Routine Traffic Stop

The fact that the Jetta was going so close to the exact speed limit had Ray’s attention but it didn’t necessarily mean a whole lot. People frequently would decide to do things exactly by the rules when they knew they had a cop car behind them even when they weren’t doing anything wrong. Still, the car looked like it was weaving a bit. That was always hard to tell too. Could just be some idiot checking the time on their phone. When he saw it drive into the shoulder for a bit was when he turned on his lights.

He approached the car and saw the window electronically going down. He’d been doing this for 13 years and this still scared him when it was happening at night on a road where there was no other traffic. You just never knew what was on the other end of that window. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw it was a Caucasian woman. They were never dangerous, at least not in a traffic stop situation. 

“Good evening, ma’am,” he said which got him a dirty look from her but no verbal response. “License and registration please.”

“Why?” she said. She had an accent, maybe German, maybe Swedish. He didn’t really know. “What did I do?” He could smell the alcohol in there once she started talking. That and the fact that she dared to question him made him snap in a hurry. You didn’t question a police officer. And NO ONE questioned Ray Gordon.

“Because I asked you for it!” he shouted back at her. He got another dirty look and he was quickly losing his patience. She handed him the license and registration. He looked at the name – Ava Reid. 42-years-old. The address on her license was from a town that was an hour away.

“Not from here,” he said to her. “What brings you into town?”

“That’s my old address. They don’t send you new ones anymore when you move. My new address is taped on the back.” That was true but Ray didn’t like being told he was wrong by anyone, especially when he was wrong. He checked out the back and her story checked. 

“Know why I pulled you over?”

“I already told you I didn’t.” He was going to have fun with this arrest. Teach her not to mouth off. 

“You were weaving quite a bit. You have anything to drink tonight?” 

She actually turned back towards the steering wheel, crossed her arms at her chest, and pouted. “I am not answering that question.”

“Step out of the car, please, ma’am.” 

She turned back and looked at him like he was the one being the asshole. “Why?”

“BECAUSE I SAID SO!”

She opened the car door. He had looked at her name, address, and age when he had looked at her license. He hadn’t looked at her height which was why he was thrown off when she stood up and had to be a good seven inches tall than he was. She must have been 6’4. Ray normally didn’t feel intimidated by people that were taller than he was but it wasn’t often he came across people that were this tall, especially when it was a woman. There was something about her looking down at him that he didn’t like.

“Ma’am I would like you to stand on one leg for me, OK?”

He looked down at her wearing a pair of jeans and a pair of sneakers. He was glad, as had she been wearing a skirt and heels this may have been more difficult. But her height was definitely legitimate. He looked back up at her face, still staring him down. She then surprised him as she grabbed him and put him in a headlock.

Tall skinny people could be a lot stronger than they looked, that was something Ray had learned in the past. That was the case with Ava as well. He tried to pull her arms off of him but she had him in a good hold and he couldn’t break free. That was okay. He’d overpower her eventually, though if she gave him as much as a noticeable bruise, all of his cop buddies would be busting his balls about it for months, that was how it went.

He was frustrated that he couldn’t break free but just when he thought he was making some progress she hoisted him up and changed the headlock to a chokehold. He felt the strength of her arm underneath the thin material of the hoodie that she was wearing choke him out. This was the kind of hold that he’d get in a lot of trouble for if he ever put on a citizen because it could knock them out. Now she had it on him and he quickly went from thinking about when he’d overpower this woman, to if he was going to be able to free himself before she knocked him out.

He elbowed her in the ribs and it didn’t even get a reaction. He did it again and the same thing happened. This woman was tough. Her arm tightened around his throat. He had no choice. He reached for his gun and pulled it out of the holster. He may as well have given it to her. With her free hand she took control of that hand. She let go of the chokehold with the other arm and put both hands around the gun. He didn’t have time to get his other arm up before she pulled it out of his hands. She took a couple of steps back and he saw this tall woman pointing his gun right at him. The look on her face took away and thoughts he had about taking his chances and jumping at her.

“Step back!” she said. “And put your hands up!”

“Alright, alright,” he said cooperating, trying to stay calm and not think about the bad things we was going to do to her once he got his gun back. “Just stay calm, OK?”

“Turn around,” she said.

“Listen, I…”

“Turn around!”

She had the gun and she was in charge. He debated if he wanted to charge her and take his chances or take his chances of turning around and taking a bullet in the back of his head. Without much time to think about it, he turned around as she said, his whole body tightening up as he realized he probably made the wrong move.

“Now walk,” she said.

She led him to his car and had him get in the driver’s seat, not aiming away from him for a second. She made him keep his hands on his head as she walked around the front of the car, keeping aim on him through the windshield as she moved.

“Drive,” she said once she got in the car and still kept aim on him. 

He drove as she said, unable to believe that he was getting hijacked in his own squad car. This was either going to end very badly for her or very badly for him but all he could do at that point was drive and see.

She made him drive to a back road, not taking his pistol or her eyes off of him the entire time. He drove down the road which turned into a path through trees that the car was barely able to fit through. She made him keep driving longer before finally stopping him. 

“Out!” she said and she poked his shoulder with the gun. “And the second you get out of this car, put your hands right on your head and keep them there as long as I say, otherwise you won’t have a head to put them on.”

He got out of the car into the dark woods, never so afraid before. He had always looked at himself as a tough cop but all of his 13 years of it didn’t matter at this point – he was nothing but a scared, weak man.

“Walk,” she said as she poked his back with the gun.

“Where are you taking me?” he asked as he started to walk. She didn’t reply. He knew better than to ask again. She led him down another path until they got to an open clearing.  She lightly shoved him a couple of times.

“Turn around,” she said. He did so and looked at her. She was so tall. She was so intimidating. She threw the gun far to the side of them were they both would have had to run to get to it first. She looked at him like she wondered if he was going to do that.

“Now let’s have a fair fight,” she said. “Just me and you. No using your badge or gun to push people around like you like to do. No using the fact that you are bigger and stronger to intimidate women or weaker men. Let’s see how you do in an even fight. I’m taller, you’re thicker. Let’s go.”

She walked towards him and poked his chest. She just wanted to fight the old school way. As he tried to think about whether he wanted to fight, run, or go for his gun, she gave him a good shove that almost knocked him over. That set him off. He lunged at her. 

Fighting someone so much taller than him was difficult. It was hard to defend against her long arms and she wrapped her arm around his neck in a headlock. She made him feel so small when she pulled his head into her hip. He struggled hard to free himself but her arms were too strong. After easily holding him like that for a bit, she yanked his head back up and put him in another chokehold.

He couldn’t get out of this one either and based on where they were he thought it was a lot more likely that she wasn’t going to stop. He pulled desperately at her arm but couldn’t pull her off of him no matter how hard he tried. He felt her squeezing his throat and it felt for sure like she was going to knock him out.

“Feel weak?” she said into his ear with her accent. “How do you think your little wife feels when you get forceful with her and she is too scared to stand up to you?” She tightened more and he started desperately tapping out on her arm, hoping that she would stop. It felt like she was going to crush his Adam’s apple and that his eyes were going to pop out of his head. She thankfully let go.

She shoved him away as he gagged trying to catch his breath, his eyes watering up as he did. He turned around and looked at her with resent, hating this woman but not about to try and fight her again either.

“My wife set this up?” he said, his voice scratchy from being choked. He didn’t use her name just in case that wasn’t the case. “That what this is all about?”

“You think your wife is the only person you bully?” she said. “This is about a lot more than just your wife.”

“Well I’ve never laid a finger on her ever!” 

“It’s not about laying a finger on her. If you had done that I wouldn’t have let go. You yell at her and scare her when you want to get your way. You do it because you know she is too small and weak to retaliate. You would never act that way to someone bigger than you – like me. Look how easily you just gave up to me.”

That gave him a second wind. “Oh really??” he said.

He charged at her and tried to football tackle her, just like he did when he played DIII in college. But once he wrapped his arms around her waist he may as well have tried to tackle one of the trees as she had such strong legs that she didn’t budge. He pushed at her a bit longer, unsuccessfully before she just threw him on the ground like it was nothing.

He hit hard and she was quick for a tall person, on the ground with him in no time. He saw her long legs coming at him and he couldn’t keep them away. She wrapped them around his ribs, scissoring him, and she locked her ankles together. She started to squeeze and it felt like she was going to break him in half as she squeezed.

He desperately pulled at her legs with no success while she lay on her side comfortably looking like she was just lounging, actually putting her hands behind her head to get plenty comfortable. He pulled as hard as he could at her legs and as he really started to feel the pain in his ribs, he started punching her legs. She didn’t flinch.

“Thought you’d bully me like you do all of the people that you arrest, didn’t you?” she said. “You know you just love that feeling knowing you can talk to people however you want to, knowing you have complete control as to whether they spend the night in jail or even beat them up sometimes. Well now you are the one that is getting beat up and you’re spending some time in jail – my leg jail!”

He wasn’t even able to process what she had said as he was in too much pain. He grabbed one more time at her legs and when it seemed hopeless he tapped out on the ground. She let go of him and pushed him away.

“You wimp,” she said.

She got up to her feet and he sat at her feet, looking up at how tall she was, looking down at him like she was so much better than he was. He slowly got up and once he was standing he couldn’t hold back. He took a swing at her and she moved back out of the way, making him completely whiff.

“Oh you didn’t want to do that,” she said.

She put up her fists and they were now going to have a fist fight. There was no turning back now. He raised his fists and looking at her long arms, he knew he had a problem. He took another swing at her and he didn’t even come close to connecting. He watched her fists swing at him. There was no stopping that long arm. Her fist hit him in the side of the head.

It rang his bell and he already didn’t want any more of this. He was a tough cop but he couldn’t remember the last time he was involved in a fair fight. Her long arm came swinging at him again. He took another fist to the side of the head. He felt dazed and already too afraid to throw a punch.

She kept coming. This time she punched him in the cheek. Getting his head knocked around like this was no fun but he couldn’t give up. He kept his fists up looking for the opportunity to punch but he didn’t see an opportunity to get close. She punched him in the face again. He was losing badly. She punched him in the face right next to his nose and he fell. As he sat there looking up at her they both knew it was over. She walked over to get the gun while he stayed seated. 

“Come on,” she said. “Let’s go.”

He drove the car out of the woods as she sat there comfortably, the gun still in her hands, but no longer pointed at him. Both of them knew at this point that he’d be stupid to try anything. He didn’t even try anything as she set the gun down and began untying her sneakers.  She pulled them off, pulled her socks off, then rested her bare feet right on the dashboard as he drove. Her feet were so big. It was such a humiliating ride back to her car for him. When they got back, her car was still there and there was no one around. She turned around in her seat to face him and she actually playfully poked his face with her toes.

“I live around here now,” she said to him. “So I’ll be keeping an eye on things from now on. You might think you’re looking after the town but I’m going to be looking after you. So you’re going to behave yourself and treat people with respect. You got that? Huh?” 

The woman who had been serious the entire time she had been with him now laughed as she playfully poked his face with her toes again a couple of times to test him. He didn’t do anything in retaliation and just sat there having to take it. 

“That’s what I thought,” she said. “Now put my socks and shoes back on for me.”

She held her bare feet in front of him and he just wanted them gone to he didn’t argue. She didn’t even move them out of the way as he bent down to get her stuff, and she intentionally rubbed her feet on his face when she could. He resented her so much as he put her socks and sneakers on for her but there was nothing he could do. When he was finally done, she handed him his gun before she started to get out of the car. 

“Oh by the way,” she said. “I only had one shot of booze before you pulled me over. So I was under the legal limit. I knew you needed at least a little reason to start acting like an ass. But I’m safe.”  

Once she got out and he saw her walking towards her car, her back to him, he wondered if he should try anything. But he knew that wouldn’t be a good idea and so did she which was why she had no problem walking with her back to him. He was just going to have to change how he did things from now on.