The job of a police officer can be dangerous.
It can also be really entertaining (or annoying, take your pick) and you quickly become accustomed to all kinds of excuses you may hear from members of the general public when they're caught doing something they shouldn't be doing.
Redditor cub_trent asked today's burning question: "Cops of Reddit, what is some of the weirdest/best excuses you've gotten from people you pulled over for speeding?"
Here are some stories from cops and members of their communities. People are really... creative. We'll leave it at that.
"My dad was a cop."
My dad was a cop. He told me how he pulled over an old man for speeding and the gramp was yelling "you pulled me over because you KNOW I have biscuits in the oven at home and they are BURNING now because of you!"
"She jumped out of her car..."
My dad, who is now retired, pulled over a young woman for speeding and he said as soon as he got up to her window, she said "F*ck, I am so sorry!" She jumped out of her car and booked it to the side of the road while pulling down her pants and sh!t just exploded out of her. My dad then proceeded to nope the f--- out without even giving her a verbal warning. I used his story in a college essay about how to avoid getting tickets. Thanks for the 4.0, dad.
"I was a cop for several years..."
I was a cop for several years in a rough city and eventually grew to dislike it.
The weirdest excuse for a excessive speed violation on a traffic stop was given by a younger, blonde, attractive female, in a convertible, who said in reply to the "Why are you going 55mph in a 20mph school zone?" question was "My belt pinched me." At this point she grabbed her tiny belt buckle at the top of an ultra short mini-skirt and brought her knees up to each side of the steering wheel. I got the view she intended on me getting.
I was in my early 20's and for some reason I didn't have the response you would think a guy my age would. It somewhat felt insulting. I returned to my car, wrote her a ticket (as I would have anyone for that much over the limit), and then wrote her actions on the back of the ticket for the judge to review. Once she realized she was getting a ticket her entire demeanor changed. She instantly became irate, snatched the ticket out of my hand, slung my pen back, and drove away once released. That reaffirmed I made the right decision in writing the ticket.
"The officer who had been at the game..."
Just finished officiating a small town high school basketball game. It was a rivalry game that while the outcome was never in question got pretty heated between the two teams. Home team won but the home coach also received a technical late in the game. On the way out of town with my co official I got up to highway speeds prior to the city limit sign which was way out of the town surrounded by fields.
The officer who had been at the game looks at us and say "Y'all were the refs at the game tonight. I can understand why you would be in a hurry to get out of this town tonight." Then just walked back to his car. Not even a written warning.
"Officer!"
"officer! I'm driving my wife to hospital, she's in labor!"
-" sir, you're alone in the car..."
"sh*t."
"I don't work much speed enforcement..."
GiphyI don't work much speed enforcement but here are a couple off the top of my head.
I stopped a lady who said she was going to church and really needed to use the restroom, and insinuating that she had diarrhea. I checked the address on her license and realized she had just driven out of her neighborhood.
I stopped another lady for doing 20+ over in a near blizzard. She told me she was driving back to town from the nearest big city (4 hours away) with a carload of kosher food for the upcoming Jewish holiday and she needed to get it back before it spoiled.
Most people don't have very good excuses and try to gross me out by saying they have to poop or have lady issues. I'm not easily deterred.
"My mom got stopped once coming home from the grocery store."
My mom got stopped once coming home from the grocery store. We were buying food and drink for my upcoming graduation party. We were going 55 in a 35. The cop says to my mom "if you can give me an excuse I've never heard before I'll let you go"
My mom sighs and says "I dont have one, I was just asking her(me) if she thinks we have enough soda for her graduation party" The cop looks in my moms back seat to see 15(i think) cubes of soda and exclaims "holy soda! Ok that's one I've never heard... you're free to go."
"Pulled over a lady speeding..."
Pulled over a lady speeding in a school zone during the time when busses and kids were arriving in the morning. The first thing she said to me was: "Do you know how hard it is to drive with no hands?"
"He mostly had horrific stories..."
My ex husband was a Sgt on the local police force. He mostly had horrific stories, but once he pulled over a woman and she just had this look of desperation about her. She said she had to go to the bathroom but he was like, "yeah don't we all". Well while he was back in his car, running her through ncic and whatnot, he saw her jump out of her van, run around to the big door, and jump inside. He got out to check what was going on and caught her pooping into a box in her van. She had irritable bowel syndrome, or something similar. She got away without even a warning.
I used to ride with him a lot and once he pulled over a young man who was not driving straight. Of course he thought the kid was drunk but it turns out he had a lazy eye and had not yet mastered driving a straight line when his eyeball wandered.
"When I was a Texas State Trooper..."
When I was a Texas State Trooper had this little story happen to me. Stopped a car, don't remember exactly why, probably for speeding in the middle of the night probably 10 miles from town. As I was approaching the car a truck driving by blew a tire. Now I know a tire doesn't sound exactly like a gun shot but its close and loud. On instinct I draw my sidearm and take cover behind the rear of the vehicle. About the time I get into cover what I really heard clicked, felt dumb holstered my sidearm and approached the vehicle. Talked with the driver, he told me that when the tire blew he thought I shot at him too for just a split second. We decided to go our separate ways with our funny story.
"I was pulled over..."
I was pulled over by a state trooper. I told the cop about the 10% rule, where drivers are allowed a 10% buffer over the posted speed limit because of possible technical errors in the speedometer. I was let off with a warning.
"Driver asked why..."
GiphyFriend of the family is a cop and had this story (not sure if it is true or not, but still pretty funny)
4 cars all going the same speed (well over the speed limit) in the passing lane. Cop pulls one of them over and gives him a ticket for speeding.
Driver asked why he didn't pull the other 3 cars over and cop asked him if he likes to fish?
Driver said "Yeah"
Cop responded "ever catch ALL the fish?"
Driver just said "Fair enough" took the ticket and went on his way.
"It was late..."
It was late, around midnight and I was getting off of work. No one was on the highway, so I decided to gun it.
Got pulled over doing "well over 105mph". He asked what was the rush and I told him I was on my period and just wanted to get home and cleaned.
He let me off without a written warning. That's like a $400 ticket.
"A social worker I knew..."
A social worker I knew told me about how she was late to testify against an abusive father. Gets pulled over, tells the cop that if she misses court, the abusive dad walks. Got a police escort the rest of the way.
"And she did."
"I gotta pee! I gotta pee! I gotta peeeeeeeeeeee!" And she did. She was so distraught, I felt bad. But hey she got a pass for doing 80 in a 25.
"I'm a French cop..."
I'm a French cop, I caught a Belgian once who said she was going too fast because of our nice roads. She said in Belgium she drives slowly as there are holes in the concrete.
"Not an officer anymore..."
Not an officer anymore (changed careers to IT because I'm a huge nerd), but I once let a guy go for speeding 53MPH in a 35MPH zone because he had a S.T.A.R.S. emblem on the back windshield. I think I said something to the effect of "I can't, in good conscience, write a ticket to a fellow Resident Evil fan." and sent him on his way.
The look on his face was priceless.
"I got pulled over..."
I got pulled over for speeding on the way to my own wedding. I know that I must have looked and sounded pretty frantic, because when I explained, he just said "Go! Go! Just try to slow down!"
"I once rolled a stop sign..."
I once rolled a stop sign right in front of a police station. Halfway through the intersection my brain caught up with me and realized what I'd done. Of course a cop was there and I saw the lights go on.
Pull over and just say, no excuse officer, just got out of a basketball game and I didn't see the stop sign. Sorry.
She let me off with a warning, I had resigned that I was going to get a ticket but sometimes the truth works.
"My friend and I..."
My friend and I were coming back from a concert and we got stopped just before the highway. Cop said my friend was doing 53 in a 35. Then he mentioned the "my son is in the navy" sticker my friend had(he was driving his mom's car). He proceeded to rant about how our president doesn't care about the military. We didn't get a ticket.
Experiencing death is a fascinating and frightening idea.
Who doesn't want to know what is waiting for us on the other side?
But so many of us want to know and then come back and live a little longer.
It would be so great to be sure there is something else.
But the whole dying part is not that great, so we'll have to rely on other people's accounts.
Redditor AlaskaStiletto wanted to hear from everyone who has returned to life, so they asked:
"Redditors who have 'died' and come back to life, what did you see?"
Sensations
Happy Good Vibes GIF by Major League SoccerGiphy"My dad's heart stopped when he had a heart attack and he had to be brought back to life. He kept the paper copy of the heart monitor which shows he flatlined. He said he felt an overwhelming sensation of peace, like nothing he had felt before."
PeachesnPain
Recovery
"I had surgical complications in 2010 that caused a great deal of blood loss. As a result, I had extremely low blood pressure and could barely stay awake. I remember feeling like I was surrounded by loved ones who had passed. They were in a circle around me and I knew they were there to guide me onwards. I told them I was not ready to go because my kids needed me and I came back."
"My nurse later said she was afraid she’d find me dead every time she came into the room."
"It took months, and blood transfusions, but I recovered."
good_golly99
Take Me Back
"Overwhelming peace and happiness. A bright airy and floating feeling. I live a very stressful life. Imagine finding out the person you have had a crush on reveals they have the same feelings for you and then you win the lotto later that day - that was the feeling I had."
"I never feared death afterward and am relieved when I hear of people dying after suffering from an illness."
rayrayrayray
Free
The Light Minnie GIF by (G)I-DLEGiphy"I had a heart surgery with near-death experience, for me at least (well the possibility that those effects are caused by morphine is also there) I just saw black and nothing else but it was warm and I had such inner peace, its weird as I sometimes still think about it and wish this feeling of being so light and free again."
TooReDTooHigh
This is why I hate surgery.
You just never know.
Shocked
Giphy"More of a near-death experience. I was electrocuted. I felt like I was in a deep hole looking straight up in the sky. My life flashed before me. Felt sad for my family, but I had a deep sense of peace."
Admirable_Buyer6528
The SOB
"Nursing in the ICU, we’ve had people try to die on us many times during the years, some successfully. One guy stood out to me. His heart stopped. We called a code, are working on him, and suddenly he comes to. We hadn’t vented him yet, so he was able to talk, and he started screaming, 'Don’t let them take me, don’t let them take me, they are coming,' he was scared and yelling."
"Then he yelled a little more, as we tried to calm him down, he screamed, 'No, No,' and gestured towards the end of the bed, and died again. We didn’t get him back. It was seriously creepy. We called his son to tell him the news, and the son said basically, 'Good, he was an SOB.'”
1-cupcake-at-a-time
Colors
"My sister died and said it was extremely peaceful. She said it was very loud like a train station and lots of talking and she was stuck in this area that was like a curtain with lots of beautiful colors (colors that you don’t see in real life according to her) a man told her 'He was sorry, but she had to go back as it wasn’t her time.'"
Hannah_LL7
"I had a really similar experience except I was in an endless garden with flowers that were colors I had never seen before. It was quiet and peaceful and a woman in a dress looked at me, shook her head, and just said 'Not yet.' As I was coming back, it was extremely loud, like everyone in the world was trying to talk all at once. It was all very disorienting but it changed my perspective on life!"
huntokarrr
The Fog
"I was in a gray fog with a girl who looked a lot like a young version of my grandmother (who was still alive) but dressed like a pioneer in the 1800s she didn't say anything but kept pulling me towards an opening in the wall. I kept refusing to go because I was so tired."
"I finally got tired of her nagging and went and that's when I came to. I had bled out during a c-section and my heart could not beat without blood. They had to deliver the baby and sew up the bleeders. refill me with blood before they could restart my heart so, like, at least 12 minutes gone."
Fluffy-Hotel-5184
Through the Walls
"My spouse was dead for a couple of minutes one miserable night. She maintains that she saw nothing, but only heard people talking about her like through a wall. The only thing she remembers for absolute certain was begging an ER nurse that she didn't want to die."
"She's quite alive and well today."
Hot-Refrigerator6583
Well let's all be happy to be alive.
It seems to be all we have.
Trying to lose weight is a struggle understood by many people regardless of size.
The goal of reaching a healthy weight may seem unattainable, but with diet and exercise, it can pay off through persistence and discipline.
Seeing the pounds gradually drop off can also be a great motivator and incentivize people to stay the course.
Those who've achieved their respective weight goals shared their experiences when Redditor apprenti8455 asked:
"People who lost a lot of weight, what surprises you the most now?"
Redditors didn't see these coming.
Shiver Me Timbers
"I’m always cold now!"
– Telrom_1
"I had a coworker lose over 130 pounds five or six years ago. I’ve never seen him without a jacket on since."
– r7ndom
"140 lbs lost here starting just before COVID, I feel like that little old lady that's always cold, damn this top comment was on point lmao."
– mr_remy
Drawing Concern
"I lost 100 pounds over a year and a half but since I’m old(70’s) it seems few people comment on it because (I think) they think I’m wasting away from some terminal illness."
– dee-fondy
"Congrats on the weight loss! It’s honestly a real accomplishment 🙂"
"Working in oncology, I can never comment on someone’s weight loss unless I specifically know it was on purpose, regardless of their age. I think it kind of ruffles feathers at times, but like I don’t want to congratulate someone for having cancer or something. It’s a weird place to be in."
– LizardofDeath
Unleashing Insults
"I remember when I lost the first big chunk of weight (around 50 lbs) it was like it gave some people license to talk sh*t about the 'old' me. Old coworkers, friends, made a lot of not just negative, but harsh comments about what I used to look like. One person I met after the big loss saw a picture of me prior and said, 'Wow, we wouldn’t even be friends!'”
"It wasn’t extremely common, but I was a little alarmed by some of the attention. My weight has been up and down since then, but every time I gain a little it gets me a little down thinking about those things people said."
– alanamablamaspama
Not Everything Goes After Losing Weight
"The loose skin is a bit unexpected."
– KeltarCentauri
"I haven’t experienced it myself, but surgery to remove skin takes a long time to recover. Longer than bariatric surgery and usually isn’t covered by insurance unless you have both."
– KatMagic1977
"It definitely does take a long time to recover. My Dad dropped a little over 200 pounds a few years back and decided to go through with skin removal surgery to deal with the excess. His procedure was extensive, as in he had skin taken from just about every part of his body excluding his head, and he went through hell for weeks in recovery, and he was bedridden for a lot of it."
– Jaew96
These Redditors shared their pleasantly surprising experiences.
Shopping
"I can buy clothes in any store I want."
– WaySavvyD
"When I lost weight I was dying to go find cute, smaller clothes and I really struggled. As someone who had always been restricted to one or two stores that catered to plus-sized clothing, a full mall of shops with items in my size was daunting. Too many options and not enough knowledge of brands that were good vs cheap. I usually went home pretty frustrated."
– ganache98012
No More Symptoms
"Lost about 80 pounds in the past year and a half, biggest thing that I’ve noticed that I haven’t seen mentioned on here yet is my acid reflux and heartburn are basically gone. I used to be popping tums every couple hours and now they just sit in the medicine cabinet collecting dust."
– colleennicole93
Expanding Capabilities
"I'm all for not judging people by their appearance and I recognise that there are unhealthy, unachievable beauty standards, but one thing that is undeniable is that I can just do stuff now. Just stamina and flexibility alone are worth it, appearance is tertiary at best."
– Ramblonius
People Change Their Tune
"How much nicer people are to you."
"My feet weren't 'wide' they were 'fat.'"
– LiZZygsu
"Have to agree. Lost 220 lbs, people make eye contact and hold open doors and stuff"
"And on the foot thing, I also lost a full shoe size numerically and also wear regular width now 😅"
– awholedamngarden
It's gonna take some getting used to.
Bones Everywhere
"Having bones. Collarbones, wrist bones, knee bones, hip bones, ribs. I have so many bones sticking out everywhere and it’s weird as hell."
– Princess-Pancake-97
"I noticed the shadow of my ribs the other day and it threw me, there’s a whole skeleton in here."
– bekastrange
Knee Pillow
"Right?! And they’re so … pointy! Now I get why people sleep with pillows between their legs - the knee bones laying on top of each other (side sleeper here) is weird and jarring."
– snic2030
"I lost only 40 pounds within the last year or so. I’m struggling to relate to most of these comments as I feel like I just 'slimmed down' rather than dropped a ton. But wow, the pillow between the knees at night. YES! I can relate to this. I think a lot of my weight was in my thighs. I never needed to do this up until recently."
– Strongbad23
More Mobility
"I’ve lost 100 lbs since 2020. It’s a collection of little things that surprise me. For at least 10 years I couldn’t put on socks, or tie my shoes. I couldn’t bend over and pick something up. I couldn’t climb a ladder to fix something. Simple things like that I can do now that fascinate me."
"Edit: Some additional little things are sitting in a chair with arms, sitting in a booth in a restaurant, being able to shop in a normal store AND not needing to buy the biggest size there, being able to easily wipe my butt, and looking down and being able to see my penis."
– dma1965
People making significant changes, whether for mental or physical health, can surely find a newfound perspective on life.
But they can also discover different issues they never saw coming.
That being said, overcoming any challenge in life is laudable, especially if it leads to gaining confidence and ditching insecurities.