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Unmarked Police Vehicle Tried To Run Me Off The Road - No Lights Or Anything, Was Scared For My Life

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Hello, I'm just needing some incite into potential next steps. I'll be factual, and am willing to admit if I'm completely in the wrong.

I live quite a ways away from workplace, about 40 miles, and was heading home from work. I was speeding, the road was wide open (not that that's justification) and I wanted to get home. A beat up, tinted car with no license plate was behind me and was driving a lot faster than I was, my estimate being about 100, and caught up to me and was tailgating me. I was annoyed but undeterred, I figured it was someone who was trying to show off in their beat up car or something. They would back off, and then get extremely close to my car again. Not a big deal. We hit a town and the van behind me starts flashing their headlights at me. I ignore it but they keep doing it, so I hit my flashers for a minute as an acknowledgement. The individual behind me keeps flashing their headlights at me. I'm still under the impression that this is probably someone upset that I was speeding and telling me to slow down, so while it seems silly, I just slightly turn left and right in my own lane as pretty obvious acknowledgement of the car behind them and to show that I don't mean any ill will towards them. At this point, the car behind me flies in front of me, in a no passing zone fyi, and then slams on the breaks. I'm scared at this point, figuring there had been some sort of miscommunication. They pull to the right side of the road and roll down their window and it's some guy in regular clothes yelling at me. I'm pretty scared at this point so I keep driving. The car behind me comes flying after me - again, its a beat up, no license plate car, and then gets into the lane of oncoming traffic and begins turning into my vehicle. I'm pretty terrified so I speed up to get away from the crazy person, and I'm waving my phone at them to try to signal I'm going to call the cops. The vehicle then repeats the same action, getting into the lane of oncoming traffic and trying to keep pace with my car. Their window is rolled down but I can't understand anything they're saying, so I yell back as loud as I can that I will call the cops the if they do not quit following me. The car gets behind me and continues to tailgate, so I call 911. The vehicle than pulls into another road.

While giving a description to 911, because I'm absolutely panicked at this point because I was sure that this person trying to run me off the road meant to harm me in a fit of road rage, the call gets dropped. I get signal and call 911 again, only to be met with, "oh I'm sorry, the individual following you was an undercover officer who was trying to let you know that pieces of your vehicle had fallen off and hit his car". Again, there were no police lights, nothing signaling that this was an officer, he was not in uniform, I had no indication that's who they were. They stated that since it was a misunderstanding, they were not going to send a police officer to my location. I am relieved to know it wasn't a crazy person, I hang up, and then I get upset. This officer who had no police lights or any indication they were a police had essentially tried to run me off the road and made me fear for my life.

I call the non-emergency line, who tells me that they can't tell me who the individual was or what jurisdiction they were out of or anything, but that they could assure me that the individual "meant no ill will" towards me. I tell them it was probably the scariest thing I had ever experienced and reiterate that they had seemingly attempted to run me off the road in their vehicle and stated that I would like to potentially issue a complaint. They tell me again they cannot tell me what jurisdiction they're out of, if any, just that they can confirm that they meant no ill will to me and that the person following me was "concerned for my safety and wellbeing" and was afraid I might cause an accident from the piece of my vehicle that had fallen off and wanted to let me know. I inform them that being ran off the road would have been detrimental to my safety and wellbeing and I was completely terrified in that moment. They acknowledge that it was a "misunderstanding" and stated that I should call the police department (again, I have no idea what jurisdiction he was even out of) during their business hours and/or I can consider consulting an attorney. I thank them for their time and hang up with them.

So now I'm not sure what to do. I am a mentally disabled individual - I have autism spectrum disorder, and how I interpret the world is different. That being said, I had no indication of any kind this was a law enforcement officer. From my point of view, a man in a beat up car was tailgating me, brake checking me, trying to steer their car into mine, yelling at me from their window, flashing their lights at me, driving into oncoming traffic to try to yell at me, and following me. There were no police lights. There was no markings. There was no indication this was an officer. They did not have a uniform. I genuinely was thinking, "this guy is road raging and going to run me off the road and shoot me". I have never experienced something as scary as that, as I was sure that their aggressive driving and almost causing a collision (I came very close to rear-ending them accidentally when they brake checked me).

So the question is, now what? If I file a complaint, can the police not turn this around into something akin to, from the officers perspective, "an individual was reckless driving with pieces of their car falling off and even though I was off duty/in an unmarked vehicle I did what I felt was necessary to stop the individual"? I don't believe there will be any sort of corrective action taken towards the individual, while I feel like there should be as they not only made me fear for my life but endangered it as well be almost causing a collision, driving into oncoming traffic, and passing me in a no pass zone. But again, all this started with me speeding.

Finally, I'm not positive pieces of my car even fell off. I had a small encounter with a deer and found that a piece of my splash shield was dragging on the ground when I got home. It was either bumper clips or rocks being thrown by the splash shield dragging on the ground that was resulting in what appeared to be pieces falling from my vehicle.

So what now, if anything? If it's best I let it go, I will, but I want some input on what my next steps should look like because I've never experienced something so terrifying only to find out it was a misunderstanding with an undercover officer.

submitted by /u/-BreakMeInTwo-
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