Undercover Brother

Kind of a weird thing yesterday:

Almost home, I sat in my truck in the turn lane on Jamacha Road, waiting to turn left onto Fury Lane.

Suddenly I heard a very loud siren sound.  Of course I looked up but I didn't see any obvious police cars.

Then there he was...a plain-looking, sort of light gold colored, normal looking car was turning from Fury Lane onto Jamacha Road head, and he had small flashing lights in his rear window, bright red and blue.  This car may have been like a Dodge Charger station wagon, if they make such a vehicle.

As my light turned green, I saw this vehicle pull off to the side, with another vehicle in front. Quickly the driver of the "undercover vehicle" got out.

This is what was weird:  just like his car, the man (officer?) was pretty casual-looking, wearing just dark pants and a light slate blue polo shirt.  His hair was dark and curly.  As he walked up to the car her'd just pulled over, I was making my turn.

Fascinating!

So I drove up into the parking lot and came to a vantage point where I could watch.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get over quickly enough to get into the lot in a timely manner.  So by the time I got in and drove around to a place right across the street from the scene, the car in front had departed, and the "man" had gotten back into his secret gold flashing-light Charger station-wagon.

A man was already here in the parking lot, standing, watching.  He wore a red shirt.  His wife or girlfriend sat waiting in their vehicle.  I later gathered that like me they'd seen and heard the "pull over" and came in here to watch.

"Wow!" I said.  "What's going on?"

"I have no idea," replied the man, "except that it's illegal."

He proceeded to explain that in the State of California it is against the law for someone to pull you over unless you are in uniform. Which this guy was definitely not.  He went on:

"I could put lights like that in my car.  I could flash a plastic badge.  You don't know who that guy is."

He mentioned how he'd quickly let the guy go.

"Man, I'm sorry I missed it!" I exclaimed.  Clutching my camera I continued "I would have made a movie of it."

"Yeah, and I would give it to the Sheriff's Department," he said.  "That is completely illegal."

Then he turned toward me, and to prove his point, he said,

"Yeah, I mean, you take that jacket off, and I don't know who you are.  Really, you take that jacket off and I'd look at you..."  (He looked at my shirt and trousers)  "...I'd figure you worked for the Forest Service.  But you can't pull someone over like that if you're not in uniform".

Not sure why he used me as an example but it did make me realize that my dark green Dickie trousers do make me look like I work for the Forest Service.  Not that I consider that a bad thing.

"Wow, pretty unusual!" I repeated.

"Yeah... all I know is that it was a black guy" he offered.

Anyway... I departed.  He got in his truck with his wife and departed.

That was it.

Later I thought more about it and based upon three things (1) the LOUD siren, (2) the QUICK pull-over, and (3) the QUICK "letting him go" that this may be what happened:

It was a probably a Federal Marshall who got cut off by someone and lost his temper and decided to flex his muscle so that he could tell the guy off.

I had a friend whose mother was a Federal Marshall.  Not the most normal of childhoods to have a Mom who is a Marshall, but it made for some interesting stories and helped me realize that "they are among us" and they don't advertise themselves.