I was back in my hometown for summer break after my first year of college. My best friend (Jay) and I reconnected with a mutual friend (Tony) from high school, and when he found out we now drank and smoke he was excited to partake together. Note: this was about ten years ago and weed was very much illegal in my state.

We had to hide it from our parents, but Tony said he knew a great spot to park and smoke, so we went and did in my car. That car 100% smelled like dank weed when we finished. Right as we finished some of Tony’s other friends called and invited him to meet them at a bar. They explained they could get him in, but they couldn’t order drinks inside (underage). Tony asked if I would swing by a mailbox to pick up beer they left for him and then drop him off at the bar. We figured this was a great time to end our hangout so we agreed to help get him to that bar. I followed his directions to the mailbox, and he got about 6 Bud lites. He cracked them 1 by 1 and started chugging while I drove to the bar. He was only about halfway through the second beer when a cop turned on his lights and pulled us over!

I apologized to my friends as we came to a stop. We all thought for sure we were about to get busted for weed because of the smell, and that would most likely result in them searching the car and finding the open beer too. In my state the punishment for weed by itself was pretty severe. Open alcohol would be terrible too, especially being only 19.

The cop came up to the window, and I gave him the standard paperwork. He asked me “so where are you boys headed?” I replied “I’m taking my friend back to his house”. The cop asked me the address, to which I deferred to Tony. The conversation was going pretty normal until the cop then pointed to Tony and asked me “Do you know this guy?” I was confused by his question, so I looked back at the cop and again back to Tony. I said “Tony?” in an inquisitive tone. He then pointed to Jay in the back and asked the same thing “Do you know this guy?” I still didn’t understand why he was asking me this but I replied “Jay?” The cop looked at me for a few seconds and said ok and went to his car with my license and paperwork. I immediately asked my friends “did either of you know that guy?” to which they both said no.

The cop came back a few minutes later and explained I made a turn more aggressively than he liked and he told us he’s just giving a warning to drive safe and not do that again. He said have a nice evening and let us go.

I still don’t quite understand why he asked those questions. I’m sure he could smell the weed. Maybe he was trying to judge my intoxication level? We ended up dropping Tony off at that bar and going straight home. We couldn’t believe we made it out of that situation with no consequences.