Broken brake lights are one of the many driving violations that traffic cops are on the lookout for. But when officers of the Slidell Police in Louisiana, USA, pulled over a car for that infraction one night along Old Spanish Trail in August, they found more serious offenses.
Officer Zach Colgan called the traffic stop “rare” in a post on Instagram showing the car’s load of packed ribeye steaks and briskets, as captured by his body camera, KLTV reports.
The contraband, worth $1,500, was stolen from a Walmart store, with the driver and his companion found to have outstanding warrants.
John Garriga, 55, and Charles Walker, 66, were jailed for theft and possession of stolen property, according to KLTV.
Meanwhile, a traffic stop in San Bruno, California, on the night of 26 September was rarer than the steak heist.
A taxi made an illegal U-turn right in front of police officers, who immediately stopped it.
The officers saw no one in the driver’s seat, as it was a Waymo driverless cab.
“Since there was no human driver, a ticket couldn’t be issued. Our citation books don’t have a box for ‘robot,’” police in the city south of San Francisco said on social media, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports.
The police department said they had spoken to Waymo about the problem. The operator of driverless taxis told AFP its autonomous driving system has been designed to obey traffic rules.
“We are looking into this situation and are committed to improving road safety through our ongoing learnings and experience,” the company said, according to AFP.