I had a last minute meeting come up in Austin this week, and it was too late to get a flight that would get me there on time, so I had to drive. I don't mind the drive to Austin, yeah it's about 5 hours in the car, but for the most part driving relaxes me.
Around 11:00 PM I'm making my way through Brady. There is some road construction going on and the speed limit was dropped in several places. The streets are pretty empty and all of the sudden I get red and blue lights flashing in my rear view mirror.
So, I pull over pretty immediately in an empty parking lot and wait for the officer. The McCulloch County Sheriff Deputy asks me for my License and Insurance and asks if I know why I was pulled over. I say, "No", and he informs me I was going 6 miles over the speed limit. (I later determine this was a lie. On my way back through the next day, I observed that I was doing 36 in a 35 and my law enforcement friends tell me it is highly unusual for a deputy to be running traffic IN the City Limits).
He then asks "Have you been smoking Marijuana?"
What did you just ask me?
"I'm detecting an odor and your eyes look a little glassy, which indicates you may have been smoking Marijuana."
No, I haven't been smoking Marijuana.
"Well, 9 times out of 10 I'm right. Have you ever been arrested or are you on probation?"
No and No.
"I'm still detecting this odor, it could be skunk, did you hit a skunk?"
No, but I passed over three pretty fresh roadkills.
"It could be that, none the less, you just look like you have been smoking Marijuana, and there is this odor, and I'm right 90% of the time, so can I search your vehicle?" "Ohhh, before you answer, since I am detecting an odor and your eyes are glassy, I can search your vehicle anyway."
Sure you can search my vehicle.
"Am I going to find anything? Any weapons or illegal drugs?"
No, No and No.
"Please step out of the vehicle and stand over here, let me pat you down and then can your empty your pockets?"
After seeing what I had on me, the officer proceeds to see my packed duffel bag with slacks, shirts, ties and underwear. My Christian CD collection, client files for the meeting in Austin tomorrow morning, toothpaste and toothbrush in the glove box and a Chick-Fil-A bag and a Whataburger Drink Cup.
About 1/2 through the search he gets the call back from his dispatch after they run my information and then he abruptly stops the search and makes a strange gesture like he's talking to dispatch (though he's not, I can hear the radio in his car)...he then closes up my car doors and states:
"I didn't find anything in what I have searched so far, but I have another call that I have to attend to. Please watch you speed AND, if YOU DID have illegal drugs or have been smoking Marijuana, you have gotten off and you are very lucky."
Thanks for wasting 15 minutes of my time and giving myself and all of my friends a hearty laugh.
Based on previous conversations with my law enforcement friends, most likely they had a tip about some drugs being run through town in a vehicle like mine and they were going to find some way to pull me over no matter what I was doing. Like I said before, it is highly unlikely a Sheriffs Deputy is going to be running traffic in the City Limits of a town with a PD. So I can't fault the deputy for that, but he could have been honest instead of making the snide comment that "I was lucky and he's 90% right." I guess he met his 10%.
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