Road Rage: Where's a cop when you need one?

Answer: Right behind you.

Liz & I met up with Xinh and Natey for Xinh's birthday dinner at Craft Restaurant in west Los Angeles, and the dinner was excellent. We ate some great food, had great conversation, basically had a great time, then we came home.

On the I-10 we got into the carpool lane, and a little bit before the Del Mar exit I saw the car behind us flash his headlights (in my side mirror) which prompted Liz to hit her breaks. Liz was doing about 75mph but this guy was still tailgating us and seemed in an awful hurry to get past.

Now we're in the carpool lane which is separated from the rest of the I-10 Freeway by a non-lane. The non-lane is blacktop but it's not really a lane; it's cracked and dirty and cluttered with highway rubbish. So on our left we have the 3-foot high concrete wall that separates our eastbound carpool lane from the westbound carpool lane, and on our right we have, to all intents and purposes, the side of the road. I don't know where the driver behind us expected us to go, but he clearly wanted us to get the &*$%!!! out of his way.

Now I don't know about you but when Liz (& I) are doing 75mph and some jerk pulls up right behind us and tailgates us, then flashes his highbeam lights at us, we're of a mind to slow down. So Liz hit her brakes and dropped from 75 to 65, which of course served to piss this guy off even more. But that's why we do it, right? Not only weren't we getting out of his way, but we were going even slower! He continued flashing his lights, but began swerving back & forth from one side of the lane to the other, as if he might pass us on our left. No, no room there. Maybe on the right? No, let's try the left again. Now let's flash our highbeam lights again. Let's just be a real prick, shall we?

I had my phone out and was considering dialing 911 to report what was clearly a case of road rage. We had one pissed off driver behind us and we didn't know what was going on. The good thing about calling 911 to report a case of Freeway road rage is that 911 from your cellphone (in California) goes straight to the local CHP dispatch, the people you need when you have an emergency on the Freeway.

But the Baldwin Ave. carpool exit was coming up in a few miles and so Liz talked me out of dialing 911. Suddenly I noticed there was a CHP car passing us on our right...in the no-mans lane between the carpool lane and the rest of the Freeway. Then I realized that this was no ordinary CHP car; this was the driver from behind us. The asshole who'd been flashing us with his highbeam lights and swerving back and forth like an arrogant prick WAS A HIGHWAY PATROL OFFICER!!!

Before you jump on me and go defending our law enforcement officers (Oh, they've got stressful jobs, dealing with the public, etc) I have a lot of respect for law enforcement. When I was a young lad, and even into my teenage years, I wanted to be a Police Officer when I grew up. What I have a problem with are assholes, and that's what this CHP Officer was.

So he pulled around in front us and sped on down the Freeway and at the Baldwin Ave. exit we saw him drive into the tunnel to the El Monte Bus Station. WTF? Seriously. What the FUCK? He's in a hurry to get to the Bus Station?

Let's run back over this, shall we?

We're doing 75mph when a car pull up behind us, tailgates us (sitting maybe 10 feet from our bumper) and flashes its highbeams, then swerves left & right as if trying to pass us. When it finally does pass us, it's revealed that the driver is an Officer of the Law.

Now if the officer was responding to an emergency call at the Bus Station, why not use his lights and siren? If he has to pass us, why not hit his lights & blip his siren and let us know that the asshole driver behind us is not really an asshole but a poh-lice officer responding to an emergency. But the asshole never did that. Not once did he make any attempt to identify himself as CHP; he just behaved like your typical asshole driver committing an act of road rage.

It's no wonder people hate the police, when the ones you encounter behave like immature, self-centered, egotistical assholes, as if they're not only the most important people in the world, but the only people in the world.

We were doing 75mph. He could have stopped us for speeding. He didn't do that because he was obviously in a hurry to get somewhere. But if he was in such a hurry and it was a bona fide emergency, why didn't he use his lights and siren? The answer: because he didn't need to. He's an egotistical prick who thinks that just because he's wearing a uniform and carrying a gun and driving a poh-lice car that he's more important than everyone else so everyone else should just get the fuck out of his way.

Some people make excellent police officers, others have no business being in law enforcement; tonight's CHP officer belongs in the second category.