I had an extendable baton, once. Possessing it got me arrested, but it got thrown out of court. This was back in 2006... or maybe '05; in Williamsburg.
What happened was, I got pulled over for a bad inspection sticker ( my fault, 100%. I knew it was bad). I kept my baton in my center console, along with a fixed blade knife in a sheath. As I was pulling over, I opened my console, and tossed the knife and baton in my passenger seat to look for my insurance and registration.
I guess my " Miami Vice" appearance, at the time, coupled with my Cadillac (which I had bought from a friend who had gotten from a police auction; the car had originally belonged to a Floridian coke dealer) caused concern on the part of the officer. He wanted to search my car. I was fine with that. He asked if I had weapons; I pointed out the baton and the knife in the seat. He was a little freaked out about the baton; he'd never encountered a citizen in possession of one, and didn't know if it was legal, so he called his supervisor.
Long story short, because the officer couldn't see the two items in the passenger seat, from my driver window, I was arrested on two counts of concealed weapons. This was the supervisors call, not the officer that pulled me over. The officer that pulled me over was happy to let me go, once he found my baton to be legal. He appreciated that I was polite, pleasant, and cooperative. He also spoke on my behalf, in court. The supervisor complained to me that Williamsburg PD didn't have window tint testers, because she really wanted to write me up on that, too.
Prosecuting attorney gladly chose not to prosecute, and threw out the inspection sticker ticket, too, as his way of apologizing for my troubles.
I also feel the need to mention that the officer that pulled me over was 100% professional and polite in his conduct. I have a great respect for him. His supervisor, on the other hand... well, this is a family friendly forum. ..
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