During the Hurricane Isaac aftermath, I endured only 1 night of sweaty sleep before caving in and running to my Mommy's house where she has electricy and, most importantly, air conditioning. Getting up this morning, I made a little list of somethings I needed to take care of. Such as, getting back to my home, washing out the really big ice chest, and loading it up with ice to protect some meats. Looking back, I should've done that on Monday or Tuesday before I lost power.
I procrastinated too long, I suppose. My 18 y.o. son, 8 y.o. and 6 y.o. daughters, and I left my mom's approximately 1:30 p.m. and went through Cane's for some lunch and then proceeded to Rushing Road (across the street from Burger King) in order to get on the interstate towards my home. For those familiar with the area, when pulling out of the parking lot, I had to make a right hand turn and immediately get in the left hand turn lane. When I approached the Rushing/Range intersection, I had a green arrow ... so I entered the intersection. I entered the LH turn lane, but didn't get any further due to the backed up traffic in that lane. I looked ahead and saw a green light there, but the intersection there was also blocked by an 18 wheeler rig.
I attempted to assess the situation I was in since now I'm sitting in the middle of the intersection and need to get out of it. I turned my head as far to the right as possible in order to look over my right shoulder for oncoming traffic. It was hard to see anything since my vehicle was turned to the left. Taking a chance, I changed lanes and got into the center lane to exit the intersection and pass the backed up traffic in that LH turn lane. My intent was to get through the next 2 intersections, make a left turn and come back to make a RIGHT turn onto the interstate.
As soon as I changed lanes, a man in a plain white vehicle pulled up on the right hand side of my vehicle and motioned to my son to roll down the window. At this point, the LH turn lane is backed up, I'm stopped in the center lane, and he is stopped in the R lane. There is traffic backed up behind both of us. He addressed me in not so friendly terms and began screaming at me that "if you don't know not to enter a blocked intersection, then you don't need to be driving!" Thinking he was just another idiot, I rolled up the window and pressed the gas pedal in order to CLEAR THE INTERSECTION!
He then pulled his plain white car directly behind me and I immediately saw these pretty flashing blue lights and heard a siren. Great. He's a cop? So, I (still in the center lane) turned on my blinker and moved into the Right Lane and as far off the road as possible. The thing is, at this point, there is no shoulder where I stopped. Therefore, now BOTH vehicles are blocking the Right Lane.I asked my son to hand me the essentials out of the glovebox. I had them in my hand when HE approached the driver's side window. Then the rain began. I rolled down my window, and there HE stands in a black dress shirt embroidered with the DSPD logo on the left pec area. Not on the outside of the shoulder. With my peripheral vision, I saw some embroidery also on the opposite side but did not note the details. HE begans berating my driving, saying things like, "Don't you KNOW you aren't supposed to enter an intersection if there's no where for you to go? You had a hundred ways out of that situation but you just sat there!!!" Yada Yada, (his mouth was moving but I wasn't hearing him at this point). When he took a breath, I responded, "I had a green light, I looked ahead to see where I COULD go, I looked behind me to avoid ONCOMING traffic. I did the best I could to assess and move." (I'm guessing I was bit to slow from his observation.) He opened his mouth again and said, "Did you not see that I'm a police officer?" to which I said, "No!" (Duh dude! You're in an UNMARKED car and wearing a black DRESS SHIRT! So sorry that I did not take notice what you're "profession" is.)
He saw that I had my stuff and said, "Do you WANT me to write you a ticket?" and the Lord must have had pity on me then because the rain began coming down with a vengence while HE was standing by my door with his hands on his hips. I THINK I said, "If you feel the need." (Maybe not, but I should have.) I know I started to hand him my stuff. Then horror of horrors, the most mortifying thing happened. I started blubbering....turned on the water works.... you know, cryyyyyiiiinnggg. I know I said something about having to get home and "I have been TRYING to get in that LH turn lane! Do you think you could help me get there?"
Then he did the most astounding thing. He shut up. He looked at me, took a step back, and held up his hand in the traffic, holding up both lanes in order for me to cross waaaaayyyyy over there in that LH turn lane where I wanted so badly to be in the first place!
Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, I pressed the gas and got my vehicle where I needed to be. My girls had been so good during the entire incident, not making a peep in their seats. Once he cleared the way for us to make the move, my youngest started wailing, "I WANT MY DADDY!!!!" I felt so bad for her that she had witnessed this entire encounter, bravely sitting quiet, yet scared to death.
I got on the interstate, reliving the entire episode in my head as I drove, trying to figure out why he looked familiar but yet unfamiliar. About 5 miles later, it dawned on me just who HE was, it had been a long time since seeing him driving alongside the schoolbus I'd ridden on 20+ years ago. Being a law abiding citizen and voter in a neighboring town, I really didn't have a need to know who he was. So, during THIS encounter, I was just a tad bit slow on the recognition.
In the future, if I happen to be driving along in front of you and I don't move when my light turns green, this encounter will be the reason why I DON'T get out of your way. You've been warned.
