Weird LEO encounter

[GilpinGuy]

A sort of freaky (deaky?) thing happened a few days ago to me. I'm parked at the bottom of our hill waiting for my stepson's school bus. My neighbor is parked right behind me and there is no room to park in front of me - it's the cross street, so I'm basically first in line to pull out and turn right to go up the hill.

I'm sitting there with my daughter in her car seat and an unmarked police car drives up and parks diagonally in front of me, blocking the other road totally, obviously so I can't go anywhere.

I think "WTF is this?" and figured they were after one of the other half dozen or so folks parked at the bus stop. The Deputy gets out and bee-lines toward me.

I say, "How's it going?"
He says, "What's your name?"
Me: John
Him: Last name...
Me: (I say my last name)
Him: Oh, I thought I recognized you, but I was mistaken. Sorry about that. Have a nice day.

Then he smiles, shakes my hand and drives up the hill. About a minute later a marked Gilpin County Deputy drives by and goes up the hill also.

My neighbor gets out of his van and asks me "What the hell was that all about?" I start to think and realize that the unmarked car came from behind me and immediately stopped in front of me. Plus I have a thick layer of that protective coating (mud) on every window of the Jeep except the windshield, so there is no way he saw my face before he parked. No way he "recognized me". I had no friggin idea what the hell was up, but I just assumed that I would see both Deputies in my driveway when I got home for some reason.

So I bolted to Alaska with the kids...kidding! [LOL]

The kids arrive on the bus about 10 minutes later and we go up toward our house. Then we see both Sheriff vehicles at someone else's house, with a few people in cuffs and a few others milling around.

The local gossip is that it was an "illegal" grow house and they had a few kids living there, yadda yadda. Why the hell the first guy came at me is anyone's guess. That house had no big black Jeeps parked there ever, so no similar vehicles. My only thought it that they were on the lookout for one like mine. Weird.

[Great-Kazoo]

Checking to see if you were one of the people they may have been looking for. You live on the same street, vehicle might have been a close match. Can you describe the car, mam?
Yes it was dirty. Um okay, thanks.

[GilpinGuy]

I guess that was it, but there have only been 2 pickups parked there since they moved in that I've ever seen.

The look in that Deputy's eyes was creepy weird, like "Here we go!". I just kept one elbow out the window and the other on the steering wheel the whole time.

[Bailey Guns]

Doesn't seem weird to me at all. He thought you were someone else, asked you to verify, you weren't, he thanked you and found the guy he was looking for. He didn't even axe for ID. Sounds like he was nice enough and only took a few seconds of your time.

[Aloha_Shooter]

Was your plate visible? Maybe he did a license check, recognized the street but had a brain fart on the street number, so thought you were with the grow house operation?

[ChunkyMonkey]

He tagged you with nano chip when he shook your hand. He is now outside in the milk van tracking ya.. Chirp.. Chirp.. Chirp


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[KevDen2005]

Looking for someone else....the thought I recognized you is code for, "you aren't the crap bag I was looking for."

[Irving]

Did he say, "I'll see YOU later."

[spqrzilla]

My guess: Since they were heading to make an arrest nearby and the deputy probably didn't realize that you were waiting at a bus stop. So he probably wanted to clear your vehicle before proceeding to make sure there were no suspects behind him.

[Jefe's AR]

Similar thing happened to me once. It was a bit more exciting though. :)

[osok-308]

Looking for someone else....the thought I recognized you is code for, "you aren't the crap bag I was looking for."

It's possible a guy with warrants looks similar to you. After a while, you get to know what your regulars look like. He could have thought "that looks a lot like joe dirtbag, let's make sure it's him or not."

[hurley842002]

I was just outside of Buena Vista hunting one year, ran into town to get some beer one evening, and was pulled over guns drawn. Apparently the orange 74 International Scout I was driving fit the description of a potential murder suspect they were looking for...

[Gunner]

I was just outside of Buena Vista hunting one year, ran into town to get some beer one evening, and was pulled over guns drawn. Apparently the orange 74 International Scout I was driving fit the description of a potential murder suspect they were looking for...
Sounds like you got away with murder though

Sent from my Galaxy S7

[Jefe's AR]

Similar thing happened to me once. It was a bit more exciting though. :)


I was just outside of Buena Vista hunting one year, ran into town to get some beer one evening, and was pulled over guns drawn. Apparently the orange 74 International Scout I was driving fit the description of a potential murder suspect they were looking for...

Not a murderer but serving a warrant on a meth cook/dealer and my Dodge 2500 matched his and I was driving by as they were serving. I continued down the street which ended at a 'circle'. When I turned around to come back they were coming at me and ran me off the road, popped out guns drawn. My 4 yo son was a bit confused.

[BushMasterBoy]

At least it wasn't a UFO encounter.

[Landsknecht]

He was trying to determine if you were "the lookout guy" for the folks they were going after.

[Ah Pook]

Looking for someone else....the thought I recognized you is code for, "you aren't the crap bag I was looking for."

Yep, GG is a totally different Crap Bag. [Coffee]

Would the raided house be the Carolinians?

[KevDen2005]

It's possible a guy with warrants looks similar to you. After a while, you get to know what your regulars look like. He could have thought "that looks a lot like joe dirtbag, let's make sure it's him or not."

Yep, I do it everyday

[Guylee]

"License and registration, Chickenf*cker! BAGAAAAWK"

[cstone]

He was trying to determine if you were "the lookout guy" for the folks they were going after.

Just a quick check for counter surveillance.

Sounds like the mounties got their man.

Glad everyone is safe. [Flower]

[GilpinGuy]

Doesn't seem weird to me at all. He thought you were someone else, asked you to verify, you weren't, he thanked you and found the guy he was looking for. He didn't even axe for ID. Sounds like he was nice enough and only took a few seconds of your time.

I'm not complaining. It was just weird to be in that position out of the blue. For cops who have done it 100 times, sure it's not weird. For a guy sitting there kidding around with his 3 year old to have a cop block his path and start asking questions, yeah, it was weird. He's doing his job, I get it. In fact the Sheriff and Deputies up here are nothing but cool as hell. At least that's been my experience.


Looking for someone else....the thought I recognized you is code for, "you aren't the crap bag I was looking for."

Again, there's no way he could have got a look at my face until he was in front of my vehicle. Maybe he got a quick glance when he was turning to up the hill.


My guess: Since they were heading to make an arrest nearby and the deputy probably didn't realize that you were waiting at a bus stop. So he probably wanted to clear your vehicle before proceeding to make sure there were no suspects behind him.

There were about half a dozen cars at the bottom of the hill.


He was trying to determine if you were "the lookout guy" for the folks they were going after.

See above.


Yep, GG is a totally different Crap Bag. [Coffee]

Would the raided house be the Carolinians?

I'm certainly look like a Crap Bag sometimes, but not the one they were after apparently. I don't know who the Carolinians are, but the guy's pickup has some kind of contractor name on it. Carpentry, plumbing, etc.

[GunsRBadMMMMKay]

LOL...I had a similar encounter in utah. State ran my CO plate at a rest stop, then called out to me by name as I was walking to the pisser. I looked at him, was worried that i might actually know him but didn't recall the name so responded by walking up to him. Realized I didn't know him when i got close so asked what was up, he looked at me and my family and said that I fit the description of someone they were looking for but wasn't the right guy. I figured he was just fishing so blew it off.......probably bored and seeing if my car was stolen I guess.

[Doc45]

Even though you never saw a vehicle similar to yours at the house understand an associate of the people there could have one. Been on both sides of the coin so I bring that perspective with my comment, no slam against GilpinGuy at all.