An isolated incident – Part I

The two state law enforcement officers pulled over the dark blue Suburban with deeply tinted windows and out of state tags. The stop of course was just a pretext for a search, with the hope of at least seizing some cash and with any luck the vehicle. If they were ridiculously lucky they would actually find some narcotics and get a felony arrest out of it. What of course was most important was the supplement to departmental funds. Running the plate it came back as a rental, their hopes were running high.

The officers, Bladen and McGee, asked the driver to step out of the vehicle, claiming he had been weaving and crossed the white line of the road. They asked if perhaps he had been texting while driving? The driver introduced himself as Conor and denied that he had been texting, though in truth he had been in communication with someone. McGee chatted cordially, inquiring about what brought Conor to this part of the country and whether or not there was anything in the vehicle the officers should know about. This was all part of the standard approach to getting permission to search the vehicle. Conor said he didn’t have anything illegal in his rig and if they wanted, they could see for themselves.

Bladen, who was closer to the state police SUV, walked back to it and opened the back door and leashed up the German Shepard inside. The dog would have a say in what was about to happen. Conor watched with bemusement as the Suburban doors were opened and the dog was set to work. A small dufflebag with $75,000 was on the back seat, Bladen opened it and saw the cash. A second later the dog sat, alertly focused on the bag and it’s contents. Bladen retrieved the bag and handed it to McGee, who whistled as he felt the heft. It had been a few stops since they had scored like this.

McGee asked “do you have an explanation for that cash”?

Conor replied “it’s perfectly legal for me to have it, what more explanation do you need? Is it your intention to take it from me”?

McGee said “well, the dog alerted to it, which means it must have traces of narcotics on it”.

Conor countered “that cash came from a bank, do you think you could take it from them just because of the dog? I’m on my way to Reno to purchase a muscle car that I plan on restoring, and to have a little of the fun that town can offer, so it’s not like I don’t have a legit reason to be carrying that cash”.

McGee asked about the rental and Conor replied “yeah, I would’ve been in my own truck, but with all the crazy shit, it’s sitting in the shop waiting on parts”.

Bladen now spoke up “that may be true, but we have grounds and circumstances to seize the money until you can prove all of that in court”.

Conor softly asked “is that any way to treat an honest citizen”?

It was a fairly quiet stretch of highway and Bladen and McGee didn’t really notice that during the course of the stop how few cars had passed. Traffic had in fact entirely disappeared.