Facebook post Sat. 5.19.18
Ok, final post of today. We just experienced another "oh my god, we are totally losing our freedoms in America" moment... again.
We are at a park and had a late lunch/early dinner picnic of sorts. After we finished, I came to the car and got a cigarette. There was a police car about three cars behind us whom we had seen pull someone over for some traffic violation. Well apparently him & his partner wanted to get the goods on David & I as well.
According to them, and I quote "We just want to show our boss that we're, you know, doing what we're supposed to be doing and staying busy and staying alert with what's going on". Then some supposed small talk ensued- what we were doing, how our day was, etc. Then they got to what our names were, were we from around here, etc. They asked for our IDs, and even though we were under no obligation whatsoever to even give them our names, let alone our IDs, I opened up the car door & opened my purse to pull out my wallet. I could see one of the two peering over my shoulder to see if he could see anything 'in plain sight' to necessitate 'a reasonable search'. He then repeated the action when I pulled David's wallet out of the center console. Our 'smalltalk' quickly ground to a halt as Snoopy Cop #1 called our names in on a warrant check, and Snoopy Cop #2 continued to barrage David with questions about his military service (?), like David was making it up or something! Unbelievable! They hadn't heard a thing I had said about our picnic, our day, nothing.
Well... since I knew for a fact that there was nothing in the car that was illegal, and since I knew for a fact that neither of us had a warrant out for our arrest, we obliged... simply to get it done and get the hell out of there. Pretty much just to make things easy on ourselves. We could have easily & lawfully said "no", but you do that and you're setting yourself up to be a target real quick. This is not the first time, nor do I doubt it will be the last time, we've had the police request our IDs for nothing more than walking on a sidewalk- dead sober, dead straight.
We don't drive a beater. We have a Ford Expedition Eddie Bauer Edition, always meticulously clean, no squealing brakes, no loud motor, nothing like that at all.
What has happened in America that has made innocent people afraid of the police to the point where we will obligingly give up our freedoms for fear of retaliation? Is being Street Smart equal to looking like a criminal? There were many other people in the park other than David and I & the car who had been pulled over prior. Nobody else was spoken to. After our interaction with the popo, they got in their car and left. Why were we targeted? Are we doppelgangers of some modern day Bonnie and Clyde of whom we are unaware of?
This is a weak analogy, yet I'll make it. I've been accused by people of some CRAZY things of which I have not done. When this has happened, my response is always the same. I've done many really crazy things in reality- why didn't you just pick one of those, instead of making something up? It's the same thing as being looked at as being guilty when you're dead innocent. If I WERE guilty of something, I'd take it. But I'm not.
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