Raziaar
I Hate Custom Titles
- Joined
- Sep 13, 2003
- Messages
- 29,770
- Reaction score
- 140
So here we were. Our vacation was coming to an end, and we were up the last morning of our slated visit in california. We drove the huge distance from Dallas Texas, to Long Beach California, crammed into a rather large van, that seated 15 people. We took a seat out, which made the total available room for 12 people, of which we had 10 passengers. My Uncle, his wife, their 4 sons. My dad, his girlfriend, my brother and me. The rest of the space was crammed with clothes bags, personal items and the like. The vacation was a success, and rather fun despite spending christmas on the road. We had a chance to visit family, that some of us haven't seen in over half a decade.
So on this last morning, we were all up at my aunt's house, who was actually away staying at my Uncle's house in Texas for the holiday. Her son, my cousin was up all night with my other cousins and my brother playing video games. Since they had no intentions of driving(unlike me), they made the decision to exhaust themselves and sleep much of the trip away. Packing was pretty slow as usual for any large group in our family, with procrastination and the like. So we were loading up the van, and spirits were tired but optimistic about the drive home. A light, drizzling rain that showed no sign of letting up, sprinkled down on everything from above.
Everybody was in, waiting for my dad and his girlfriend to get in. I looked straight ahead and to the left from my position directly behind the drivers seat, and saw a police cruiser slowly turning onto the street from the intersection, and they slowly... slowly drove down and turned right into the parking lot of the adjacent bank. Relatively uninterested, I ignored him and turned my head. Until I noticed a second police cruiser do the same thing, and pull into the bank's parking lot. Now more curious than ever, I watched and my other cousins noticed them as well. Ultimately, we saw a few more cruisers do the same, patrolling the street we were on, as well as an SUV cruiser which eventually found its position pulled up behind us.
Confused and intrigued, we just waited to see what was going on, as well as waited for my dad and his girlfriend to come downstairs after locking up the apartment. When they finally did, everybody got buckled, situated... with extra emphasis on being buckled, as there were alot of police present. My uncle, being the current driver for the moment on our way to our grandpa's house, waited a bit longer to see if anything was going to happen before we left. Nothing did, and he started up the car, pulling forward out of the parking spot on the right side of the road.
Immediately, the lights and sirens of seven police cruisers, including an SUV, lit up the street. The red and blue lights reflected off the buildings, and refracted in the drizzling rain. Showing his disbelief and shock, as well as a growing sense of realization of what he knew, my uncle pulled over the car and waited. We were talking and joking previously, that they were after us, especially since the SUV was double parked behind us in the street. However, now we knew they were definitely waiting for us.
Car doors from the just over half dozen police vehicles opened, and out stepped a small army of police officers, most of whom were pointing pistols and shotguns at the van. Our rented van from Texas that we used to transport all of us to California. Over the loudspeaker, came the voice of a female officer, who instructed the driver, my uncle, to exit the vehicle and walk towards the police officers with his hands up in the air. He did so, uttering a curse or two before he did. They proceeded to do the same with everybody in the car. Next with my aunt in the shotgun side seat, ordered to exit through the driver's door and walk towards the cruisers. Followed by my dad, then me, etcetera. There were only eight of us in the vehicle at the time, with two of my cousins staying at my grandpa's/other aunt's house for the night.
Everybody was standing in the drizzling rain, guns pointed at us as we exited the vehicle. I took my position beside the passenger side door of the cruiser, and put my hands on the hood of the car as instructed by the female officer. She was pretty cute actually, save for the gun aimed in my relative direction. Once everybody was out of the vehicle with much checking, the police started interrogating us, asking questions of who we were, why we were here. We told them simply, we were a family on vacation in California, coming all the way from Texas. Today was our last day in California, and we were gearing up to leave the state after picking up the last two boys from my grandpa's place.
They must have asked a million questions, before they told us the reason they were doing this, was because they got a report from somebody that they have seen a man brandishing a shotgun, entering the vehicle and storing the weapon. Well, the truth is, we had a weapon in the van... but it wasn't a shotgun. It was a civil war era Sharps military rifle. They asked us where it was, and removed it from the vehicle, with two officers examining it, one pointing it up at the sky and trying to 'break' it open. It wasn't a break-open shotgun, and we told them as much.
They continued to examine it, and they told us that we no longer had to keep our hands on the hood. We could stand around casually as they officers examined the vehicle, and the rifle. My dad took up a conversation with several of the police officers, whom one was apparently from our part of texas, funnily enough. Another one, when we mentioned the rifle was from South Dakota(Custer), said that she was born in South Dakota. The mood was improving a bit, except for the fact that we were becoming increasingly wet, standing in the drizzling rain. Apparently we had it easy though, because normal procedure calls for them to either handcuff us and put us in the back seats of the cruisers, or make us lay spread eagle on the wet, dirty grass.
More questioning ensued, and the majority of us were allowed back in the vehicle. Everybody but my dad and my uncle, who were still being questioned. An officer came over to the side door, and asked us if there was any ammunition in the vehicle. Jokingly, I told her that you'd have to get some from a museum if you had any intention of loading the rifle, as they didn't make them anymore. She left, and came back... and informed us that in the spirit of the holiday season, and for the fact that we obviously appeared that we weren't up to anything bad, they'd let us keep the family heirloom rifle in the vehicle. The alternative, was to confiscate it, and it would be a royal pain in the ass trying to retrieve it again.
Somebody had alerted the police, of suspicious behavior. They had seen my dad carrying the rifle. He was carrying a cooler, with the rifle against his side, barrel pointed up at the sky and partially concealed in his jacket to protect from the weather, and to prevent unwanted attention. Well, we got unwanted attention. Normally, this would be a fantastic thing, people keeping their eyes peeled for criminals. Apparently they saw us with a weapon near the bank, and alerted the police with the impression that we might be a group of bank robbers.
Ultimately, they let us go, with the family heirloom still with us for transportation to Texas(It's not a confederate rifle, we just happen to live in Texas). As we started up the car and left, much talking ensued about the situation... and we noticed three police cruisers were following us. We thought we were going to be escorted to our destination of our grandpa's house, but they turned to the left lane towards the police station.
All in all... it was one CRAZY New Years Eve. The rest of the day was uneventful, with us leaving California for the long drive back to Texas. Quite a memory though, first time i've ever had guns pointed at me, by such an army of police officers. Oh... and you know one really odd thing? The officers didn't ask ANYBODY for a drivers license through the entire ordeal. Not a single one of us. How odd is that?
EDIT: I realize that was one long as hell post, but its much better for me to describe in detail, than a short, "We got pulled over by a score of police officers brandishing weapons, lol"
So on this last morning, we were all up at my aunt's house, who was actually away staying at my Uncle's house in Texas for the holiday. Her son, my cousin was up all night with my other cousins and my brother playing video games. Since they had no intentions of driving(unlike me), they made the decision to exhaust themselves and sleep much of the trip away. Packing was pretty slow as usual for any large group in our family, with procrastination and the like. So we were loading up the van, and spirits were tired but optimistic about the drive home. A light, drizzling rain that showed no sign of letting up, sprinkled down on everything from above.
Everybody was in, waiting for my dad and his girlfriend to get in. I looked straight ahead and to the left from my position directly behind the drivers seat, and saw a police cruiser slowly turning onto the street from the intersection, and they slowly... slowly drove down and turned right into the parking lot of the adjacent bank. Relatively uninterested, I ignored him and turned my head. Until I noticed a second police cruiser do the same thing, and pull into the bank's parking lot. Now more curious than ever, I watched and my other cousins noticed them as well. Ultimately, we saw a few more cruisers do the same, patrolling the street we were on, as well as an SUV cruiser which eventually found its position pulled up behind us.
Confused and intrigued, we just waited to see what was going on, as well as waited for my dad and his girlfriend to come downstairs after locking up the apartment. When they finally did, everybody got buckled, situated... with extra emphasis on being buckled, as there were alot of police present. My uncle, being the current driver for the moment on our way to our grandpa's house, waited a bit longer to see if anything was going to happen before we left. Nothing did, and he started up the car, pulling forward out of the parking spot on the right side of the road.
Immediately, the lights and sirens of seven police cruisers, including an SUV, lit up the street. The red and blue lights reflected off the buildings, and refracted in the drizzling rain. Showing his disbelief and shock, as well as a growing sense of realization of what he knew, my uncle pulled over the car and waited. We were talking and joking previously, that they were after us, especially since the SUV was double parked behind us in the street. However, now we knew they were definitely waiting for us.
Car doors from the just over half dozen police vehicles opened, and out stepped a small army of police officers, most of whom were pointing pistols and shotguns at the van. Our rented van from Texas that we used to transport all of us to California. Over the loudspeaker, came the voice of a female officer, who instructed the driver, my uncle, to exit the vehicle and walk towards the police officers with his hands up in the air. He did so, uttering a curse or two before he did. They proceeded to do the same with everybody in the car. Next with my aunt in the shotgun side seat, ordered to exit through the driver's door and walk towards the cruisers. Followed by my dad, then me, etcetera. There were only eight of us in the vehicle at the time, with two of my cousins staying at my grandpa's/other aunt's house for the night.
Everybody was standing in the drizzling rain, guns pointed at us as we exited the vehicle. I took my position beside the passenger side door of the cruiser, and put my hands on the hood of the car as instructed by the female officer. She was pretty cute actually, save for the gun aimed in my relative direction. Once everybody was out of the vehicle with much checking, the police started interrogating us, asking questions of who we were, why we were here. We told them simply, we were a family on vacation in California, coming all the way from Texas. Today was our last day in California, and we were gearing up to leave the state after picking up the last two boys from my grandpa's place.
They must have asked a million questions, before they told us the reason they were doing this, was because they got a report from somebody that they have seen a man brandishing a shotgun, entering the vehicle and storing the weapon. Well, the truth is, we had a weapon in the van... but it wasn't a shotgun. It was a civil war era Sharps military rifle. They asked us where it was, and removed it from the vehicle, with two officers examining it, one pointing it up at the sky and trying to 'break' it open. It wasn't a break-open shotgun, and we told them as much.
They continued to examine it, and they told us that we no longer had to keep our hands on the hood. We could stand around casually as they officers examined the vehicle, and the rifle. My dad took up a conversation with several of the police officers, whom one was apparently from our part of texas, funnily enough. Another one, when we mentioned the rifle was from South Dakota(Custer), said that she was born in South Dakota. The mood was improving a bit, except for the fact that we were becoming increasingly wet, standing in the drizzling rain. Apparently we had it easy though, because normal procedure calls for them to either handcuff us and put us in the back seats of the cruisers, or make us lay spread eagle on the wet, dirty grass.
More questioning ensued, and the majority of us were allowed back in the vehicle. Everybody but my dad and my uncle, who were still being questioned. An officer came over to the side door, and asked us if there was any ammunition in the vehicle. Jokingly, I told her that you'd have to get some from a museum if you had any intention of loading the rifle, as they didn't make them anymore. She left, and came back... and informed us that in the spirit of the holiday season, and for the fact that we obviously appeared that we weren't up to anything bad, they'd let us keep the family heirloom rifle in the vehicle. The alternative, was to confiscate it, and it would be a royal pain in the ass trying to retrieve it again.
Somebody had alerted the police, of suspicious behavior. They had seen my dad carrying the rifle. He was carrying a cooler, with the rifle against his side, barrel pointed up at the sky and partially concealed in his jacket to protect from the weather, and to prevent unwanted attention. Well, we got unwanted attention. Normally, this would be a fantastic thing, people keeping their eyes peeled for criminals. Apparently they saw us with a weapon near the bank, and alerted the police with the impression that we might be a group of bank robbers.
Ultimately, they let us go, with the family heirloom still with us for transportation to Texas(It's not a confederate rifle, we just happen to live in Texas). As we started up the car and left, much talking ensued about the situation... and we noticed three police cruisers were following us. We thought we were going to be escorted to our destination of our grandpa's house, but they turned to the left lane towards the police station.
All in all... it was one CRAZY New Years Eve. The rest of the day was uneventful, with us leaving California for the long drive back to Texas. Quite a memory though, first time i've ever had guns pointed at me, by such an army of police officers. Oh... and you know one really odd thing? The officers didn't ask ANYBODY for a drivers license through the entire ordeal. Not a single one of us. How odd is that?
EDIT: I realize that was one long as hell post, but its much better for me to describe in detail, than a short, "We got pulled over by a score of police officers brandishing weapons, lol"
Sounds awesome
