A reader sent us a tip last week detailing a strange incident at exit 148 of the Garden State Parkway. A state patrolmen pulled him over, berated him, then after about five minutes let him go. And apparently he’d been doing the same to a long row of cars.
A spokesman for the state police in Trenton had no comment, and said that the tipster could file a complaint. But read the story and tell us if you were in that line of cars at exit 148 last Tuesday night, or have had any strange encounters with cops lately.
did any other barista-folk experience a bit of strange behavior at exit 148 last night? it was just after 11 pm and the right northbound lanes had been closed in the 1/2 mile before the exit. as I approached the exit I was carefully watching for an opening in the cones to allow exiting. as the exit neared things became a little touchy. the two through lanes were stopped, so there was a flurry of breaklights and nervous glances in the rear view mirror for any unwary drivers. I saw a break in the line of cones and a dozen or so cars already were taking the exit and were also stopped. I was relieved to pull off of the through lanes and took my place in line and waited for traffic to creep forward. after a few minutes the trough lanes opened up and I noticed a police car flasher up ahead. the exit lanes were not moving so I concluded that perhaps there was an accident ahead. while we barely crept forward, a number of cars decided to pull back out into traffic and there were numerous close calls. then I saw a state trooper pointing his flashlight into a car that was waiting in line in front of me. a DUI stop?
each car that rolled up to him spent easily 4 or 5 minutes there before he waved them on. I rolled my window down and pulled up to the trooper and asked what was up. he then demanded to know why I was driving in the “closed lane.” surprised by the question, I replied that I saw the opening in the cones and pulled into line behind the dozen or so cars already “exiting.” his reply was “that’s a STUPID answer.” he then repeated the question and I once again tried to explain in the calmest voice I could conjure how the lane I was appeared to be the exit lane, noting that I followed the line of traffic. he then asked me would I follow them if they drove off the overpass or maybe if they ran him over?
um, ok… this is getting very sophomoric. but I reminded myself that this was an armed public servant and I maintained my cool. he repeated told me that my answers and my behavior was stupid and asked me if he should fine me a $1000 and give me 5 points and take away my license. I repeated my explanation which triggered more insults. after a couple minutes I had nothing to add. so I waited, staring into where he eyes would be (I was blinded by the flashlight). we then had a full minute staring contest. he said nothing till I eventually asked where we were on this and he again said maybe he should fine me a $1000 etc.
I started looking at his uniform and it was indeed looked like a state trooper shirt etc, though I couldn’t get a line on his car which was pulled off further down the road. at the point when I began to wonder if I should ask for his ID. but before I could decide, he waved me on after what was a full 5 minute cycle of questions and insults. he then waved the traffic forward, I assume, to inflict the same ugliness on the next car.
as I drove away I wondered if he was rogue or perhaps even an impostor. he never asked for my license, registration or insurance ID. something was plain wrong with this traffic stop. although I considered called the trooper barracks and asking what was up, I decided he might well be legit. considering his plainly expressed anger, he might be someone to hold a grudge.
Photo, via Flickr, by Roadgeek Adam.
I’ve had a few strange police experiences at the essex toll but nothing like this tale. The last thing I had happen was a scruffy looking man standing behind the toll booth as I approached. He was shifting his eyes, turned away from me and just looked out of place. He was not in any type of uniform. My reaction thought was call the cops, but being alone I felt it was safer to get out of there.
Being girl driving alone I quickly threw my then 70 cents not waiting for the toll paid sign.
Weeks later I got a ticket with a letter explaining that an officer observed me running the toll. I guess my full stop was part of the running. I guess the homeless look was a disguise. Since it would have cost me more to miss work then to pay the toll I paid it, but I really feel like it was a set up. No one in their right mind would linger in that situation.
Other times there has been a uniformed officer standing behind the toll booths who would pull you over to check on registration or seat belts, but they were visible, uniformed and acted like an officer, not like he was going to panhandle at the tolls.
This past March I saw two cars on GSP South get into some serious ‘road rage’. I was trying to exit onto Route 78 when one car intentionally crashed his car into the other, trying to cause an accident. Amazingly both cars kept control and roared off, one after the other, down GSP south.
Wow, Mellon, that’s pretty scary.
Years ago, my mom was driving on GSP North (approaching exit 148) when she was “nosed” by another car, causing her to spin 180 in the middle lane. Thankfully, traffic was light and she was able to walk away unharmed. The other driver sped off before she could read the plates.
yikes. road rage – there’s far too much of this on the highways anymore. I routinely encounter people who speed up in the right lane when people try to merge from a ramp.
I imagine the cop in the article may have just managed to almost get himself run over – it was a particularly confusing traffic pattern last week – which would have explained his heightened sense of drama. most officers I’ve encountered have been nothing but professional. occassionally you do cross paths with a hot head. but its especially scary to come across a cop who appears to have let his/her emotions get the best of them.
A long, rambling recitative from the tipster, yet nowhere in it does he/she indicate that he/she obtained at least the name or badge number of the “offending” officer. And towards the end the tipster doesn’t even sound sure the trooper was truly in uniform.
You’ve really got to give the NJSP’s Internal Affairs Division more than that kind of scrambled-sounding story to work with.
Actually if Cathar had read with more accuracy and inspection, he would have found the reason the tipster didn’t get the I.D. badge and info. One must realize that blowhards and fake macho right wing stuffshirts like Cathar would be the first to start shaking and crying if this happened to them.
true dat, dakat. a few minutes of flashlight in your eyes does wonders for night vision. but I think we all can be blinded by the expectation that things are as they should be.
Now why, DaKat, do I seem to recognize your, uh, distinctive “voice” here? Why, you couldn’t be a/k/a SleepySleek, could you? In which case, it’s time to give up dwelling on the alleged glories of Kindherhook Creek. (I saw them once. A bar band, that’s all. One of hundreds or maybe thousands lurching through Jersey at any one time.))
Either way, however, that you take such nonsense as this “report” by a tipster even half-seriously does you little intellectual or even emotional credit.
Interesting…I tell my 8-year-old everyday that after a period and at the begining of a sentence, he must use UPPER CASE….I thought that this was a 3rd grade problem….
e.e. cummings kinda ruined the whole punctuation, capitalization thing-a-ma-bobbie for me.
The ‘staties’ used to man the old toll plaza near exit 150 on GSP north. As you stopped to pay your toll in the exact change lanes(pre-ezepass days) one would step out from behind the stanchion and hit you hard with the flashlight while inspecting you and your car for any signs of alcohol consumption. It was very scary – these guys are all business and should a malefactor decide to try and flee apprehension there was a phalanx of ready cruisers sitting ‘stand-by’ on the should ready to give chase. Whoa baby!
I saw a similar line & inexplicable traffic stop at the end of an exit ramp from Rt. 17 the other night, as I was heading in the opposite direction. They were situated so that you couldn’t see them from the highway & would run smack into them at the end of the ramp.
I don’t know if they were running the same sort of harrassment routine, but they had the traffic cones, a long line of cars stopped & one cop running the same flashlight-in-face routine. There was a smaller line of cars off at the curb, inside the cones, whose drivers were apparently being written up for some infraction by other officers.
I took care to bypass that exit on my way back so I never found out what it was all about, but it sure looked annoying.
Troopers have always been like that. Years ago I got cursed out by some d*uchebag trooper around 148. Who knows, maybe he’s the same guy.
Take the his number and file a complaint.
It is long over due to reduce police powers and put them in the box.
Also, we should increase the number of female officers to or above 50%. That should have a civilizing effect.
I don’t understand the logic of writing a 5 paragraph account to Baristanet but not taking the time to call the Barracks and file a complaint with this guy’s sergeant.
Even if the tipster couldn’t read his shirt, he couldn’t have tried to read the unit number off the patrol car?
dx, with the cruiser and badge number out of visual, it sounds like the only way to ID the cop was to confront him. considering how confrontational the cop was before walking up to the car, this might not have been a wise choice. I’d have hesitated calling the barracks and leaving caller ID info. true the cop might have just been having a really bad day. or he might have turned out to be a walking timebomb waiting for something else to set him off. come to think of it, posting about him on a popular local blog might really get him stoked.
One must realize that blowhards and fake macho right wing stuffshirts like Cathar would be the first to start shaking and crying if this happened to them.
Such eloquence. To find it normally one would have to go to an elementary school playground, or perhaps a reform school.
follow up: thanks to debbie and co for publishing. looks like posting on our BN has some effect afterall. unlike recent weeks, the line of cones this week now includes a sign that warns : exit in 500 feet. and another with arrow at exit. the lack of these last week led to 2 dozen + drivers acting “stupid!” by taking the “wrong” exit.
Crank, that might have been a seatbelt compliance checkpoint. Cops all over have been doing these in conjunction with the “Click It or Ticket” campaign. Nutley had one last evening on Park Ave. Everyone had to slowdown for the cop standing in the middle of the road who waved you on when he saw you were belted in.