This was probably one of the dumbest situations I have been in because of a cop with a grudge. Took place around 4:00 pm on a Friday.

I just left 360 Mall and exited onto the residental road in Zahra to get to 6th Ring Road quickly, I was traveling about 50 or 60, taking my time just had a good lunch with a few of the guys. There is a police station lot on the right hand side after about 300 meters. A police car pull outs in front, about three cars in front, didn’t think twice I was driving normally, turned right and so did everyone else to get to the bridge that goes over, just like the map, below I was following the blue route. As I was taking the curving exit back onto 6th Ring Road he was still a few cars in front of me, and was the exit was merging he switched on his lights and people were passing him and as I passed he shouted “Owner Of The BMW Pull Over”, I thought to myself this will get interesting. He pulled me over at the red spot on the map just before merging onto 6th ring road.

I stepped out of the car right away and a young police officer stepped out and came to me, I told him hello and whats wrong? He said nothing, went to the front of the car and said license and registration I gave him both. He said your license place has been modified it should be in the center, then I said what do you mean modified, he said you can’t move the location I said that is the mount do you see any screws in the middle, he didn’t say anything, then I said it just passed Car Inspection and last I checked the License Plate has to be in front of the car bumper not specifically in the center. Then he said it was loud and I said this is from the dealer, then I asked him what car he thought this was, he said 625 (That isn’t even one of the models), I told him its not, its a modified sports version of it. He seemed to be ok with that and then the other cop stepped out of the police car and he was white and chubby. The First guy was Bader Al Mutari and he was pretty decent and didn’t seem intent on anything. The other guy came out, his name was Ahmed Yousef, I won’t be forgetting his name anytime soon, and hopefully Karma will bite him in the ass soon enough.

Going back, when the second guy came out the conversation took another turn and this time it was a twist and this is how it went:

• Him: Write him up for a violation
• Me: What exactly is the violation
• Him: Your license plate
• Me: Its in the front and you could see it

Then He Changes

• Him: Your car is loud
• Me: This is from the factory and its not a normal car, what car do you think it is
• Him: You made a 635 this way
• Me: This isn’t the same car and you should know the difference, this is an M6 which is louder and faster and a different color then the normal 6 series
• Him: Where is your proof
• Me: You have the Car Registration in your hand, look at it
• Him: Ah, yes M6

Then He Changes Again:

• Him: Your Car is Two Colors Thats Illegal
• Me: What are you talking about illegal
• Him: It says only Blue in your Registration
• Me: Read under the second color, it says Black, just under the stamp and why would I change a color from the Factory, again its an M6, I think you as a traffic cop would know the difference between cars
• Him: Ah, ok..

(Sometimes you have to BS some of these guys cuz they try to push)

Then He Changes Again:

• Him: Your Car is Tinted
• Me: Yes It Is
• Him: Thats Illegal
• Me: It was just recently legalized
• Him: Yours is more then the legal limit
• Me: I’m not gonna argue with you, it is tinted
• Him – Talking to the Other Officer: Write him up, IN Total Violation Of Tinting Laws
• Me: What exactly do I have to do now
• Him: We are impounding your car
• Me: WHAT! For tint, I wasn’t even driving fast, just heading home
• Him: ….
• Me: Take my license, my car registration, both, why the hell would you impound the car
• Him: … (again ignoring me)
• Me: What exactly is going on here, you stopped me for one reason and now want to impound me for tint, thats over the top

Things went south from there, I tried calling a few people but on a Friday nobody was answering and I was out of luck. He told the other officer to get in the car with me and for me to follow him to the Impound yard, which is in Sabhan. He also shouted that it is illegal for me to make phone calls while driving. When we got in the car I spoke to the other officer and I said I’m going to make a few phone calls, he said go ahead and try to talk to someone, he seemed like a normal guy. I asked him what exactly was his problem, he said you are under his mercy at this point. Just my luck nobody was answering their phones so I took the car and the lot in Sabhan is run by KPTC.

Throughout this period I was talking to them in a respectful way, even when we were at the impound lot the Egyptian Manager tried to reason with the police officer but he wanted my car put into the system right away. If the car is put into the impound system there is no way the car can be released without a direct order from the Minister of Interior or the wakeel. I called my friend, who we will call “Cake”, to come pick me up because he knows where this is. The police officer left and I had my sweater with a few things in my pockets from what I took out of the car.

The Egyptian Manager called me and said he tried delaying the car registration into the system because he wanted to give me an opportunity to make a few phone calls and get out of this. But the officer was on top of him to get him in right away, no one else he did that for, even the other officer tried to make up a reason to leave. Ahmed Yousef really had a grudge and I didn’t know why, but I stayed cool because there was nothing to do about a corrupt cop. He just going from one reason to another to try to impound the car. After I was sitting outside waiting for Cake to arrive people started calling me back and when I told them the situation they started making phone calls trying to get to this guy’s boss. And the best part was that the Central Radio System of the Police was down on Friday so they were communicating Via phone, the radios weren’t working to my luck. So if someone had an emergency they would call the officers not radio them.

A friend told me that this cop had it out for me and he was a dick and shouldn’t have impounded my car, it a difficult process to get it cleared since you have to go to a lot of places to get the paper work done. And even on Sunday he didn’t submit the violation into the system since I think he wants to keep it going at least another few days before I can even start sorting it out. This is the reason why we don’t respect police in Kuwait, when there is a reason for them to get involved they are not there, when they don’t have anything to do they just abuse their power. The problem in my situation is that the law is lax about what a police officer can do and even if he lies its hard to prove him wrong. A few police officers called me back and said that what he did was not within his right since he is from another department and his shift was done a few hours ago and why was he still roaming the streets. It seems it was just my luck and lets see how this turns out over the next few days.