|
That's unfortunate. I guess that sort of thing will happen anywhere police are nervous about illegal or dangerous activity. Probably all the more with someone parked near a federal building in DC in this current climate, using what looks like a communication device. They probably thought he was potentially the mastermind of some terror plot, and coordinating it with the PSP! And I suppose they will get all the more nervous when they see something they just don't understand or looks like it doesn't fit.
When I was in high school and grew my first (very scraggly) beard, I was driving next to a lake in my mom's car. I was stopped for a violation. The policeman was questioning me about stuff and said something about a problem with my front license plate. When he asked for license and registration, I started to reach for the glove compartment, he stopped me in the fear I was reaching for a gun. He asked me if that was pot in the middle console between the seats. (It was some cracker crumbs my mom had left, and had not cleaned out yet!) I finally insisted that I wanted to see the problem, and he walked to the front of the car with me and said something like "Huh, seems to look alright from close up." And then he let me go!
But I really attribute it to the fact that they had been having a problem with drug dealers in the area, and the fact that I looked pretty shady with that beard. Before I grew the beard, people would trust me for anything, and watchmen would let me into buildings, etc. etc. After the beard, people would look suspiciously at me for the simplest things. I'm sure the cops were just trying to protect the area from problems, and as long as they didn't waste too much of my time, lock me up or beat me up, I guess that's not a huge inconvenience. It's just too bad it's so hard to tell the bad guys from the innocent.
But it didn't take long for me to ditch the beard!
|