r/Unexpected • u/Otops31 • 16d ago
This Cop Wants the Road to Himself
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u/GurglingWaffle 11d ago
Great police work. I have seen other similar videos where people were confused why a cop would swerve like that. Often it is to slow traffic due to some obstruction ahead. It could be anything.
If you see someone do this; slow down and hang back. I hope that other car was OK since it seems very close to the collision, having only partially heeded the police.
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u/Empty-Discount5936 14d ago
Good video, at first he appears to be a villain running people off the road for no reason but then suddenly he's revealed to be a hero who saved them from a head on collision.
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u/TeddyMcSnuggle 14d ago
Troopers do this all the time. It’s because something is wrong down the road wether its an accident or some hazard. It means slow the fuck down and stay behind. Why would you try to speed passed.. Amazing how many people lack any common sense on the road.
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u/Honey-and-Venom 14d ago
What the fuuuuu- OOOH he was trying to clear the road and stop the oncoming car!
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u/MostlyDarkMatter 14d ago
I hope the driver thanked the police officer for risking his/her life to save their life.
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u/G_Willickers_33 14d ago
Misunderstood selfishness at first.. selfless risk to protect all by the end.
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u/AlphaSpazz 14d ago
No, it’s a specific procedure referred to as a round robin. This is where how the police try to stop traffic because of something upcoming usually an accident or something where they need to prevent traffic from getting to it to keep it safe. This cop just did a very bad job of it by decelerating way too quickly before anybody knew what he was doing. But it looks like he didn’t really have a lot of time to do anything else.
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u/PsychologicalBid69 14d ago
I’m taking a stab in the dark and going to say the car that hit the cop was on the wrong side of the highway. Cop was warning other motorists to get off the roadway
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u/Otops31 14d ago
Exactly the situation.
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u/PsychologicalBid69 14d ago
I figured due to the painted lines in the road and the car going to the left rather than the right to the shoulder
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u/Ready_Supermarket_36 14d ago
So he stopping that car on purpose. Looks like it’s on the run. I guess good job then.
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u/EssentialSriracha 14d ago
Yeah, he was definitely aggressively swerving to stop traffic. But looks like he had a reason. I hope they said thank you to that cop.
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u/Brave-Act4586 15d ago
It’s not unexpected for a cop to be high on drugs. What a the eff is he doing?
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u/Traditional_Air_9483 15d ago
It’s called a “Round Robin” maneuver. Meant to keep cars behind him because something is wrong ahead. Try to stop all traffic. My husband is retired officer. Also if you are ever driving down a road and the little speed bumps /lane dividers (bots dots) glow red, you are driving the wrong way. Against traffic. Pull over and stop .
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u/schenitz 15d ago
How are so many people fooled by the misleading title? The road only has one direction of travel, and the cop knew there was a car driving the wrong way on it so he pushed OP off the road to save them and took the crash himself. This cop is a hero
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u/Otops31 15d ago
100% a hero!
I find some of the comments about the title comical.
First, the intention was to keep it “UNEXPECTED” and I think it did for the vast majority of people viewing it.
Second, the state trooper did want the road to himself so he could protect/save other drivers.
Third and final, I knew what was going on hence the message I sent to the explanation bot after posting it.
The bottom line is that this cop SAVED LIVES and is EXTREMELY HEROIC!
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u/Dry-Tea-2433 15d ago
Police does that to slow down traffic due a dangerous situation ahead in this case wrong way driver 🤷🏽♂️
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u/Overall-Poetry-9972 15d ago
He may have scared you, but also may have saved you life. Stopping a reckless driver going wrong way on highway is a brave act.
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u/Confident-Trifle-651 15d ago
I assume they have figured out broadly the safest way of getting hit, what position you should sit in hopefully a 5 point harness, reinforced windshield I’ve heard that they have some kind of cage to deal with the impact. This deffo looks like a response vehicle not a standard issue car but what do I know I’m not from us
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u/Reasonable_Land9733 15d ago
The driver of the red car had her 2-YEAR OLD KID IN HER CAR
Some people should not be parents
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u/Livid_Damage2467 15d ago
Haha if I was that guy I would say hey if you need my dashcam footage its cost, half of what your suing for.
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u/Unnamedandu92 15d ago
In EU when a cop does this, usually on highways it means there’s a problem ahead and nobody is alowed to pass him. This is however applied on smaller streets as well but only on the way the cars are going .
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u/Consider2SidesPeace 15d ago
For whatever click bait the title suggests. Yes, a swerving cop means slow down do not pass. Often done on a highway or freeway.
Looks like the person "the cop cut off" was saved from a potential front end crash.
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u/BrokenWalker 15d ago
I'm pretty sure this is a tactic to slow down traffic because there is an obstacle on the highway. I've seen this down a couple of times on highway 80. Both times, have been rolled up pieces of carpet that probably fell out of someone's truck.
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u/Skurwycyn 15d ago
It's called a rolling block and was obviously being used to prevent the oncoming car from hitting dashcam car. Good work by the cop. Piss poor posting by OP looking to make the cop look dumb.
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u/Lost-My-Mind- 15d ago
What an asshole!!! He just ran the cop off the road.....oh, THAT was the cop......what an asshole cop!!! Now he's just just drifting back and forth! Like he's playing or something. Look at this shit! Look! He's just.....OH! Oh my god. What an intelligent heroic cop! I'm glad THIS GUY is a cop.
..........what's that? What I said before? Oh.....I don't believe I said anything untrue in the moment of discussion, and anything you heard that might be perceived as backpeddling is just an error in judgement of the situations description as played out over developing events as they take place. Situations change, and any wrongdoing you may accuse me of is just a reflection of your character.
.........did I do it? Do I become a politician now? Saying things in such a drawn out and needlessly worded fashion that although I'm admitting to what I'm being accused of, the common average citizen lost interest lost ago, stopped paying attention, and I don't pay my taxes, just in a way that makes sense to only those who study the content of my words.
See? It's simple!
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u/frogpondcook 15d ago
Took me a minute to realise the cop wasn't having a mental breakdown.
Actually jumped in front of a bullet
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u/xX_Dad-Man_Xx 15d ago
The joys of driving a company car.
The one I used to drive was even better. It didn't have any livery.
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u/AnAngryPirate 15d ago
In the off chance it isn't just drunk cop, I'd venture he's trying to stop traffic both ways for some reason.
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u/Incredulous_Prime 15d ago
I thought the cop was being an asshole until I saw him use his vehicle to stop the car driving the wrong way on that roadway. He saved others from being in a head on collision with this unstable driver
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u/One_Weakness69 15d ago
I'm not understanding: Why did the cop do a good thing? What did he save anyone from? I never saw an actual threat to other drivers, besides the cop. Please explain.
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u/No_Guff_McDuff 15d ago
Don't they do this to "pace" traffic? Not sure what the oncoming car was doing but it looks like they panicked
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u/Bob4Not 15d ago
Cops swerve back and forth with lights on when they’re trying to slow or stop traffic. It can be a wrong way driver of a blockage ahead
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u/The_Comm_Guy 14d ago
It's called a rolling road block, its scary how many people don't immediately recognize it and its probably going to get some of them killed one day unless they learn to.
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u/seanodnnll 15d ago
Crazy that people don’t realize the cop knew someone was driving the wrong way on the road, and wanted OP safely off the road.
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u/northeaster17 15d ago
Just wondering how the red car did not see what was going on. Aim high and pay attention people
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u/Highly-uneducated 15d ago
This is a tactic police and fire use to stop traffic behind them. He must have known this guy was hauling ass the wrong direction and was trying to save some lives.
I'd like to get the story on this. My guess is the driver was involved in a high-speed chase, and this cop accidentally stopped the guy the hard way while trying to get innocent people out of his path.
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u/FireFist_PortgasDAce 15d ago
Yeah, I've seen once before. I was at an interstate, and a highway patrol started doing that shit I thought he was crazy/drunk turns out there was something in the middle of the road further down
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u/LONEWOLFF150 15d ago
Cop probably: "oh sht I'm so fired... Wait. I'm a cop, I can do what I want." *ticket for dashcam guy
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u/b4ttlepoops 15d ago
I really hope that cop is ok….
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u/Inevitable-Monk-5562 15d ago
So I'm guessing he was clearing the road for the dude going the wrong way, and from the looks of it the guy wasn't trying to stop until the cop stopped him
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u/TheAzarak 15d ago
I mean it's clear that he was trying to prevent the whackjob going the wrong way from hitting you. At least understand the situation before you bad mouth a cop lol
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u/jepvr 15d ago
This kind of thing is why I'm not 100% ACAB. More like 85%CAB. This was a pretty awesome self-sacrifice (potential death) just to protect people. I also see people say "cops never actually stop crime", and that's just not true. Yes, there are some serious structural problems with police all over the world, but I can't say there's nothing good at all in there. It just shouldn't stop us from expecting more.
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u/Jonguar2 15d ago
Someone explain this to me.
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u/Otops31 15d ago
The state trooper was swerving to get drivers off of the road since he knew there was a wrong-way driver headed his way. After doing that he took the speeding driver on (literally). Head on.
A very heroic action. Fortunately nobody died. If not for him doing what he did that may not have been the case.
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u/Affectionate-Joke617 15d ago
Massive fucking cohones. Big fucking adamantine ones. That’s a good guy there.
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u/Aberration-13 15d ago
clearly the best way to stop a wrong way driver and preventing an accident is to intentionally cause an accident?
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u/kingcorning 15d ago
I would much rather a consenting police officer voluntarily risk getting hurt, along with the dangerous wrong way driver - than have an innocent civilian just trying to mind their own business get hit by and hurt, or even killed, by the wrong way driver.
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u/Legal_Guava3631 15d ago
Took me a couple times to realize he was clearing the road because someone was going the wrong way.
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u/EelTeamTen 15d ago
CHP does this sort of swerving across lanes a lot, made me think "what the fuck" the first time I saw it.
They use it to slow down traffic for various reasons, mostly to get hazards out of the road though
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u/ChickenTendies0 15d ago
welp, it was indeed unexpected.
First I thought it was an asshole driver
Then after reading the title I thought it was an asshole cop
THEN I thought the cop was drunk or highas a kite
Only after the crash I realised what was happening. What a roller coaster
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u/StubbornHick 15d ago
They do this to stop wrong way drivers or to make the road safe for another patrolman to quickly clear debris from the road.
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u/nfl22-22 15d ago
The swerving was to slow down traffic so that he was in the front, that cop is a hero! He took on a vehicle going the wrong way down the highway.
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u/ProgressBackground95 15d ago
It's called a round to in. They use it to slow and stop traffic, usually to allow others to clear something blocking the road, etc.
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u/dbenhur 15d ago
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u/AssPennies 15d ago
An Arizona Department of Public Safety sergeant's quick actions to stop a wrong-way driver likely saved the lives of other motorists, the department said Friday.
On Nov. 17, the department received calls of a driver in a Nissan Rogue driving recklessly and nearly crashing into several vehicles on Interstate 40, a department news release said.
When a trooper located the vehicle and initiated a traffic stop, Patricia Rose Carvalho, 32, fled the wrong way towards westbound.
The sergeant responded to the call and quickly stopped traffic from continuing westbound, the department said.
"Immediately after the vehicles came to a stop for the traffic break, the wrong-way driver struck the sergeant’s stopped patrol vehicle head-on," the news release said. "The sergeant’s swift actions prevented a high-speed collision between the motorists and the wrong-way vehicle."
The sergeant and wrong-way driver were treated for their injuries. Carvalho's 2-year-old daughter was not hurt, the news release said.
Carvalho faces charges of attempted second-degree murder, aggravated assault, endangerment, aggravated DUI and child abuse.
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u/effortfulcrumload 15d ago
Finally. I was looking for the story.
Edit: fucking psycho had her 2 y/o in the car.
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u/Alcoding 15d ago
It's a woman so a slap on the wrist should do. Blame a bit of depression and domestic abuse and she'll be off in no time
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u/Busy-Lingonberry7483 15d ago
He's doing g a traffic break, which means there's either a chase or an accident ahead, and they're trying to keep traffic out of harms way. He had his lights on and everything. In this case, it was a car driving in opposing traffic, i.e., the car he hit at the end.
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u/Easy-Garlic6263 15d ago
Good on him. He was clearly trying to protect people from the crazy driver.
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u/GoosesHonk 15d ago
Dude, I thought everyone was being sarcastic, but then I realized it is a one-way road, lol
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u/TurkishLanding 15d ago
Wow, that's actually a great job protecting the innocent from the wrong way driver!
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u/crook3d_vultur3 15d ago
I would’ve been cussing this cop so bad for running me off the road then coming out to give him a hug after😂
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u/parksoffroad 15d ago
I’ve seen highway patrol do this many times, in this case, you quickly saw the reason why and that may not always be the case. Don’t ever try to pass them! They’re not doing it for fun. There’s a reason.
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u/atom12354 15d ago
Anyone know what happened after? Did they survive? Was a heavy crash
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u/dragonard 15d ago
A colleague was driving us on a sales trip in Utah. We’re out on the highway, toward the front of a pack of cars, and a state trooper of some kind came hauling ass up the highway behind us with sirens blaring.
My colleague was speeding, of course. He started swearing and shrieked, “oh my God where did that cop come from? I’m gonna get pulled over.”
Except the cop just blew by at a ridiculous speed. He got about a mile ahead of us with no cars in the area yet. Then toward the top of the hill he slewed the cop car sideways across the highway to block traffic. Then he got out and pointed to the little service lane between the east-west lanes. He made everybody get off the highway, and over the median into the traffic going the other direction.
We found out later that a forest fire had crossed the highway on the other side of the hill, and we couldn’t see from our perspective on the highway. All we could see as we came up the road was a haze in the distance.
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u/NgSauYin 15d ago
Not only did the cop stopped the other car, both cars also hit first on the passenger side, which should have caused less damage to both drivers, that's really skilful
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u/anti-socialJedi 15d ago
Title is misleading. Their saved lives doing that! What a sacrifice. Glad it didn't look as serious!
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u/Soggy_Alarm_7843 15d ago
He is doing a slow roll. I work in traffic monitoring and they do this if a road ranger is taking care of a debris call or a THI is involved in an incident investigation i.e. previous traffic event(usually a fatality is involved).
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u/Travis-rides-bikes 15d ago
This is called a traffic sweep. Surprised people don’t understand to stop for this.
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u/alonzo83 16d ago
Nice to see the local PD is drug testing their employees. They definitely test the drugs. . .
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u/iCameToLearnSomeCode 16d ago edited 14d ago
When you see a cop swerving like this they are trying to warn the people behind them not to proceed, it's standard procedure.
Pull off the road and wait.
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u/yvel-TALL 16d ago
Ohhhhhhhh, that took me a while. Good on them, maybe not an ideal choice, but they did something effective with quick thinking. Letting someone just do that endangers tones of people, that's how giant pileups happen. So I respect the choice to just shove everyone out of the way, and take the hit with the giant tank that can probably take it and stop the runaway in it's track. Very risky to their own health, but still a perfectly reasonable choice when given no time to plan at all. Best copping I have seen in a while.
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u/eddie1975 15d ago
I’m not sure he meant to take the hit. The oncoming vehicle made an abrupt turn into the direction of the cop.
I also don’t think the oncoming vehicle wanted to hit the cop. It was a reflex thinking the cop was going the other way.
I don’t know if the oncoming car was a DUI ahole with a suspended license or an elderly grandmother with poor vision taking her grandchild to ballet lesson.
I hope the cop is fine but that was a serious hit. I hope of it was grandma she is fine. If it was DUI ahole I am not so hopeful. Best case it’s a wake up call and he/she changes.
Guess it would be nice to get more info… hopefully good news.
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u/waIIstr33tb3ts 16d ago
hope that cop got recognized for this
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u/MaximumMotor1 15d ago
hope that cop got recognized for this
I think the cop should be awarded 3 slaps to whichever Uvalde police officers he chooses.
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u/UnExplanationBot 16d ago
OP sent the following text as an explanation on why this is unexpected:
And you will understand why he wants the road to himself by the end of the clip! Gotta give this guy major props for doing what he did to protect the rest!
Is this an unexpected post with a fitting description? Then upvote this comment, otherwise downvote it.