By takeitandrun - 17/10/2010 23:38 - United States

Today, I discovered that instead of being a harmless way to relax after a rough day, parking in an empty lot apparently means you are either dealing drugs or want to commit suicide. I was detained, my car was searched and I was grilled about my happiness. Great stress relief, eh? FML
I agree, your life sucks 29 551
You deserved it 3 494

takeitandrun tells us more.

takeitandrun 13

I'm OP, and not Canadian... nearish Denver, CO To be fair, it is a little suspicious and I understand that, but they seemed to already have their mind made up when they came to my window that I was up to something, even after I explained the situation. I have an hour+ commute between home and work and after an awful day at work and in general I needed a few minutes to chill out before making that drive. The lot was empty and out of anyone's way so I parked and was there maybe five minutes before the police pulled up. And to the questions - I did not consent to a search, one of the officers that arrived had a dog and when he took it around the outside of the car it hinted on the passenger side - nothing was in the car but I had a friend in the car the night before that has a medical marijuana card so the dog probably caught that scent. Something that I also explained to the officers. But that was enough to give them probable cause and so they searched my car, finding nothing. That all took probably twenty minutes and then they continued to question me for another twenty or so about if I was going to hurt myself and related things. It was pretty ridiculous, but at least they let me go.

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Top comments

notzax 19

They cared enough about your mental health to not become a suicide statistic. I don't completely agree about how they went about it, but if it really was someone who was depressed then they might have saved a life instead of ticked someone off. It's not really an excuse to approach you with that attitude, but it sounds like they're just looking about for the public. Hope you found another way to de-stress once you got home OP

132 10
perdix 29

Very suspicious behavior, indeed! The cops were very worried when they found you weren't with some dude or your personal vibrator. And disappointed.

72 1

Comments

adidjo 0

Welcome to post-9/11 America. Thank your good luck you don't look Arabic

5 2
Addi123 0

It's Arabian dear, Arabic is the language. & I find that offensive.

2 12
JustinJK 21

You're wrong. Saudia Arabia and the Arabian Peninsula are different from the Arab people. There are 80 million Arabians and like half a billion Arabs. I'm offended by your dense comments. Saudia Arabia is part of the "Arab" region.

1 1
roverboy1337 0

welcome to the land of "sir, I need you to step outside for a minute"

6 0
lauralea2010 3

you know, you dont HAVE to get out of your car or let them search it. I did this before, and when the cops showed up i told them no, they can not search my car. and no, i dont want to get out of the vehicle (it was also winter in MN, I really didnt wanna be outside)... I personally would have reported him since you weren't doing anything illegal and he just bothered you and wasted your time... Of course, then they could have gotten a search warrant and waited for the drug dog to show up, but most cops wont bother with that if they dont have a really good reason to do so.

4 1
skyeyez9 24

I read that if you consent to a search, the cop can literally trash the inside of your vehicle (rip open the seats, remove the seats) and leave it like that. And not be responsible for repairing the damage.

6 1
wingedtoad 0

My friends and I used to sit in one car in the movie theatre parking lot after watching a movie so we could talk about it. We've had cops come by numerous times thinking we were doing drugs.

3 0
happy_dino 6

HEY YOU'RE FROM COLORADO!!!!!!! Haha yayy!! Where in Colorado??? Because that would only be suspected in Greeley, Denver and the southern part... haha(:

0 2
skylarbee 8

I don't get why you would do it otherwise

0 2
slyde32 12

because sometimes we just want solidarity, i quite often sut in empty car parks, in my car, playing music, it's great

1 0
takeitandrun 13

I'm OP, and not Canadian... nearish Denver, CO To be fair, it is a little suspicious and I understand that, but they seemed to already have their mind made up when they came to my window that I was up to something, even after I explained the situation. I have an hour+ commute between home and work and after an awful day at work and in general I needed a few minutes to chill out before making that drive. The lot was empty and out of anyone's way so I parked and was there maybe five minutes before the police pulled up. And to the questions - I did not consent to a search, one of the officers that arrived had a dog and when he took it around the outside of the car it hinted on the passenger side - nothing was in the car but I had a friend in the car the night before that has a medical marijuana card so the dog probably caught that scent. Something that I also explained to the officers. But that was enough to give them probable cause and so they searched my car, finding nothing. That all took probably twenty minutes and then they continued to question me for another twenty or so about if I was going to hurt myself and related things. It was pretty ridiculous, but at least they let me go.

222 2
notzax 19

They cared enough about your mental health to not become a suicide statistic. I don't completely agree about how they went about it, but if it really was someone who was depressed then they might have saved a life instead of ticked someone off. It's not really an excuse to approach you with that attitude, but it sounds like they're just looking about for the public. Hope you found another way to de-stress once you got home OP

132 10
DerpyChap 9

I just don't see how a person sitting in their car is related to drugs. I realise that they're just trying to do their job and investigating something "suspicious" includes that, but surely their job is better spent doing something else other than jumping to conclusions, isn't it?

37 12
RebeccaRFT 18

I get that they cared about your 'mental health' but they can't just keep someone for 40 minutes because of a suspicion. That's ridiculous and if a person were suicidal that would not stop them from commuting suicide. Plus, no one randomly commits suicide in their car

13 87
notzax 19

Not even people who use a hose to tube exhaust fumes into the car to poison their lungs and kill them? That use to be a pretty popular form to kill a person, even themselves, in the old days if I remember correctly. Some would just sit and drink in their last moments as the gas filled up the car and they suffocated to death.

29 3
immaloser95 28

Actually Rebecca, suicide is (generally) an impulsive decision. You don't really plan to kill yourself. If OP was suicidal, the cops probably did save their life by causing a big enough distraction.

11 68
kassia_1011 21

Actually suicide is rarely impulsive. For most it's thought about for days or weeks before hand and a plan is put into place. People don't just decide to kill themselves on a whim because of one bad day. People who do it often think long an hard about it.

67 5
zboot 8

There were no hoses from exhaust to the car. So police suspicion of suicide doesn't make sense. Do they stop every person going camping alone too?

8 11
ty4nier 16

107, she could've had a gun in the car with her, a knife or razor, pills even. There's more than one way to doing this unfortunately. The cop made the right decision searching the car and speaking with her as long as he did. The cops don't know who you are either. They have to be sure about everything.

25 4
missa1996 18

@ 101, many people unfortunately kill themselves in their car. Some may crash it, or hurt themselves in it, but the most common way is to lock themselves In a garage with the car on. The police did the right thing, I'm not sure I agree with the way they handled it though. Even saying a simple hello to someone and showing that they matter makes a HUGE difference in someone's life; even if you don't think it does.

10 2
GwennaRose 22

this is insane, I commute all over the place for my job. I once even slept in a mcdonalds parking lot for 9 hours. Some people just need to sleep, not everyone is out trying to cause mayhem.

11 1
Vigilante_Ninja 9

I'm now pretty sure eh is not only a Canadian thing, but also a Colorado thing. I say it too ^.^

1 1
huskerpower 7

Someone can be detained for a lot longer than 40 minutes and saying people don't commit suicide in their car is just stupid.

2 0
JCal585 8

To be fair- there is a bit of a meth problem around Denver. And I'm no expert, but I've seen enough episodes of cops to know that there are plenty of people who will park to shoot up/smoke crack/etc. Given that the op is innocent, it might seem ridiculous. But what if he wasn't innocent? Unfortunately- that's the world we live in. The consequences of "what if" far outweigh the 40 minute minor inconvenience.. Sorry it happened OP, but you got out of there with no tickets and no further action required.

5 1
dan_117 0

Your permission doesn't mean shit? This is America you douche, unless they can prove you are doing something, you are innocent. Last I checked it isn't illegal to park in a parking lot. I understand cops have a job to do, but there are way too many asshole cops out there.

15 91
subscript 15

Actually the dog is a natural enhancement to the cops so if the dog picks something up it is the same as a human smelling the smoke and falls under probable cause

49 2
18drakerad 18

Maybe because there are so many asshole people out there

22 1