BajaNomad

Need another Cop story today?

bajalou - 4-14-2009 at 07:41 PM

Today I was heading into town (San Felipe), and just relaxing going to get a tire fixed, deliver some stuff to a friend and get some gasoline.

I was drinking a can of Arizona Iced Tea and really not paying enough attention when I started to pull over into the left lane to pass a slightly slower vehicle. I hear a horn blowing and see that I almost put a police pickup into the center divider.

I pulled back to my lane and off to the sholder - which is as wide as a traffic lane here. About then the police lights come on and he pulles up behind me. I shut off the motor and wait and he comes up and begins talking very rapidly in Spanish. I held up the can and showed him it was "te". My Spanish is limited and no good at all for fast speakers, but I kept saying "Yes I was wrong and not paying enough attention" & "Mi muy stupido" and ""no attention". Note - I hadn't fastened my seat belt eigher.

He then asks for my license - which I gave him. He looked at it and said some more - I think about how dumb I am - then asked "Donde su casa?'' - I replied, Rancho El Dorado. Then asked where I was going and I told him "LLantera y amigo in San Felipe." A few more seconds of rapid fire chewing out, and he handed my back my license and said "andelante'" and went back to his truck and took off to town.

I fastened my seat belt, and continued on my way.

Udo - 4-14-2009 at 08:17 PM

I guess you got lucky!

vacaenbaja - 4-14-2009 at 09:20 PM

THATwas a nice cop. They do exist in Baja. Good to hear a no mordida/ shakedown encounter.

Bajajack - 4-14-2009 at 09:30 PM

Actually he was a bad cop, think about it.:rolleyes:

Bajahowodd - 4-14-2009 at 11:23 PM

No winning possible. If he had cited bajalou for erratic driving, sought a mordita or took her to the court, he'd have been a good cop, but a bad host? The beat goes on.

redhilltown - 4-14-2009 at 11:44 PM

A friend just got back from San Felipe and said he met a U.S. lady who was there for the first time and said she got a ticket for (get this): having too many people in the back of her pick up truck! Thank GOD they are finally enforcing this rule in Mexico! Luckily, it seem legit in as much as they took her to the station to pay the small fine as opposed to shaking her down.

CaboRon - 4-15-2009 at 04:31 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by redhilltown
A friend just got back from San Felipe and said he met a U.S. lady who was there for the first time and said she got a ticket for (get this): having too many people in the back of her pick up truck! Thank GOD they are finally enforcing this rule in Mexico! Luckily, it seem legit in as much as they took her to the station to pay the small fine as opposed to shaking her down.


One person (or child) in the back of a pickup is very dangerous ......

motoged - 4-15-2009 at 01:42 PM

This isn't a cop story....it's a "Gringa-driving-without-paying- attention-and-is-lucky" story:wow:

sancho - 4-15-2009 at 02:53 PM

Recently read a book 'Gringos in Paradise'
guy builds a place 30 mi. No of P Vallarta,
good look into the customs of Mex,
anyway, there was a paragraph about
some locals bounced out of the back of
a pickup after hitting a tope at speed,
resulting in a couple deaths.
Apparently not uncommon.
Heard there was an extra 300 cops in
San Felipe over last weekend, Semana Santa
Weekend

Could have taken place in Florida?

LaTijereta - 4-15-2009 at 07:53 PM

A Florida senior citizen drove his brand new Corvette convertible out of the dealership. Taking off down the road , he floored it .... at 80 mph he was enjoying the wind blowing through what little hair he had left.

"Amazing," he thought as he flew down I-75, pushing the pedal farther.

Looking in his rearview mirror, he saw a state trooper behind him,blue lights flashing, and siren blaring. He accelerated to 100 mph, then 110, then 120...

Suddenly he thought, "What am I doing? I'm too old for this," and pulled over to await the trooper's arrival.

Pulling in behind him, the trooper walked up to the Corvette, looked at his watch and said, "Sir, my shift ends in 30 minutes.. Today is Friday. If you can give me a reason for speeding that I have never heard before, I'll let you go.

The old gentleman paused, then said, "Years ago, my wife ran off with a Florida State Trooper. I thought you were bringing her back!"

"Have a good day sir," replied the trooper.

This took place right outside of La Paz...I was told.

Pompano - 4-15-2009 at 07:59 PM

A driver is pulled over by a policeman. The police man approaches the driver's door.

"Is there a problem Officer?"

The policeman says, "Sir, you were speeding. Can I see your licence please?"

The driver responds, "I'd give it to you but I don't have one."

"You don't have one?"

The man responds, "I lost it four times for drink driving."

The policeman is shocked. "I see. Can I see your vehicle registration papers please?"


"I'm sorry, I can't do that."

The policeman says, "Why not?"

"I stole this car."

The officer says, "Stole it?"

The man says, "Yes, and I killed the owner."

At this point the officer is getting irate. "You what!?"

"She's in the boot if you want to see."

The Officer looks at the man and slowly backs away to his car and calls for back up. Within minutes, five police cars show up, surrounding the car. A senior officer slowly approaches the car, clasping his half drawn gun.

The senior officer says "Sir, could you step out of your vehicle please!"

The man steps out of his vehicle. "Is there a problem sir?"

"One of my officers told me that you have stolen this car and murdered the owner."

"Murdered the owner?"

The officer responds, "Yes, could you please open the boot of your car please?"

The man opens the boot, revealing nothing but an empty boot.

The officer says, "Is this your car sir?"

The man says "Yes," and hands over the registration papers.

The officer, understandably, is quite stunned. "One of my officers claims that you do not have a driving licence."

The man digs in his pocket revealing a wallet and hands it to the officer. The officer opens the wallet and examines the licence. He looks quite puzzled. "Thank you sir, one of my officers told me you didn't have a licence, stole this car, and murdered the owner."

The man replies, "I bet you the lying burro told you I was speeding, too!"

vacaenbaja - 4-15-2009 at 08:50 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Bajajack
Actually he was a bad cop, think about it.:rolleyes:


There is the "letter of the law" and the "spirit of the law"
Often times law enforcement officers use their discretion as to how much the forementioned weighs in the balance.

BAJACAT - 4-25-2009 at 06:26 PM

Instated of onpeing a new thread I will contribute on this one I hope you don't mind Lou.I haven't been stop in Baja in a long time, this past friday i went to TJ to visit my wifes family and to buy some groceries, well on the way back to the sates around 11:00PM ,right in front of CENTRO CULTURAL, a police truck come from a side rd, I was half way on the ramp to get to the border when he turn on is flashers, IM THINKING TO MY SELF WHAT DID I DO WRONG, I stop 2 police officers come out the truck one on my side the other on the passanger side,pointing is flash light at my truck, "HE TELLS ME, DO YOU KNOW WHY I STOP YOU, I ANSWER NO, HE SAYS BECAUSE OF YOUR TINTED WINDOWS THAT IS ILLEGAL IN MEXICO", I said officer i don't come to often to mexico thats why I haven't removed the tint.H e ask for my documents and from where I was coming and where I was going, You see with this type of vehicle that you have and the tinted windows is a bad combination you haven't seen all the bad things in the news lately he says.Just when I was about to give him my papers, he very polite toll me Ok sir you can continue with your trip and he left, for one minute I was thinking of how much the MORDIDA was going to be, but this time I had a good cop on my side...

bajalou - 4-25-2009 at 09:49 PM

Good story Jose, thanks

TMW - 4-26-2009 at 12:52 PM

LaTijereta and Pompano, Thanks.

Paulina - 4-26-2009 at 02:00 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by vacaenbaja
THATwas a nice cop. They do exist in Baja. Good to hear a no mordida/ shakedown encounter.


He could have cited Lou for driving without his seatbelt. It was Lou's lucky day.

fishingmako - 4-26-2009 at 03:22 PM

And you was thinking how much the MORDITA was going to be? that means you had anticipated on paying them. I don't know how and what it is going to take to get people not to pay these BRIBES, If we continue, there will never be an end in sight.

Bajahowodd - 4-26-2009 at 03:59 PM

You could say that the mordita is a Mexican tradition. I'm not going to try and justify it, but remember that there is a difference between a total setup just to make cash, and an actual infraction. I totally do not support any sort of traps. But, until they pay a decent wage to the police in Mexico, I can at least understand when the revenue goes directly to personal use like feeding the kids, rather than to some corrupt bureaucracy.

fishingmako - 4-26-2009 at 04:15 PM

I agree on an actual infraction, I can deal with that, but not the everyday BS, they will never pay a decent wage, so that means their support will come from people to whom they can intimidate, and for the people they can continue to intimidate, that means the more people they can stop and demand MORDITA.

I'm just saying stand up to them and quit letting them scare you.

Bajahowodd - 4-26-2009 at 04:47 PM

Agree with you when it is a total setup. Another issue is that in the good old days, mordita was a form of entertainment. Paying a cop 200 Pesos was similar to the idea that people who frequent casinos espouse. "I'm paying for the entertainment". From what I've seen recently, some of these guys have tried to extricate hundreds of dollars, especially in TJ. Not worth the price of the entertainment.

mooose29 - 4-26-2009 at 11:24 PM

Great story which reminds me, A bunch of years ago I was racing in the Baja 500 with my Dad. We had just finished our time in the car and were on our way to the next pit to get in and finish the race. As we left our pit in the motorhome I came upon a big simi carring a load of chickens on a very curvy road going about 15mph. Justing having finished driving a race car through the desert at 70+ for the last 100+ miles I was still a bit amped up and also wanted to get to our next pit. We got to a strainght section so I floored it and pulled out to pass as I did so I hear a loud horn behind me. To my horror I look in my side mirror and realize that I have just forced a cop off the road that was trying to pass me. the first thing out of my mouth was "I am going to jail I just ran a cop off the raod" I had instant flashes of spending the night in a mexican cell. My wife of course laughed at me, she thought I was joking. I quickly fall in line back behind the semi and the cop gets back on the road and passes us. I think wow he must have somewhere a lot more important to be.

About a mile up the road I am still behind the truck and we round a bend and the cop is pulled over in a pull off waiting for me. He points and I pull over. I am just out of the car and he starts letting me have it. I was doing the same thing, saying I am sorry, I didn't see you (duh), I am a young stupid driver, etc, etc, etc... Meanwhile I am only picking up about every 10th word. this goes on for about 10 minutes and my he is hot. I am getting little bits of spittle on me and I am not daring to wipe them off. I just stand there and take it until he is done.

His young partner explains to me that I will need to go see the judge to pay the fine and I am thinking here we go now we are getting to the meat of it. However he just keeps saying I will need to pay the fine when the judge is in tomorrow I can pay the fine and get my license back. I ask them if I can pay them and then they can pay the fine for me as I have to go back tomorrow to work. I will always remember the response I got back and in fact it is a very popular phrase in my family now as this adventure involved my wife, my Mom and Dad, and my 2 year old daughter. the cop says something to the effect "No es Mi Problemo" Then turns around and storms back to his car with all my paper work. As he is working on the paper work I am still envisioning what spending the night in a cell will be like. The younger cop starts to feel bad for me and start explaining what is happening in slower spanish that I can understand.

Basically I will need to pay the ticket at the court in order to get back my license and I have 30 days to do so. not only that but anybody can pay the fine they just have to bring the ticket. So what did I do? I sent my wife and my Mom down the next week to pay it for me. Actualy they were going down anyway to buy some tile for the house and they offered. Well after paying at one place bringing the reciept to another and getting the OK at another a lady behind the counter reaches into a drawer and finds my license. The fine was something like $22 bucks

In the states it would have been points on my record and proably a $300 ticket.

Its nice to know that the system can work.

Paulina - 4-27-2009 at 07:26 AM

mooose, that was a good story. Happy for you and your family that it had a good ending.