENTION. You are all getting it, both negative and positive...Ya know what, I am perfectly fine with a cop stopping me because he wants to see the car. 3 over is absolutely a BS stop, but it something that is considered LEGAL. When a judge shows grace because the violation was cheese does not mean the stop was a violation of your rights. Most cops are just people doing a job and if at 330 a cop wants to check your vehicle out and NOT give you a ticket...why people bitch about that is absolutely incredible to me.

Never been pulled over in the 5 Fbodies I have owned,however drive a hot looking pick up with racing stripes and I'm sure to be stopped at least once or twice yearly and asked questions especially at night, just pull out of a package store after midnight!!! The last time this happned the cop was young enough to be my grandson, boy was he surprised!!!

I call BS ..... While he was following you for 20 minutes just to see if you had been drinking ... people got shot, cars got stolen and who knows what else was going on at that time in south St. Louis ...... geeeez. Did you get his name and badge number? I think I might have to report that? Find out if any crimes were reported around that time in the area and then ask why he was wasting time profiling you?

That's such a load.

Some people don't mind having their time wasted and some do. Too bad some cops have to try to make us see what the early 1940s Germany must have been like.

Had a campus policeman pull me over Saturday
 

I was joining a friend whose son was playing football at a local SoCal small college. I'm driving down the street at about 5 miles an hour looking for the small parking lot where we were going to tailgate. A campus cop pulls me over and my first thought was that he wanted to check out the car or that I was going too slow. When he comes to the door I asked, "Is there a problem officer". "Yes, he said, "you're going the wrong way on a oneway street" He then told me where the lot was I was looking for, and said, "nice ride".. I felt like an idiot.

Ha Ha
 

I was going to say the same thing. Just do what he says and forget about it.

I agree. The few times I've taken I-55 to 270 going home to get around something on I-44, I've never seen a police car. But I'm never out that late/early.

Not in Canada.

Jawohl, der Commandant!

Obviously, the Bill of Rights do not apply inside Canada. However, the OP's incident occurred in the US, where it does apply. :thumbup:

:sm0::sm0::sm0:

Cops and profiling is a very touchy subject. Being a victim of numerous stops for no apparent reason Im sure I have a different view on this vs someone who has not encountered it. Like everything you have good cops and bad ones. I actually worked for a government agency that trained to profile and you would be shocked at how inaccurate profiling can be.