Almost shot by South Park police

South Park is one of my favorite animation series. Let me tell you about a funny and somewhat embarrassing incident, when South Park police pulled the gun against me. Yes, it's true, it happened in South Park, which really exists. The proper name of the area is Park County; in the mountains south-west of Denver.

About ten years ago, we lived outside Denver. We used to spend every weekend skiing or hiking in the mountains or just traveling around sightseeing. Once we went for a round-trip, driving highway 285 out of Denver, then taking highway 24 south to Colorado Springs, and finally the fast route on I-25 back to Denver.

We had stopped in Como, now (almost) a ghost town, formerly a mining and railroad town. Driving through the wilderness towards Fairplay, the county seat of Park County, I suddenly saw a police car coming out from a side road. I couldn't imagine it was after me; I never did anything more criminal than stealing apples in the neighbor's garden. So I kept on driving, even increased the speed, until the police car passed us, almost pushed us off the road, and stopped.
- What's the problem guys, I asked. - Who are you after?
- Your number plate in the front is missing, the cops said.
What the Hell, these guys have too little to do, I thought. I told them that I had the number plate in the glove box, but didn't have a screwdriver to mount it.

They told me to get that number plate on as soon as possible, and then took my driver's license and jumped into the police car to fill out some forms. In a bright moment, I got this brilliant idea: I had my Swiss army knife, with a screwdriver, in my backpack in the trunk of the car. So I took the number plate, jumped out of the car, opened the trunk and started to search for my army knife. Then things happened very quickly.

I heard some yelling behind me. I didn't understand what they said, but obviously they were upset. I turned around, with my army knife in the right hand. Then two cops jumped out of the car, and pulled their guns. They shouted again, and I automatically dropped both my army knife and the number plate to the ground.
- Take it easy guys, I said. - I was just looking for a screwdriver.
At this point I think my Winterlandic accent was to my advantage.
- Hey foreigner, you need to learn that American police are nervous, the cops said.
Then they lowered their guns, gave back my driver's license and wished us a good trip. Happy ending, but I was a little shaky afterwards.

I was used to the police in Winterland; they don't even carry a gun. Now I have learnt one important thing: When stopped by American police, you stay in the car if you don't want trouble ... >:)))