So, remember when I used to chase rabbits as a teenager? Well, this story happened on a night like any other, driving around, and we (myself and three friends) ended up looking for our furry little friends. Somehow, I came across a spot-light that plugged into the cigarette lighter, which we happily adopted as a "hunting" tool.
After being there for a little while, we were slowly driving along hanging out the window (and a couple of us actually sitting on the hood of the car) in the empty parking lot near the soccer fields and wet marshland, when out of nowhere comes a much larger spot-light. Then, a very loud sound. We realized, all of a sudden, that a helicopter was above us, shining its spot-light on us.
Not quite sure what was happening, everyone ducked back into my maroon 1986 Oldsmobile Calais and I slowly backed the car away. I drove out of the parking lot and onto the nearest street, making extreme caution to obey all speed limits, stop signs, and traffic lights (unlike other times when the "California Roll" would slowly move me through any stop).
In the meantime, the helicopter, with its large and bright spot light, continued to follow us. As I drove along, we wondered what to do, then discussed a little, then decided to just drive until it went away or something else happened. We got on the freeway, passing slower cars (although we still stayed within the speed limit out of fear), as my maroon car was lit up like a stadium by the helicopter spot light. I finally decided that there was no way I was going back to my house to have a helicopter land in front of it, so I chose the next best place: my church parking lot!
We pulled in, parked right in the middle of the lot and waited. We contemplated calling 911 to say that a helicopter was following us, but we figured it wasn't some hooligan trying to play a joke on us. After about 4-5 minutes of the helicopter shining its light around the trees, bushes and everywhere else apparently looking if we took off running, 4-5 police vehicles with lights and sirens blazing tore into the parking lot with tires screeching. When they pulled up next to us and realized we were still just sitting there in the car, one of them slowly approached the car and asked us what was going on.
My response was: "we were just chasing rabbits and this helicopter started following us." A little confused, the police officer had me repeat and explain exactly what that meant. So I told him again, showing him my friends pants, which were wet and covered in grass, having slipped while chasing a rabbit. Apparently finally understanding, he reaches to his radio and we hear him explain over the airways, "umm, they were chasing rabbits."
They eventually explained to us that there had been some recent vandalism at the nearby government buildings and they were looking for the perpetrators. Luckily, we didn't get arrested or cited for anything, but we did get quite a scare and a night that we'll never forget!
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