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TIFU by forgetting to put away my vacuum “gun” during a police stop

To preface, I occasionally do deliveries for Uber Eats and DoorDash outside of work and school. Since I don’t have much time to drive, I have the apps on in the background whenever I’m free an able, ready to move on a minutes notice.

So it’s late night, and I’m in my garage w a vacuum gun cleaning my seats when I get a ping. It’s basically a handheld vacuum with a long tube to reach small spaces, so from a far it literally is shaped like a gun. Since I was already dressed and ready, I didn’t bother to put the vacuum away and went about my delivery.

I dropped off the order (in a not so nice area of town) and I guess I didn’t make a hard stop at a stop sign bc I got pulled over. I don’t hate cops, but I am uncomfortable given I’m a minority and the area i was driving in, so I’m already on edge. Cop comes up to me saying I didn’t stop completely, I hand over my license and am rummaging through the glove compartment for registration.

However the way my delivery bag was slightly exposing the vacuum, on top of it being dark triggered the officer be he suddenly screamed for me to put my hands on the wheel and then get out of the car. His partner came out and me, now realizing the situation, awkwardly exclaimed “sir, I’m so sorry, that is not a gun, it’s a vacuum!”

I further explained the story and said they had permission to search the car if necessary. The partner took once glance at the seat and started smirking at his partner. With the car lights fully on it’s obvious it’s a vacuum, but like I said while dark, I can understand why it may have been perceived differently.

The first cop awkwardly let me off with a warning, he wasn’t as relaxed as his partner, but I could tell he just wanted to move on with his night.

All in all, definitely an embarrassing encounter but at least I potentially avoided a traffic ticket!

TL;DR: pulled over with a vacuum gun in my car, cop thought it was a real gun

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