[Steve Dallas]

Sucks to get the ticket. I am curious, however, why the trooper would be so pissed? I've only had officers pissed at me once, and I definately deserved it.

Why? Because I was driving home from Glendale, CA to Pacific Palisades, CA back in the early 80's in my 73 Dodge Charger SE, which had a 440 magnum in it. It was 2:00am and I was young and stupid. I was driving south on I-5 from the Valley to Sunset Blvd over the "pass", probably doing about 120-140. Yes, stupid.

I got off on Sunset Blvd, turned right and went the speed limit at that point along sunset heading West. This car came up behind me flashing it's headlights at me about 2 minutes later, then started tailgating. I ended up turning up a street into the hills and the guy was following, so I jumped on the throttle to lose this person because I had no idea who they were. It was a station wagon, and couldn't keep up, but I had to turn around because there really was no outlet. The guy ended up trying to block me, but I got around them.

Eventually, the station wagon pulled up next to me and I flipped off the passenger. Who then pulled out a badge. I pulled over immediately, in a fire station, and got out. They had drawn guns, and had me get on the ground, face down. They were pissed, and off duty.

Still, they let me go...pretty much with a verbal warning. I got off light.

My point? Cops that get pissed USUALLY have a reason...at least in my experience.