Perfect Parade Day - Traffic Stop - Long

[readyman]

After the Naperville St. Pats Day Parade we were all pumped up from festive reception we got as we drove through town. Even though the temps were in the 30's with a good breeze going, the constant crowd managed cheering, waving, and saluting our MV's the whole way. So we took the banners and decorations down and brought the plastic 50cal down into the cargo bed for the trip home.

Had a little time Friday so I filled out a DD1265 Convoy Request Form for giggles and stuck in the glovebox with the other paperwork like a route map, license info, insurance, etc. The DD1265 listed the cargo manifest as well.

Anyway, after the parade we hopped on the I88 tollway for the 30 mile trip home. After a few miles I saw an unmarked local police car on the side of the road(FWIW in Lisle, a dk gray met Jeep Cherokee), in the few seconds I had him in view I saw him lift a mike and make eye contact.
Funny how ya remember small stuff...

Judging from all the fuss later on, I can imagine what the emergency car cell*999 call was like to the local PD. "Blonde haired blue eyed terrorists driving 'brand new' looking Military truck with civilian plates and Yosemite Sam 'Back Off' mudflaps." There was also a big deal made later on about the military headsets the report said they saw us wearing.

Well the local cop quickly drove out of his jurisdiction(at our breakneck Deuce 50mph top end?) tailgating me to get a read on our license plate. I distinctly remember cutting him off(intentionally) to get to our exit ramp to I355 and wondering about his lousy driving in my blind spot like that?

Well he called for reinforcements and they found me about 10 miles later in Lombard on I355. Where a black unmarked State Police car motioned for me to pull over. He got the dope from the local cop during a 15 minute face to face in the squad car, where they ran my plates(clean) and the state police probably asked "well, waddya want me to do? "

The state police walked over and asked for my DL(real clean) and the first of the dozens of "Well because of 911... you understand" expressions started and for the next hour, great catch phrase for;(Because of 911...)you can understand the cell call,(Because of 911...)you can understand the local cop concern,(Because of 911...) we need to see your truck paperwork, (Because of 911...)we need to inspect the cargo area, (Because of 911...)we need to frisk you and your son.

Another state police car pulled up with a newbie who was eager to help out his superior officer. Whats in the cargo area, here's the DD1265 with the manifest, gotta see for myself, sure jump in. This guy was 'great'. Is this a real machine gun? Sure, all M2HB's weigh 5 lbs now and are made of space age plastic that looks just like PVC pipe... and that was when he saw it broken down (receiver/barrel) and the white PVC pipe was sticking out... jeez! Everybody has to do the Rambo thing with the M2HB, which he did. Poor guy freaked-out with the crate marked nsn#-Nitrogen tho, maybe he thought 'like' Nitrogen bomb? Nearly killed himself trying to jump from the back with the tailgate up, ran to his squad car for a flashlight!
Not wanting to catch him a second time Chris and I brought the tailgate down so he could get in and out better. (btw - dry Nitrogen for flat tires and the impact wrench in the crate)

Two' supervisor' state police girls arrived about that time in another squad, looking like completely lost puppies at the scene.
Tried a couple times to get some pics of the stop, but that was prohibited. I managed to sneak one of Chris near the end tho.

Next the guy in the cargo bed held up 150 rounds of linked 50BMG, and my heart stopped, it's all over now. Is this real he asked? Yes I replied, real. ok and he put it down, moved to something else. That was it? Don't check for dummy rounds firing pin marks? I courteously walked over to him, lifted the belt and described how these were dummy rounds 'look' for the pin marks, he thanked me. These really big bullets suddenly inspired the girls to frisk Chris and me(one each) they were so bored anyway just standing there in the cold. This was the worse frisk ever, light touch(more like a caress?) and incomplete, I know, because I'd be writing this from a jail cell if she did her job right.

Brought out the parade banners, funny leprechaun hats, streamers, parade placard, couldn't soften 'em up. One by one they started leaving "Nothing to see here" no apologies,but nothing was wrong.

But the "Well because of 911... you understand" started turning into CDL's and 30,000 lbs. trucks, hmmmmm... real CYA stuff from my perspective. Now there's a lot of "You seem like a nice guy, so..." too.

One state policeman was left to CYA for this whole hour long circus event, that all started with a civvy car cell call.

Well, I've seen a lot of trucks and I called a trucker friend, this truck has to weight at least 50,000 lbs. and in IL you need a CDL to drive it.
Even though Chris gave you the M35A2 manual(cop had it for a half hour) where it states the weight, and seen the dataplate on the dash shows the weight? Besides, its a legal IL state title and the DMV gave me the plates with the title.

"You seem like a nice guy, so...I'm not gonna call a tow truck and report this. This will save you a $4,000+ fine, for driving out of class." But I'm sure this truck weights in at 40,000 to 50,000 lbs. My kissa** mode went on... before the weight gets any heavier and there won't be a tow truck big enough to take it to the impound. "You seem like a nice guy, so... I'm going to let you go and get the truck weighed and you get a CDL to drive this truck because its over 25,000 lbs.

Because of the multijurisdictional APB I'm going to have to escort you to the garage, or else you'll have every cop on the way pulling you
over. Which was true, he had to wave off the squads stopped on the side of the road(I355) ahead of us waiting to make the 'Big MV' bust.
But we did get a police escort(which was pretty cool) for the next 10 miles to LilRuthie's garage.

Despite the wasted time and confusion. When the one officer said "Man, that is the best looking military truck I've ever seen!" it was priceless, sort of made it all worthwhile!

 

[JeepMan]

LOL !! Must have gotten some chuckles from vets rolling by to see a military truck pulled over by the cops !!

 

[readyman]

JeepMan,
The cop Rambo swingin' the plastic M2HB around got some looks from traffic, until his super' said better aim away from traffic.

 

[maddawg308]

Would have gotten a chuckle outta me to see that military truck back over that cop car. I swear, some cops just give the good ones a bad name.....

 

[Offroadfabworks]

Good story. IF you got 50,000#'s on that truck it sure would be squating kinda hard.

 

[Blood_of_Tyrants]

Freaking Illinois cops. My son and I had two M1 Garands and an FN FAL in the truck to go target shooting and rolled up on a DL checkpoint. The cops were just mildly curious about the rifles. The older cop admired my Garand and said that the younger cop had never fired anything other than an AR-15. Since we were target shooting less than 200 yards from that point (down a road under construction, no less), I invited him over for to squeeze off a few rounds. He politely declined and we went on and did some target shooting, well within earshot fo the cops.

 

[bulldog_mack13]

WOW readyman , WOW

 

[54reo]

I went over the CDL thing with the DMV here in IL at length, and it was agreed that antique plates would be fine.

I hope I don't have the same issues someday.

But as in your case, there is nothing we can do about stupid people calling 911 about something they know nothing about.

 

[EO2NMCB]

Down in southeren IL I drive my deuce around with no problems with AV plates. Have never been stoped, also have a CDL class A/M. Lets face it southern IL should be its own state, so that we would not have some of the BS laws that springfield comes up with. ( with up north in mind for the laws)

 

[David_4x4]

If that would have been me getting pulled over, even with Form 4s, the cops woulda been calling the ATF to come make an appearance.

 

[lenz1079]

for me its helping to be the county coroner....LOL. ( my job is equal to the sheriff, only i deal with the dead)

 

[readyman]

lenz1079,
You're gonna be alright, no one wants to deal with DB's. They'll set you up with a title and plates after you tell em how many DB's you can carry in you're Deuce!

 

[BillIdaho]

Factoring in that I was born on the south side of Chicago, went to high school (and a few years thereafter) in a suburb of Peoria, THEN movong to the exact opposite of thought-proccessing IDAHO, and then starting to restore MV'S , not to mention the difference in how the mindset about guns is entirely opposite.....I can relate to the above story.
Here in Idaho......everything is the opposite. The cops wouldn't even give it a second glance, (and I'm a cop) UNLESS they thought I was driving it, then they would dream up something. Professional courtesy, only with a personal touch. Like one of them talking to me about what happened the last shift, while the other pulls the Beverly-Hills-Cop banana thing in the exhaust pipe.
If for some remote reason there was an MV pulled over (broken down-motorist assist,etc), it also would have attracted a bunch more cops, the difference being you would have been held up almost as long, only the cops would have wanted to talk your leg off.
Completely different mindset, reaction, intervention. Here is a very short example: our club was having a show. We wanted to have a ride 6 miles thru town (on a state highway, no less) and have a ice cream at a local A&W. I called the police/sheriff agencies that would have had jurisdiction to ask about a parade permit, or whatever hoops we would have to jump thru. 4 total agencies. I told them some might not have license plates ,but our club had insurance. Some might not have turn signals,brake lights, etc. I did tell them that we would NOT have any armored...I mean tracked (Ferrets) vehicles. Every agency said something along the lines of "Cool! If we have someone that isn't too busy, can they come and look, and if you need traffic control, let us know'> In regards to the equipment issues their exact response was " we have no interest in addressing that, as long as you guys have your headlights on, and drive like you have some brains...., have a good time" ( That was almost an exact quote from two of the agencies.) And I did NOT identify myself as a fellow cop--no special favors asked for!

From an MV collecting cops point of view, I am sorry. To a point. The garbage laws and mindset in Illinois seems to be self-perpetuating. As long as you promise to not bring anyone else, AND DON'T TELL ANYONE ELSE--- move to Idaho. LIVE .50's on privately owned vehicles, darn near on a daily basis. I love it here. Ooops, that's a secret between you and me, ok?

 

[chuck500cc]

I am suprised they didn't scale you. DPS here in Texas carry mobile scale units. That would have been priceless. I can't believe there was not one ex-military person that knew what it was and it's weight. If the tags are good and your lic. is good and you were doning nothing wrong, WTF? I thought you had to be seen doing something illegal to be pulled over and not by some freak with a cell phone. It is hear-say. I would make a few calls. I thought that basic math was a requirement for most LEO positions. "It's a 2 1/2 ton truck. How many pounds in a ton sir?" Here's your sign..

Chuck XD Fan

 

[badgmc56]

I just had a clash with Connecticut DMV about registration of my GMC deuce. You have to register under 16000 lbs to avoid inspection and truck fees.They would not register it with Early American plates unless it was under the weight limit. Since the lite weight is about 13000 lbs, doesn't give me much of a payload. Oh well guess I wont be carrying to much over the road!

 

[underdog]

Well i guess you have met some of our overpowered finest.
Failure to respect there authority can be a real bad deal these days.

‘There is no need to sally forth, for it remains true that those things which make us human are, curiously enough, always close at hand. Resolve, then, that on this very ground, with small flags waving and tiny blasts of tiny trumpets, we shall meet the enemy, and not only may he be ours, he may be us.’
The Source: The Best of Pogo

 

[54reo]

Lets face it southern IL should be its own state, so that we would not have some of the BS laws that springfield comes up with. ( with up north in mind for the laws)

I second that! North Illinois and South Illinois sounds good to me.

 

[BSH]

I'm curious how long that little adventure took. It sounds like you were definitely detained. What was their probable cause? I would've thought a quick check of registration, license & insurance would be enough to demonstrate the absence of any problem.

This story is a great example of why there need to be real, hard limits on police powers.

 

[Michael]

Maybe I missed it, but what did you do to get this all started? The best that I can tell, you were just driving your restored MV back from an event. You didn't even leave the fake 50 in place did you? And what form of commerce were you engaged in?

 

[rmgill]

So I wonder how much money the taxpayers of Illinois were cheated out of this 'thorough' police inspection.

Things like this make me dislike those sorts of states and those sorts of attitudes by the police.

If they can't look at the friggen data plate and manual and INSIST that it's a 50,000 lb truck then they need to go find another job.