That Time, For $12.50, Our Car was Towed

Some time ago, we decided to go for a Sunday drive. This was when we still had a car, making those decisions is less last minute and more let’s get a zipcar now, but I digress.

We all piled into our V12 Mercedes and having no real direction we headed up the Palisades Parkway in New Jersey. Merrily driving along, us in the front and the 3 kids lined up in the back. We drove past a parked Palisades police vehicle and thought nothing of it, you know they do love to sit on the side of the road.

Next thing we knew My Lord Dr King said “That cop is following us and wants me to pull over.” Now we’re law abiding citizens, when the cops pull you over during a family Sunday drive, you don’t worry. Maybe we were speeding, we all had our belts on so it wasn’t that. The kids weren’t in boosters but I doubt that was it , they were pretty big for their ages and the seatbelt fit them fine (oh don’t go all spare about the age limit and blah blah they didn’t have them. The End) We have different rules in Australia and no one told us the US laws until much later; anyway.

Mr Palisades Wannabe (because they’re only glorified traffic cops) saunters up to the window and begins to speak with My Lord Dr King, but we wasn’t nice from the get go, we’ll never know why, maybe he had a fight with his wife, maybe something else but he was an asshole. Pure and simple.

Apparently, our vehicle was unregistered. Now long story short, we ‘bought’ it from a friend but had yet to change over all the insurance/registration and our friend would just give us the paperwork when it was due. I guess that bill slipped through.

No big deal. So it was out of registration, and for the princely sum of $12.50 we would have to pay to reregister it, we figured he’d advise us and send us on our way. Giving 48 hours to produce papers at the local precinct etc. and probably a fine.

Ah NO! Mr. Asshole decided that the BEST course of action on this busy Sunday on the Palisades Parkway for a family with children, 4,7 and 19 was to have our car towed.

My Lord Dr King got a little angry at this. And because the officer said we would have to be split up (we couldn’t all fit in his squad car) My Lord Dr King got animated, really animated and started to stand up for our rights, saying you’re not splitting my family up. This got Mr. Asshole very angry and fearful I guess, because he called for back up and no less that 3 cars arrived with 6 officers! WHAT THE FUCK?

They made us get out of our car and stand on the side of the road with the children…. because that’s safer than driving an unregistered car, while the tow truck loaded it onto the flatbed and took it away and 7 officers chatted on the side of the road, deciding what to do with us.

I was totally shocked! How is this the best solution? So after some more arguing we were separated, myself, Miss Gremlin, who was freaking out by this time, and Grand Master D in the asshole officer’s car and My Lord Dr King and the Princess both in another vehicle.

They took us along the Palisades with lights flashing, again WTF? to the next town and dumped us, at a diner in the heart of Jersey!

We had no clue where we even were!

We eventually figured it out and caught a bus back to the city but here’s the thing….

What was he thinking? Traumatizing small children and making them fear the police for something like this! Ok, our car was out or registration BUT it was roadworthy and we could have paid it online or over the phone then and there!  Worst case My Lord Dr King could have had to make a trip to the police station to show the paper work on Monday. It certainly wasn’t a tow away situation. Why would you unload a family and make them stand on the side of the freeway for almost an hour with two small children? How is that safe?

The next week, when My Lord D King had to go to the courthouse and stand before the judge and show the papers etc, he complained about our treatment, expressing that our children were very upset by this and that this had taught them NOT to feel safe around the police and how unnecessary it all was. The judge agreed and said Mr Asshole had done the wrong thing. The officer, present in the courtroom, was livid!

The moral?

Miss Gremlin (4 at the time) called him the no girlfriend, butt-hole policeman, and we totally agreed with her. Grand Master D was upset too. they still talk about this…

My Lord Dr King and the Princess naturally took photos from the back of their cop car, while I tried not to freak the fuck out with two little kids by myself in the back of the other.

Not long after that we heard that this is a common thing on the Palisades, asshole wannabe pretend cops do stuff like this all the time, trying to feel big!

To this day, we avoid the Palisades Parkway, New Jersey whenever we can….

Have you had a ridiculous thing like this happen to you?