"Drug bust" (Sioux Falls, Aberdeen: crime, motel, schools)

[Jammie]

Sorry you had to go through so much scrutiny in our state. But I feel the same way that Danny does. I'm happy that our law enforcement is vigilant and on top of things. There's bound to be innocent people detained while they're doing their job. Sort of like before you get on the plane~you're checked over like you're a criminal. But since 9/11, I'm actually glad they go through all of that.

They do have huge signs warning people to not bring drugs through the state. They really do catch a lot of them and it's more then likely saving some lives.

[Dogmandeux]

Sorry you had to go through so much scrutiny in our state

Jammie, there is no need to feel sorry for me. The trooper didn't waterboard me into signing a confession. He pulled me over for drinking milk and it's my fault that I allowed him to escalate the incident into a drug search. I thought compliance was the best choice at the time but hindsight is always 20/20. I should have been properly indignant and challenged him to either write the ticket, arrest me or leave me alone.

[traveler73]

I've heard that the 2004 Buick is THE car of choice for drug dealers...just kidding!

Sure, he technically had a right to pull you over for "lane drifting." I'm all for law enforcement to pull a person over to check things out. You could have been a DUI or been having a medical emergency, who knows.

But once he got to your window, he should have used common sense and training to figure out that you are not a drug dealer. If you were not acting nervous or didn't knock him out with an overwhelming smell of cannabis when you rolled down the window, then a quick license and registration check should have sufficed.

Sorry you and your car had to go through that search by Fido. Dog hair can be such a pain to get out of a car's interior.

[Dogmandeux]

Dog hair can be such a pain to get out of a car's interior.

Tell me about it. After tearing up the bed I had made in the back seat the trooper said it appeared my story checked out. He had earlier asked if the bed was constructed to hide drugs. I told him that my White German Shepherd "Cloud" had died the week before of sudden (and brutal) hemangiosarcoma and I was en route to Kansas City to in part pick up a rescue white shepherd, thus the reason for the bed in the seat. Before he let me out of his cruiser he said he'd observed a lot of white (shepherd) hair in the backseat floorboard ... thus my story checked out.

Turns out that trooper is almost famous on the internet for the amount of drugs he has confiscated - and for his creativity in initiating stops. He pulled one guy over for having a rosary/crucifix hanging from his rear view mirror... and another for speeding: "68 in a 65." He couldn't get me for speeding- I had the cruise control set at 71 in a 75 zone. I'd been watching him tail me the entire time and had set the speed lower hoping he'd get bored and pass me by. He had to drive a ways before his grill cam caught my tire touching the fog line. I'm going to consider trading in that Buick for a less conspicuous drugmobile.

[DannyBanany]

Originally Posted by Dogmandeux

[i] I'm going to consider trading in that Buick for a less conspicuous drugmobile.

Try an El Camino with hydraulics and gold rims. And maybe you should shave your head and wear a wife beater. Gold teeth always help. Cops won't even notice ya!

[Dogmandeux]

Banany, I'm not entirely convinced your El Camino would slip under the radar that easily. I'm thinking more of a 1973 Mark IV powder blue low rider with red wheel well lights, a train horn and Grateful Dead stickers.

And being a drug lord I can afford diamond teeth- or "grills" as they are called.

That ought to at least get me to Mitchell next time.

[ElkHunter]

South Dakota is getting a little rediculouse on I-90. They make their living there. I drive down for posts at Whitewood. I drive an old 1985 4 wheel drive pickup with a 30 ft gooseneck flatbed. And I plan on getting pulled over. It's like stopping at the port of entry, just plan on it.

I appreciate the fact that they want to keep druggies off the road and keep them from coming into, or through South Dakota. But come on, an old Ford with a flatbed is profiled?

As a result, I've started picking up posts in Utah.

[Dogmandeux]

As a result, I've started picking up posts in Utah.


I was in Utah just last Tuesday for the same reason. After giving careful consideration to getting pulled over again on I-90 - but this time with a "wild child" German shepherd rescue in the back seat - I canceled my Sturgis motel, drove I-80 instead and stayed in Rawlins (19 degrees that night). Swung through Ogden the next day and finally pooped out at Baker City, OR.

[DannyBanany]

It is too bad that all of this "harassment" from our patrol on I-90 has led to people avoiding our state alltogether. Maybe you should try to contact the SDHP and tell them what you have experienced and let them know that you do not plan on returning unless this "harassment" stops.

I have heard that cops in and around Rapid City are real jerks too. And that was what a cop from Pierre told me!

I can understand why our state patrol does not want drugs coming through, but apparently it is costing South Dakota a lot of visitors and a lot of MONEY!

Contacting the Highway Patrol

[yeah_right]

Originally Posted by Dogmandeux

No doubt a lot of that meth originates in Washington state so I can understand South Dakota law enforcement keeping an eye out for WA plates... in fact a second trooper ran my plates that same day as I traveled down I-29, south of Sioux Falls, but by then I was already in the system and he just drove on.

Officers are allowed discretion and the trooper who pulled me over didn't exercise any at all when I'm fairly certain he could tell I was "okay" from the git-go. Under the innocent circumstances of that stop (drinking low-fat milk) I can't imagine what prompted the shakedown.

I shudder to think what might have happened had I been drinking something stronger - like chocolate milk.

Hey, if you'd been drinking CHOCOLATE MILK (wince....), you would have been sent to Sherrif Joe in Phoenix...then you'd pay for your horrendous crime. If you can't do the time...don't cross that line!...You will be known by all in tent city as the infamous

'MILK-TOTING LANE CROSSER IN PINK UNDERWEAR "
May God have mercy on your soul...