When police pull you over at night

HEROES' CIRCLE, Kingston – Yes, the story that follows is unremarkable. But then also unremarkable are those police blotters which start with the phrase, 'he opened fire on police', and end with, 'they found him in bushes suffering from gunshot wounds.'

Unless really, really U.P.T., you've probably had at least one run-in with the police: late at night and with them sometimes acting like the gunmen they are supposed to be catching, it can be an unnerving experience. But it is 'normal' and for some police, plainly as normal their daytime police duties.

Photograph: unrelated crime scene

Recently a friend was returning from work downtown just past midnight on a Friday, when he was stopped by police. He drives a fairly beat up car – beat up enough to make him a target for three corrupt cops:

I was on my way home and turning onto Heroes' Circle when a policeman was nice enough to let me by at the intersection. I toot my horn thanking him and went on my way. However when I got to the top of Marescaux Road I looked in my rearview mirror and the policeman was still behind me. Anyway, he turns off his lights and I'm saying to myself, "Hmm that's strange he's turned off his lights." And then he turns on his siren. So I pull over and at this location it's fairly dark because there are no streetlights.

Before I get out of the vehicle I hear police shouting "Get out of the car with your hands up!" and I find this a little strange, this aggression. So I get out of the car with my hands up and there are three policemen all pointing guns at me and they ask if I have any weapons. I reply "No" and then they search me.

Satisfied that I have no weapons they tell me, "Well sir, we stopped you because we noticed you have no rear lights on your car." And I look around the rear and there are no lights, so I reply, "You guys can write me a ticket and I'll get new bulbs." They asked me to go for my papers.

My insurance – funny story – I had a cover note that was expired but I am covered so I called my insurance agent and asked her "Could you please speak to these policeman so that they now I am insured," and she did. Now they begin telling me that they're going to have to lock me up despite my protesting that this is not an arrestable offence, "You can't lock me up." And of course they didn't like the fact that I knew enough about the law to tell them that.

"Well then, you're going to have to do something for yourself. People disappear all the time," replied one of the three.

So at this point I'm concerned and so asked them "What do you mean? I'm a respectable citizen!" But then one replies "No, no, no. We can." By now I realise for definite that this is a threat so I try reasoning that if I 'disappear' then I couldn't be prosecuted and nor would they be getting any money from me.

Anyway, two of them go into a corner to confer with each other while a third still has his gun pointed at me. Now this third one was easily the most aggressive of the three and he begins explaining to me if I could find them some money to buy some drinks but I explained to him that I had no money and I really didn't, I'd already spent off all my money on bills!

So he joins the other two in discussion, obviously quite disappointed and they come back and persist with the line that they would have to lock me up. And I reply, "You cyan lock me up because I'm insured. I'm going to call my lawyer because it's Friday night and I cyan budda with this, 'cos I don't want to be in jail over the weekend."

So I pick up my phone and dial my lawyer. It's at this point they say, "Don't worry mi yout, is okay. We'll check you back tomorrow." They immediately jump into their vehicles and drive off leaving me at this point on a very dark corner alone. Having survived the police I could still easily become a victim of crime because this is not a nice neighbourhood.

I think I got off because they realised where I work and the job I do – maybe, what if I didn't, would I have disappeared?