As an average teen, one of my biggest fears is getting pulled over by a police car. With my luck, I got pulled over in Sommers Landing, a neighborhood students often cut through, one morning on my way to school.

I normally leave my house around 6:40 a.m. to get to school because I have to park at the football field and walk every morning. However, on this morning, I didn’t leave until 6:50. I was going 50-ish on Highway N because that is the speed limit. I didn’t have time to wait at the light so I turned right to cut through the neighborhood that I had only cut through once before. I was still in the process of slowing down so I was going about 30. As I was pulling into the neighborhood and after driving for what seemed like 5 seconds, I saw a big white SUV with flashing lights behind me.

My heart straight dropped. I thought maybe there was something wrong with my car or the policeman just had to warn me about something. I slowly pulled over and watched the clock as it was inching closer to 7:15 and I didn’t want to be late.

The officer slowly got out after about five minutes and walked over to my passenger door. I was nervous, embarrassed and curious all in one moment. He knocked on the window very politely so I rolled it down and said “good morning.” He told me that his radar caught me going 31 in a 25 and asked to see my license and proof of insurance. I explained I was slightly rushing because I had to walk from the football field which was a 5-10 minute walk. He told me he would be right back. I thought he was doing all of this to scare me and would just give me a warning to watch my speed closer. He went back to his car to check my insurance. He was in his car for what seemed like forever. Finally he came out, but with papers. I sunk in my seat knowing what it was.

I rolled down my window once again and he had me sign a paper acknowledging that I was receiving a ticket. He explained they had gotten a lot of complaints from the residents of cars being loud when cutting through and he finished his sentence with , “…tell all yours friends about us patrolling the area. You’re the first car I’ve pulled over and I just want to get the message out.”

I was so frustrated. Yes, I had been technically speeding, but at the same time, they wanted to use my experience as an example to all the students at school to stop speeding and cutting through the neighborhood. The worst of all, I was still late to school.