Celebrities have places to go just like the rest of us, and just like us normies, they ignore traffic laws. But do they get special treatment? Read and find out...
trevans12 asked cops of Reddit: Have you ever pulled over a celebrity? If so, who was it, what did they do, and how were they?
Submissions have been edited for clarity, context, and profanity.
9. Denzel.
My dad claimed he pulled over Denzel Washington one time in the late 90's. It was some minor infraction like making a right on red when there's a sign saying you can't, or failure to yield, or something like that. Dad recognized him immediately and said something like "well I know who you are and I'm pretty sure there's no warrants out for you, so try to be more careful yeah?"
For his part, Mr. Washington was apologetic and said he was having trouble figuring out where he was going (Mapquest wasn't a thing yet), so dad gave him directions and left him go on his way.
I appreciate the fact that you say your dad "claimed" he pulled over Denzel Washington. It makes me think you're skeptical.
I was between 11-13 years old when it happened, and he had a tendency to embellish work stories for my siblings and I to make them sound more interesting. I have no doubt that he pulled over someone famous that day, but it was more than likely someone whose name I wouldn't recognize as immediately.
8. Sounds about right.
Former police cadet and dispatcher here. I was on a ride along and was told this story. So this officer pulls this car over for speeding. She then suspects the driver of being drunk. She calls in his drivers license to run it. The dispatcher tells her, "You have Nick Nolte pulled over? Do you know who he is? He's a movie star." The officer is young and doesn't know who Nick Nolte is. Turns out he wasn't drunk, he was just being Nick Nolte. She gave him a warning and sent him on his way.
7. See you on the court.
D'angelo Russell. He was respectful and didn't mention who he was. I didn't know it was him til I recognized his name and looked him up. I let him go with a warning on some chicken sh*t window tint traffic stop.
6. NFL player --> college bar, what could go wrong?
Am cop. The closest I can come to this was when I used to work the door at a college bar. At the time, there was a football player from the college who had gone on to the NFL (and done well), but still liked to come back to that bar for whatever reason. The only problem was that the guy was a massive assh*le. Management had kicked him out several times for general dickery but had withheld banning him because of his celebrity. Finally, one night he groped a waitress and they had enough.
He was a skill player, so he wasn't huge, but he rolled with absolute giants. I remember kicking him out on a couple times and thinking, "If they decide to fight, this will be interesting." Superstar would always drop his own name like we didn't already know him, but the big guys were universally understanding and polite. Thank god.
5. No one is above the law.
Not me, but a friend who was a DPS Officer in Arizona near Kingman. Pull over a guy in a Porsche going way too fast. Friend who was a football fan noticed who it was - Dan Pastorini, QB for the Houston Oilers. Friend was a Denver Bronco fan. Pastorini says something to the effect of "Hi, my name is Dan Pastorini." Friend then procedes to say "Hi Mr. Pastorini, please give me your license and registration." Ends up giving him a ticket.
4. Of course he's awesome.
I worked in mall security for a while and got a call to go to the sunglass hut because of a suspicious guy. Once I got in the store I noticed the only people inside were Danny Trejo and what I think was his daughter. I stayed in the store and the surprise on the employees face when he bought like 3 grand in glasses was pretty funny.
Also just want to put out there he is an awesome guy. He used to come to my neighborhood on Halloween and walk around with the kids trick or treating.
3. Oh, her.
Back in the late 1980s small rural town in Kansas. Local cop stopped Ted Nugent for speeding. The local paper published a copy of the ticket on the front page.
2. Way to hold the line there.
I once pulled over Jennifer Aniston. I was super surprised to see her because I've always been a huge fan of friends, and when she started balling telling me about how Brad Pitt was talking to Angelina Jolie I was stuck between wanting to comfort her and give her a ticket so I just told her I knew where she was coming from (f*cked up exes) and that she should stay strong because he obviously didn't value her and I told her I loved her in Friends and she thanked me and drove away before I could pull myself together.
Will not let something like that happen again!
1. Racial profiling isn't cool.
Wasn't a cop, but a professor was. He was an LT at the department while teaching at night. The school was in a large city, Midwest, with some rough parts of town. He sees an Escalade pull into an IHOP, and 4 large men get out. Nice clothes, they had bling. He follows them into the restaurant. It's late at night. He is the same ethnicity btw. Turns out it was Cuba Gooding JR. turns out, he's a really nice guy.
