Alas, no.

I was with a friend on a road trip when she was pulled over for going 97 in a 55. A) we thought it was still a 70 zone, and b) her elderly car couldn't GO faster than the 77 she was going. Out of state plates, and more than 40 over? So she was shocked and scared just from the accusation...and THEN he told her that she had to go to jail and see a magistrate, not just get a ticket to pay later.

Yes, they arrested her and put her in a cell until she could go up in front of a magistrate a few hours later. They wouldn't let me see her, though I spent the whole time pitching a fit in some kind of waiting room (memory hazy, it was 2am when it happened). They kept assuring me that it was nothing, and she'd be fine. I kept telling them, "We're goody-goodies, neither of us would be prepared for this sort of thing, she is NOT OKAY, let me SEE her!"

She came out something like 4 hours later. She'd been terrified, freaked the hell out, and shaken to her bones. Exhausted and miserable, confused. If I had just known how to drive stick, I would have offered to drive the rest of the road trip home but I couldn't even do that.

She *still* couldn't get a ticket and pay it or argue it; she had to go back (to another state) in a few months for "first appearance" where she informed the state what she'd plead, and THEN go back to plead her case a few months later. This was a criminal case, not a misdemeanor ticket. (A lawyer came up to her after her first appearance and offered to make it go away for a couple hundred dollars. Fortunately for her. She had been too confused to think of hiring one for a traffic incident.)

She was speeding! Unintentionally, and nowhere near what the cop claimed. The whole incident was unreasonable and irrational, and certainly reinforces my impression that the biggest goody-goody, the quietest, most comforming citizen, the person who thinks they're doing everything right, can still be harassed and terrified by a government when something goes wrong.

No. With Arab cops I do the "I don't speak arabic" thing. With pointlessly mean American cops I just answer their questions. With Indian cops, well, I hope to never have an interaction with Indian cops.

No, at least not yet. We had a very scary hour after being pulled over by State of Mexico cops near Mexico City for (BS) alleged violation by driving on the wrong day for our license plate number. But no cuffs or jail.

Sorry, galadriel. What a bad story.

Nope, although all of my immediate relatives have been (yes, that includes my parents). Quite a few of my extended family have been as well. Nothing too serious, it's all been for drugs and alcohol (thank the gods no one got hurt).

Not arrested, no. Spent the night in the local watchhouse, yes. I was falsely accused of domestic violence by an ex and the police discovered that I had an unpaid tax bill (that I was told had been paid) that had resulted in a warrant in my name (that I didn't know about), so they took me away. My grandfather paid the bill and they let me out the next afternoon. I was facing 30 days in jail. A scary, scary weekend.

Counsel advises me to reply, "no."

No, but I have some really interesting and, in retrospect, quite funny impaired or otherwise clueless conversations with police officers.

Closest I ever got to being arrested was a clusterfuck over car registration only a few years ago, which, though it was a total paperwork mishap, could have put me in jail for up to 30 days. I'm still grateful the officer sort of knew I wasn't a car thief and didn't drop the whole force of the law on me.

Yes, I was just "detained" a few months ago by the lovely coppers in the little Brazilian town I was living in at the time. I unwisely chose to argue with a cop and got my ass dragged into the station and charged with "disrespecting a police officer". I left the country before my court date. Fuck you, Brazilian small town cop asshole. I guess I am still a little bitter about that encounter...

Kid, have you ever been arrested? (warning, skinny hippies in BVDs)

So glad I'm not the only one who thought of that.

I was arrested once for non-payment of a couple of dog-of-leash tickets.

They came in the middle of the night to get me, and a roommate said that I was at my girlfriend's house for the night, which was plausible but not true.

I went in the next morning, to the courthouse, to clear it up, and they put me in this holding cell, along with all of the other violators who were standing trial that day. One lidless toilet.

"What are you in for, kid" one asked. . ."Dog tickets."

Another roommate showed up with the fine money, once my time on the docket came around. The judge (who had been my mom's attorney for a bit) ripped into me and then let me go, with said fine.