For this story to make the most sense, you'd have to know me, but the relevant facts are: I'm in fandom, but I don't drink, I don't do drugs, I don't sell drugs, and neither do my friends.
A number of years ago I went to a ShadowRun (cyberpunk-fantasy genre) LARP (Life Action Role Playing game) at DexCon in New Jersey. Of course we took lots of costumes and props, including lots of toy guns, briefcases and a 6-foot long glitter staff. The staff didn't fit in the trunk of my car, so it was propped inside the car running from the left-backseat to the passenger foot-well.
Sunday night we (myself, my roommate Tad, and some guy Chris who needed a ride) headed back to the DC area. We got a late start, and as was typical for that time period, I-95 was under construction so a 3-4 hour drive had turned into a 6 hour marathon. Around 1AM I needed a break, so I pulled off the highway and into a 7-11 to get some snacks and clear my head. While parking, I notice a police cruiser in the lot, but think nothing of it (there weren't any donut shops around).
Before I go into the 7-11 Tad asks me for some Ibuprofen, because he had fallen asleep and now had a stiff neck. So I go round to the trunk of my car, pull out my briefcase, get out some ibuprofen, give it to Tad, and put the briefcase back in trunk. Then I go in the store to get some chocolate and something to drink.
A couple of minutes later we're ready to leave, but as soon as I pull out onto the street, the police cruiser lights up like a Christmas tree. The next thing I know, two more lit-up cruisers appear and I'm surrounded by cops.
As the first cop comes up, I roll down my window and ask "What's the problem, officer?" He says, "Please step out of the car." That's always a bad sign. After a few iterations, I'm outside of the car, but still have no idea what I did wrong. Eventually the cop asks "Can you explain why someone might think you were dealing drugs?" At this point I realize that (1) some 'concerned citizen' must have seen me getting painkillers for Tad, and (2) to avoid getting arrested, I'm going to have to open up a trunk full of toy guns in front of 5 cops.
So I explained about getting Ibuprofen for Tad out of my briefcase. Then, moving v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y, I put my car key into the lock of my trunk, explained to the cop that there are lots of toy guns, but no real guns, and yes, I would be most happy to stand back while he opened the trunk, so that he could look through everything.
Eventually the three of us showed that the contents of all (4) briefcases were innocuous and none of (12+) guns were real. At the same time we explained LARPing to the cops, and demonstrated the 6-foot glitter staff. After about a half hour, we were back on the road, no harm, no foul.
I'm just really glad that two things were missing from my car:
1) Frank, the Uber-Libertarian, who would have stood on his 4th amendment rights and gotten us all hauled off to jail, and 2) The broken alarm clock duct-taped to a bundle of plastic dynamite sticks.
Well, there was the time I got stopped for 'dealing drugs' with a car full of LARPers...
A number of years ago I went to a ShadowRun (cyberpunk-fantasy genre) LARP (Life Action Role Playing game) at DexCon in New Jersey. Of course we took lots of costumes and props, including lots of toy guns, briefcases and a 6-foot long glitter staff. The staff didn't fit in the trunk of my car, so it was propped inside the car running from the left-backseat to the passenger foot-well.
Sunday night we (myself, my roommate Tad, and some guy Chris who needed a ride) headed back to the DC area. We got a late start, and as was typical for that time period, I-95 was under construction so a 3-4 hour drive had turned into a 6 hour marathon. Around 1AM I needed a break, so I pulled off the highway and into a 7-11 to get some snacks and clear my head. While parking, I notice a police cruiser in the lot, but think nothing of it (there weren't any donut shops around).
Before I go into the 7-11 Tad asks me for some Ibuprofen, because he had fallen asleep and now had a stiff neck. So I go round to the trunk of my car, pull out my briefcase, get out some ibuprofen, give it to Tad, and put the briefcase back in trunk. Then I go in the store to get some chocolate and something to drink.
A couple of minutes later we're ready to leave, but as soon as I pull out onto the street, the police cruiser lights up like a Christmas tree. The next thing I know, two more lit-up cruisers appear and I'm surrounded by cops.
As the first cop comes up, I roll down my window and ask "What's the problem, officer?" He says, "Please step out of the car." That's always a bad sign. After a few iterations, I'm outside of the car, but still have no idea what I did wrong. Eventually the cop asks "Can you explain why someone might think you were dealing drugs?" At this point I realize that (1) some 'concerned citizen' must have seen me getting painkillers for Tad, and (2) to avoid getting arrested, I'm going to have to open up a trunk full of toy guns in front of 5 cops.
So I explained about getting Ibuprofen for Tad out of my briefcase. Then, moving v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y, I put my car key into the lock of my trunk, explained to the cop that there are lots of toy guns, but no real guns, and yes, I would be most happy to stand back while he opened the trunk, so that he could look through everything.
Eventually the three of us showed that the contents of all (4) briefcases were innocuous and none of (12+) guns were real. At the same time we explained LARPing to the cops, and demonstrated the 6-foot glitter staff. After about a half hour, we were back on the road, no harm, no foul.
I'm just really glad that two things were missing from my car:
1) Frank, the Uber-Libertarian, who would have stood on his 4th amendment rights and gotten us all hauled off to jail, and
2) The broken alarm clock duct-taped to a bundle of plastic dynamite sticks.