Is a side street stop legal?

Question

Let's take a hypothetically real scenario where you see a cop on a side street and he looks at you in a way that makes you think that he might want to pull you over. You pass him and signal to the far right lane. As you turn onto the side street, you notice the flashers on the cop's vehicle (far behind you) and a very aggressive acceleration in your direction. You stop about 30 ft into a side street out of the traffic flow on a residential road, turn the car off, and wait; all the while thinking that you have not violated the law.

So with a cop's flashers on and moving in your direction, you pull onto a side street and turn the car off about 30 ft from the intersection. Is this illegal? If the cop was after you, would this not be a safer place for the cop to give you a ticket because of the much lighter and slower traffic on the road?

Or could he say that you were evading the law?

Let's say for this "hypothetical" situation that the cop didn't see you turn onto the side street (he was too far away when I began his pursuit and entered the main roadway), and that you didn't know that he was chasing you (perhaps you were just getting off the road altogether, so that you can be out of the way. Sometimes chases can involved cars which drive very dangerous when the flashers (cop lights) go on.

Okay, so this scenario was more real than hypothetical; it happened 3 years ago. The officer slowed to look down the side street for me, found me waiting, and later accused me of attempting to elude the law. Were his threats about ticketing me for eluding the law justified? He never did ticket me for that, BTW, so I wonder if he was just lying to me about it to get me to confess something else (perhaps for an excuse to search my car).

It happened at 2:30pm in April, so there was plenty of light. I kept my car in the open, not attempting to hide, but my only reason for my thinking that he might be going after me was the look he gave me as I passed him, his movement in my direction several seconds later, and the appearance of emergency lights just as I pulled onto the side street. So was I justified in choosing to make a safer stop on a very close side street instead of on a main road's shoulder? Or was the officer correct in his assertion of the evasion issue?

Answer 1

A "hypothetically real"??? Thank you for putting a smile on my face!

The officer should always be considering safety when attempting to stop a car....likewise...many times when I've attempted to stop a car, I've wondered several things...like why do they wait until the last second (knowing I'm coming up behind them) to pull over. The law is very specific about immediately pulling to the right side of the roadway and stopping! (Most on major roadways think it's alright to just slow down....wrong!)

Secondly, I've wondered, because they seem to often continue on...if the driver isn't attempting to elude.

MOST officers understand the violators frame of mind in that they...

a) don't want a ticket
b) they make an effort to pull over in a safe place for favorable consideration from the officer;
c) they're not sure WHAT to do;

...therefore we normally try to ignore some actions drivers take.

Remember, however, you don't know us and we definitely don't know you...therefore...safety is ALWAYS on our mind!

BEST thing to consider is this...once you see the officer engage his emergency lighting...pull to the right side of the roadway and come to a complete stop. If the officer doesn't consider your location a good place for a citizen contact...he can instruct you to move to a safer location.

Best wishes!

Answer 2

You obviously though he was after you and by making a turn that he/she would most likely consider evading....after 20+ years I would consider it evading. Good luck. More details would be nice. Was it dark, etc.

Answer 3

A stop can be made anywhere. It is as the cops discretion where. he will take into consideration safety such as traffic flow.