Set phasers on stun. This is a traffic stop.
Maj. Adam Carnal was driving on the Missouri interstate when he saw an object of unknown type traveling on the highway, appearing to drive in a strange, swaying manner, instancing what he considered a lane violation. The erratic driving compelled him to pull the strange vehicle over onto the side of the road.
It was Friday, June 28, at about 6:45 p.m., when Maj. Carnal, an undersheriff of the Crawford County Sheriff’s Office (CCSO), slowed as the strange vehicle slowed, and stopped behind it as it stopped on the shoulder, before getting out to make (first) contact with the driver.
Maj. Carnal noted that the aerodynamics, or lack thereof, of the vehicle seemed impracticable for ordinary driving, and this, combined with the wind, may have caused the swaying. It was saucer-shaped and small, roughly the size of a Geo, with a central glass cockpit bubble, through which he saw a driver and passenger seated.
He noted their expired license plate.
“There was a male driver and a female passenger,” Maj. Carnal told The Epoch Times. “My initial contact with him: he had opened up the cab of it, did his best Spock impersonation, and said he ‘came in peace.’”
The officer noted the unique interior of the saucer vehicle. “He had several, like, toggle switches in there, different buttons. He also had a horn in there that sounded like a laser,” Maj. Carnal said. “Overall, it was—if you were to think of a UFO, what it would look like on the inside, that’s kind of the way it looked.”
In the end, the major resisted the urge to slap him with a traffic violation, given his “good nature” and “the interesting nature of the vehicle,” and instead opted to learn more about the purpose of their travels. They were heading to a festival in Roswell, New Mexico, he learned. The driver is a car collector who owns 70 vehicles. He hopes to establish peace and goodwill on his encounters.
“He’s using [his vehicle] to create relationships within the communities,” Maj. Carnal said. “He drives it [and] shows it off to different events throughout the year.”
A 19-year law enforcement veteran, the major called the stop a once-in-a-career encounter, definitely one for the scrapbook.
And so, as motorists drove by, slowed, and snapped pictures of them, the officer and offender memorialized the moment by taking a photograph of their own together on the shoulder. It was an opportunity for them to bond with the community and connect with the world beyond Crawford County: it went viral on social media.
“They’re from Indiana. I’ve had the pleasure of passing them on the road in the past while traveling back up from Kentucky. Definitely an awesome sight to see lol,” Amanda Mendez wrote.
William Mark posted a photo that he took and left a comment: “I just saw them in Springfield!”
The Sherriff’s Office also had a message for the world online.
“The driver was provided a written warning for those violations,” CCSO captioned on the post. “We opted to provide a fun social media post for our community. It was a great interaction and we wished him safe travels to his destination.”
