Justice Alfresco

Mid-afternoon at a fast-food restaurant near a main thoroughfare. Suddenly, my wife and I hear two short bursts of a police siren, and a shabby vehicle slows to a stop next to the median, with a police cruiser right behind it. All heads turn to the street.

The officer approaches the motorist cautiously, his right hand resting on the grip of his weapon. He leans over by the driver’s window, and they exchange words. Moments later, the motorist steps out of his car and his hands are cuffed behind him. He leans over the hood and is frisked. The policeman escorts him to the median, where they wait. Shortly, a van pulls up in front of the restrained motorist’s vehicle; I don’t recognize the logo on the van.

The motorist is rather unceremoniously escorted to the opened double-doors at the back of the van, and helped into it. An officious looking white-haired man exits the van and chats with the officer for a few minutes, then he returns to the vehicle. Meanwhile, a tow truck arrives on the scene, and the van and police cruiser jockey positions to give the tow truck access; minutes later, said shabby vehicle is hauled away, and the policeman, after making comments to the van driver, continues his patrol.

About a half-hour passes with the van parked against the median, lights flashing, motorists giving it a wide berth. Finally, the back doors to the van open once again, and the driver helps the motorist return to the median, where his handcuffs are removed. We don’t see the older gentleman again.

The blinkers on the van change to a left-turn signal, and it pulls back into traffic, leaving the motorist standing in the middle of the median, scratching his head along with the rest of us who were watching this little drama unfold.

Just another case of Law and Order, SUV.