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So this was another weird spot of it from what my friend said.

Did the cop say 'can you step out of the car please'

or

'step out of the car please'

One is a command and you are required to get out due to 'reasons'. The other is a question just like 'is it ok if I search your vehicle' that you can refuse.

I don't remember if he said 'can you' or basically said get out. All I know is when I told him no thanks, he just stood there like a weirdo for 20 seconds looking at me like he was waiting for the next page of Policing 101 to load.

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No kidding.  OP asked questions.  He answered them.

Then whatever the heck that was at the end.

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Wife and I were traveling back from a weekend getaway in Utah in the same state we live in, so no out of state plates. We have a very nice car and look 'normal', so no weird profiling or anything that screamed drugs or whatever.

I get a notice on our GPS that there was a speed control ahead and check my speed - 5mph over posted limit. We drive another 3-4 minutes and pass the highway patrol marked cop in the center of the road. I didn't think twice about it.

15 seconds later I see him pull out and get in our lane, speed up and turns his lights on. I kind of laughed and told my wife that we're getting a ticket for going 5mph over on the highway. She just shook her head.

Pull over the usual license/registration talk. He asks if I know why I was pulled over and I said that I do not. Mumbles something about 'passing too close to another car' which got a really weird look out of my wife and I because the last car we had passed was well before we had passed the cop car. Totally didn't make sense.

I'm like...umm...ok. Cop stands there and stares at me for like 10/15 seconds as he's standing there with my license and registration in his hand. He then says out of nowhere to 'step out of the car please' and I ask him why, and he repeats it. I tell him I am not interested in stepping outside of my car for a traffic violation let alone one that doesn't make any sense.

He stares at us for another 10/15 seconds and both the wife and I are wondering what in the hell is about to happen. It was like something out of some weird fucking movie where every line had like 20 seconds of nothing between them.

He then turns and walks back to his car without another word. We are both confused as fuck and watch him in the rear view. We're trying to figure out WTF is going on and if 40 other police cars are about to show up for God knows what. It was so weird that my wife found our attorney's number in her phone and was ready to call it.

5 or so minutes later, no additional cop cars and officer shows back up and hands my paperwork back. More silence. He then randomly asks, what we have in our car and what are we hiding?

I don't answer and just wait for whatever comes next. I'm actually annoyed at this point.

He again, stands there for 15 seconds and says absolutely nothing. Then turns, gets in his car, sits in it for a minute and drives away past us.

What in the actual fuck?

The only thing we could think of is that he was on some fishing expedition using some shit he had gotten away with in the past and realized we weren't morons?

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Are you sure it was a real cop?  We've had several cases of fakes pulling people over in the state.

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There are some wiered fuckers out there in the LEO world.

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Talked to an attorney friend after and he said that the cop could have made me get out of the vehicle. He eventually would have had to prove that he felt physically threatened if called out on it. How does that even work? Sounds like a 'I smelled weed' line when there was in fact 0.0 drugs, yet that was the applicable excuse that worked for right then and there.

Friend said that since he didn't even push that issue, nor write a citation for anything at all, tells him this guy was fishing and was pretty awful at it.

Whole interaction was weird. I told my wife while we were waiting on him to come back to agree to nothing, consent to nothing, don't even fucking talk if he talks to you and if we are somehow separated to call the lawyer immediately.

I've been pulled over before and basically just got through the process, took the speeding ticket or whatever and didn't think about it again. But this whole situation was just weird.

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Always ask them, as soon as they come to the window, ''have you been drinking? I smell alcohol on your breath.'' Works great.

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I'm an expert at being pulled over for nothing.  When I was a night club DJ I'd get pulled over almost every weekend being out at 3am on the way home from a gig.  They'd almost always say I didn't use my blinker long enough before I made a turn or a lane change or some nonsense.

Half the time they'd say they smelled weed or something. I'd say no you don't because I don't smoke weed or have any in the car. I'd tell them I don't consent to search and if they want to give me a blinker ticket go ahead.   Have had them give me breathe tests several times declaring my  late blinker use was suspicious or something .
Cops like to profile and fish. It's bullshit. I'd imagine it works getting a bust pretty often violating our rights or they wouldn't do it so often though.

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I don't know I wasn't there. But if I'm asking someone out I'm only asking to be courteous followed by ordering followed by forcing.

I don't know, most likely to compare stories about travel and stop locations between you and the passenger. Ok you are free to do that.

Only need RAS for a stop. But even 1 mph over or literally any other witnessed violation would be PC and pretext stops are a thing. No you don't need to get stopped immediately. You may let a vehicle travel for possibly miles watching for driving conduct after the first indicator or offense.

Yes, he was probably looking for a large amount of drugs or cash.

I have a feeling I could spend an hour explaining case law and interdiction tactics and no response would satisfy you.

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I read Utah, then later swore it said Mormons.

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Did you have a leash tied to your back bumper?

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In VA you are required to go to the furthest lane away from any official or emergency vehicle that might be stopped along the road as well as slow your speed, I think.   I thought this is what he meant by 'passing too close'  Also I keep seeing Broderick Crawford when I think about this scenario.

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I swear to God,  all this talk about dash cameras.

Someone oughta make a dash cam that records the interior of the car and window areas with a mouse-fart microphone right at the drivers window and an instant cloud upload that can't be fucky-fucked with and a monitor on the outside of the driver's door window so the officer is well aware the entire encounter is being uploaded and will continually be recorded if the vehicle is impounded

"Can I search your car?

Why, did you lose something I wouldn't know anything about?"

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FWIW Pennsylvania v Mimms says you need to get out of your rig if ordered to do so...

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Are you sure it was a real cop?  We've had several cases of fakes pulling people over in the state.