I fought the law

I got pulled over by the Navy police on Monday morning, for the second time this year. The first time, it was because the rental that I was driving while my car was in the shop turned out to have expired tags. They inspected the car from top to bottom, and then sent me on my way after advising me not to drive on the base with an unregistered vehicle again. I teleworked for the rest of that week. The Navy doesn’t play. 

On Monday, which also happened to be my birthday, I drove on to the base as usual, made the usual wide right turn at the stop sign to drive past Walter Reed, and then heard the sirens. I looked in my rear view mirror and saw the police car and knew immediately that I didn’t need to ask for whom the siren was tolling because it was tolling for me. I pulled over right in front of the hospital, turned on my flashers, put the car in park, and waited. 

I waited for seven minutes, and nothing happened. I know that you’re not supposed to get out of the car when the police pull you over but I had started to wonder if I’d mistaken their intentions, and they weren’t telling me anything, so I opened my door and started to step out and heard an amplified voice ordering me to stay in my vehicle. Hands in the air, I shouted “I just wanted to make sure you had pulled me over. Did you pull me over?” Yes, they had pulled me over. I had no idea what they were waiting for until the second police car pulled up. Back-up - that is what they were waiting for. I texted my husband, and then texted my boss and coworkers to let them know that I’d be late for our 0800 meeting. One of my coworkers texted back: “Stay calm!” Lol. Has he met me? I was already freaking out, and by the time the second police car pulled up, I was shaking like I had Lalo Salamanca’s bail money piled up in my trunk. 

All’s well that ends well. They let me off with a verbal warning, after a slightly sarcastic reminder that there is another stop sign at the left turn onto the road that leads to campus (I KNOW!) and I went on my way, careful to count to three when I came to a full and complete stop at that stop sign. Did they notice that it was my birthday? No one said “Happy Birthday” or anything, but it’s right there on my driver’s license and after almost 20 minutes of sitting in my car pretty much surrounded by police vehicles, I had expected at least a ticket if not a first-hand look at a Navy brig. So maybe they noticed that my date of birth made Monday my 59th birthday and they took pity on me. I’m glad. Because I’m pretty sure I also got a speed camera ticket on Connecticut Avenue earlier that morning, making this an already unreasonably expensive commute. And I’m sure I wouldn’t survive on the inside.