Buddy of mine got pulled yesterday, he is 56 and rides an SV1000. So he is sitting at a red light, cop coming from the other direction immediately does a U turn and pulls in behind him. The cop tailgates him for about a mile then lights him up. He pulls over, takes helmet off and waits for the cop. The cop is a young guy, very polite, asks for his license, etc. which are produced. He runs the license, everything ok, then notices the expired tag. Starts giving him the "you know I could do you for that tag don't you?" routine. Cop says "so you're just out riding around?" My buddy says "No, I'm a working stiff on my way home." Another exchange of pleasantries then the cop asks again, "So you're out riding around?" Again, "No, I'm coming form work, I'm 5 minutes from home." Another young cop shows up, says hi and then "So you're just out riding around?" Now my friend is starting to get pissed! "Exactly why did you stop me? There's no way you saw my tag coming from the opposite direction!" Turns out they had a report of "a black motorcycle tearing it up in town." So he asks them " What kind of a black bike? Cruiser, crotch rocket, dual purpose? What description for the rider, young, old, full leathers, shorts and T shirt? Are you just stopping every black bike you see?" Cop says "Well, you know I could write you up for that tag, but I'm going to give you a break." Gee thanks for that! I mean, ok the tag was out but he didn't even know that before pulling him over. What do think? Was the cop justified in stopping every black bike in town that day?

 

I think when he saw the age of the rider, he should've let it go - tearing up towns is not normal behaviour for 50-somethings ( I should know) As for the rest, slightly over the top, but then maybe it was a slow day......at least your friend rode away no poorer in pocket.....

 

Sounds like a racial profiling to me! LOL That sucks, all it takes for cops is "probable cause" and that's such a vauge term that it shouldn't be legal. That was beyond unfair in my book, can you imagine how many "Black Bikes" are on the road?Sounds like the 'ol "Your headlight was out" trick, turns out the headlight was fine, but your child support payments weren't being recorded properly and you wind up going to jail for outstanding warrents!

Hasn't happened to me, but you get the idea. So to sum it up, I do not believe that the cop was justified in pulling over your buddy. And even if they do pull over the right guy, what are they going to charge him on? Not like they whitnessed him doing anything wrong...no evidence, no citation.

 

damnit, I guess I better paint my bike a different color.. Yea that is a crap excuse to pull a bike over, maybe he was jelous cause he can't ride or something and wanted to harrass a biker and guess who he happened to see first.

 

I don't see the big deal...

So someone reported a black bike riding irratically. So you're friend on a black bike was pulled over and asked a few times if he was just out cruising around?

Hardly sounds like harrassment. Sounds like they were double checking, your friend proved by keeping a level head that it wasn't him that was involved in the irratic riding, and he went on about his way...

????

I must have missed something.

 

And it's called, "reasonable suspicion." Probable cause will get you arested, suspicion gets you pulled over.

Okay, I'm respectfully walking backwards out of here...

 

Many years ago, there was a drive by shooting done by a red Honda Prelude. My brother and I both had red Honda Preludes. His was a 91 and mine was a 84. The cops were stopping every red Honda Prelude in town and doing a felony stop. I mean, guns out, cuffed, and thrown into the back of a car by by what seemed to be a SWAT team. I got it pretty easy, they determined who I was and that I was legal to be out driving around. Then I was told to... "get the F$@# outa here, just get the F#@% outa here."
My brother on the other had, it was a different story who was under 18 at the time. Him and some buddies were on their way to tepee someone. A cop pulled in behind them and within seconds had 10 cops cars around them which was around 11:30 pm. They too had guns drawn on them, cuffed, and thrown into the back of a car. As the cops were searching his car, they found butt wipe in the trunk. Because the cops found two 24 roll bags of butt wipe in his car, the cops took apart his car and sent dogs through it. Funny part is, the cops kept asking them, "what is with all the toilet paper?" even after my brother and his buddies told them (repeatedly) their plan with it was to tepee someone from their high school. Of course the cops determined that my brother and his buddies didn't do the drive by and said similar things said to them, "just get the F$@% outa here!!" Then to make it look like it was my brother's fault for being out past midnight, they called my parents saying they were doing them a favor by letting them go with just a warning. Turned out the drive by was done by a 94 red Prelude which looks nothing like an 84 or 91 Prelude.

 

I've been pulled over and searched by cops so many times it's not even funny. We got guns pulled on us one time in boston for going down a one way but I wasn't driving. But either way it doesn't take much of anything for a cop to want to search you. My worse was a cop pulled over my buddy for having the sticker on his license plate in the wrong spot. I was on my cell phone, and to be polite I hung up the phone and put it on my lap. The cop asked me why I was fidgeting and I said I wasn't I was on the cell phone and hung up to be corteous, hence the cell phone on my lap. He then decided to pull me out and search me just because he thought I was being suspicious..Lets just say I'm no longer doing anything till a cop tells me to do so

 

^^^Heh, yeah not sure how it is in your state but in Missouri, we have two seperate tags, year and month of expiration. They are both numbered but thieves love them.

I've had my year tags stolen before. And I didn't know it until I was pulled over for it!

It's not everyday you check both front and rear plate and to be honest, that's why a lot of this type of theft continues, simply because it can take so long before you ever notice it's missing.

Someone stole my GF's front plate about a year ago and we didn't even find out until a car was pulled over and her plate recovered, lol. We always pull into the driveway so I guess we noever noticed.

Okay, threadjack over.

The only thing I can really say about the OP is that admittedly the cops were young. That's prolly why they questioned a 50+ year old man about terrorizing the streets, lol. Doesn't make it right, but if want to mold good cops we've just got to be a little patient sometimes and hope they learn to make the distinction between honesty and deceit. Because to be honest, there isn't much was can do if they don't learn these things... well nothing outside of another American Revolution!

Sign me up for that anyday...

 

^ I'm just patientlly waiting [sm=badbadbad.gif]