Young Mother Picked Up on Charges of Not Having New Plates on the Car

A friend shared with me a completely unfair legal issue, and to show empathy, I told him this old incident:

Just to let you know how unjust the police can get, I'm going to relate a story of way back -still in the 1960s when I had moved to Vestal, NY.

My daughter Jo was about 3, and my son 4. I hadn't bothered yet to change my license from my Connecticut one, but had my fairly new Ford station wagon registered, and for some reason that year they were sending new plates for cars that year when people sent in their annual application for registration renewal. We weren't to put the plates on a day before the date unless we weren't out on the road [don't really think it would have mattered]. I didn't want to forget, so I had the new plates in plain sight on the dash.

The children were driving me nuts (the day new plates should have been affixed to the front and rear bumpers) so my cure for that was to go for a drive. They were both in their child or booster seats, and in my harried state, I didn't even think about the plates until I was headed towards Endicott on route 26--still in Vestal--and saw the Vestal police ahead of me. They had pulled someone over. I immediately remembered the plates, and was wondering what I should do, and pulled over about 100 yards in back to figure it out. Then I realized that if I make a U-turn to go home, I would look suspicious. So I just pulled past the police, knowing that they would and they did immediately signaled me to pull over.

This little Tin Soldier of a police man comes over to me and questions me. I said that I forgot to change the plates, indicating those on the dash, before leaving the house. [The kids were quiet and fascinated... too bad they didn't act up, maybe he would have just let me go.] He looks at the plates and says, "How do I know that they are YOUR plates. Let me SEE YOUR LICENSE! [I could see that he was really angry and aggravated... must have been the previous pull-over, and he was taking it out on this harried young mother] I was close to tears by this time. He looks at my license and says, "This is a Connecticut License... How long have you lived here?" [I lied at that point]. I said, "Oh, about a year... maybe less."

He says something like, well "I don't know what I'm going to do with you!" and I got really mad. I'd had had it with the kids, and now this?! I then said, while I opened the door right into his chest. "WELL, THEN YOU'LL JUST HAVE TO ARREST ME AND THROW ME IN JAIL. IT WOULD BE A GOOD BREAK TO GET AWAY FROM THE KIDS!"

[I didn't mean to hit him, but now I realized that I could be in deep trouble having hit him with the door, and was almost in tears... angry red-eyed kind of tears were welling up.]

He says, "YOU'RE GOING TO COOL DOWN, SISTER!! I'M GOING BACK TO THE SQUAD CAR, AND I'M GOING TO COOL DOWN, AND THEN I'LL BE BACK... YOU STAY 'RIGHT THERE'!!"

By then I was getting kind of giddy with the idea of sitting in jail, and what would they do with my kids? My husband was still at work. Would they throw us all in jail?

He comes back to the car. (His partner was probably thinking he was crazy for even stopping me at this point.) He says, "Here's what we're going to do! You are going to turn around and go home, and we are going to follow you. Once you get home, don't leave until you've put the plates on the car!"

I did what he said, and they followed me to the bottom of my street, Galaxy Drive. [Thank goodness they didn't follow me up the street. I was worried what the neighbors would think.]

Days later, when I could see this objectively, I realized that that police man was probably close to the breaking point when I came along. I guess the previous pull over had given him some grief, otherwise I couldn't understand his having stopped a woman and practically accusing her of being a criminal... AND ...with two babies in the car). Gads, how inconsiderate and cruel! I almost wrote to the Police Station about the incident, but was afraid they'd find out how long I'd lived in Vestal driving with a Connecticut license. Instead, I went to the Drivers Registration and Licensing Bureau and got my NY license. Didn't even have to take the driver's test.

Police can be so unfair in accordance to how their day has been. I also think the uniform does something to them. Anytime I've worn a uniform, even as a child as a school crossing guard, I've felt that surge of power. I still had that feeling when I was working for the airlines and, though optional in the reservations' office, and would wear my uniform to work.

I don't know if my incident long ago helped him in my telling it, but I hoped it did. Then I figured it would make a good blog.