It had to happen eventually.

The inevitable happened on my way home from work tonight. Technically, it happened this morning, since right now it's 3 a.m.

I stayed late to work on a big project, but I guess I got into a groove, because before I knew it, the stopwatch hanging in the dub room announced that it was 2am with a beep. I found a good place to stop, and powered down the computers in my office. I walked into the dub room to check on the tape I started blacking at around midnight. It only had 4 minutes left, so I decided to wait it out so I could start another tape before I left. This would end up costing me very soon.

I started another tape, and, after setting the alarm, I walked out of the building into an extremely cold wind, while wearing a jacket that does not zip up. My car was slow to start, so I let it warm up for a couple minutes before leaving the parking lot.

The stoplight at Mur-Len and Santa Fe took forever to change, but when it finally did, I noticed that the car that had been sitting across the intersection from me was a black & white Olathe Police cruiser. I glanced over at him as we crossed the intersection, only to lock eyes with him. He was staring me down, and probably had been for a while. Great.

He immediately did a U-turn in the intersection and was now right behind me heading east on Santa Fe. This is just what I need. I've just left work after 10 hours, so I am very tired, and I'm sure that I look like it. I did not want to deal with this crap tonight.

Ever since starting on the evening shift, I've expected this to happen. When I'm heading home around midnight on any other night, I usually see one or two police officers in Olathe or Overland Park. I've even talked to one at the QuikTrip while filling up with gas. I figured it was a good idea to make friends with the late night patrols in case I should ever run into one in a situation like this. All I could hope for was that this was the same cop.

No dice.

The cop followed me for a while, keeping a distance of about 5 or 6 car-lengths behind me. I assume he was running my plate in that time, but who knows. I began to think that maybe it was just a coincidence that he turned around at that intersection, and wasn't really following me at all. Maybe he was on his way somewhere else, and I just happened to be going the same way. Right about then is when the lights started flashing.

Since he turned on his lights right as we were crossing the intersection of Santa Fe and Black Bob, I continued driving until I found a place to stop. Apparently he thought this meant I hadn't noticed him yet, and he gave me a short blast of his siren.

I took the first right I saw, and came to a rest right next to Metcalf Discount Liquors. Good idea, Sean. I parked my car, and did exactly what I was taught to do in driver's ed: Turned off the engine, set the parking break, turned on the domelight, rolled down the window, and put my hands on the wheel.

The cop walked up to my window and said "Evening, sir." Without taking my hands off the wheel, I looked up at him and said 'hi' in a very nervous voice. I had no reason to be nervous, of course. I wasn't speeding, I wasn't drunk, so I was really in the clear, wasn't I?

He asked if I knew why he pulled me over. I answered no, except for the fact that it was so late. "Bingo," he replied. This was, as he put it, a "spot check," where random drivers are pulled over to check for drunk drivers. He asked me for my license and proof of insurance.

"What are you doing in this part of town so late?" he asked me as he scrutinized my identification.

Now, I have a hard enough time explaining to friends and family that I work on the night shift at an advertising agency. Most can't understand why an ad agency would need a night shift. All of them have no idea how busy PlattForm can be at times.

I told the officer that I work in Olathe, and that I had just left, and that I was on my way home. Well, that's what I tried to say. The combination of being cold and nervous made it come out in a jumbled mess that actually sounded like "I work over there, and I just got off work, well, I didn't just get off, I stayed late, and I'm home, I mean I'm going home. I'm on my way home. To Overland Park." Or something like that. This was not helping my case. I knew what the next question would be, too:

"Where do you work?"

I tried to explain that I work at an ad agency, and that although I usually work until midnight, I had stayed late to work on a big project. I really couldn't tell if he was buying it or not. He asked me a couple specific things about it, like how long I had worked at PlattForm, and what its address was. He asked if I had a business card or anything to backup my story. I reached into my wallet and pulled out the only PlattForm business card I have: Ms. Dory Winn, Human Resources Manager. I got it when I interviewed with her, and I keep meaning to take it out of my wallet, but always forget.

He looked at it for a moment, then handed it back to me. He said he'd be right back, and told me to sit tight. He went back to his car, presumably to run my license and make sure I wasn't wanted for anything. My car was quickly getting cold since I had shut off the engine, so I rolled up the window.

I sat for about 2 or 3 minutes that felt like hours, and while I was looking away, I was startled by a tap on the window.

"Everything's fine here. You have a good night, sir. Don't work too hard." He handed my license back to me, gave me a nod, and walked back to his car. I guess my story checked out, and I didn't appear to be under the influence of anything but fatigue.

I started my car, and waited for him to pull by me. I turned around and started heading for home again. By now it was about 2:45am. As I drove home, I thought about what had just happened. I'm still surprised the officer didn't make me perform any field sobriety tests or use a breathalyzer on me, but I guess it was a judgment call on his part. Or maybe he just didn't want to stand out in the cold, either.

The rest of the trip home was uneventful, until I got to 135th and Antioch, where I turn to head south. Waiting at the intersection to head west on 135th was a silver Overland Park police cruiser. As I passed by him, I noticed he was staring me down. Great.