TweetI knew about the red light on cars, but not the *77.
It was about 1:00 p.m. in the afternoon, and Lauren was driving to visit a
friend. An UNMARKED police car pulled up behind her and put his lights on.
Lauren's parents have always told her never to pull over for an unmarked car
on the side of the road, but rather to wait until they get to a gas station,
etc
Lauren had actually listened to her parents advice, and promptly called * 77
on her cell phone to tell the police dispatcher that she would not pull over
right away.
She proceeded to tell the dispatcher that there was an unmarked police car
with a flashing red light on his rooftop behind her. The dispatcher checked
to see if there were police cars where she was and there weren't, and he
told her to keep driving, remain calm and that he had back up a lready on the
way.
Ten minutes later 4 cop cars surrounded her and the unmarked car be hind her.
One policeman went to her side an d the others surrounded the car behind.
They pulled the guy from the car and tackled him to the ground. The man was
a convicted rapist and wanted for other crimes.
I never knew about the *77 Cell Phone Feature, but especially for a woman
alone in a car, you should not pull over for an unmarked car. Apparently
police have to respect your right to keep going to a safe & quiet place. You
obviously need to make some signals that you acknowledge them (i.e. put on
your hazard lights) or call *77 like Lauren did.
Too bad the cell phone companies don't generally give you this littl e bit
of wonderful information.
*Speaking to a service representative at ** Bell ** Mobility confirmed that
*77 was a direct link to state trooper info.
So, now it's your turn to let your friends know about * 7 7