A Washington State Patrol trooper was confronted with occupational difficulties earlier this month while attempting to pull over a woman driving a Toyota Prius with expired tags. The woman, 42-year old Jamie Petrozzi, was headed southbound on I-5 through Marysville two Wednesdays ago when the trooper turned on his lights and attempted a traffic stop.
The driver made no attempt to stop on the highway and, instead, exited a mile later before finally stopping at an intersection. From here, the highway patrolman ordered her to pull over using his loudspeaker. Petrozzi declined to cooperate, forcing the trooper to approach the side of the car and instruct her to pull off the road. “I will not,” she said, according to the arrest report. “I drive a Prius. I am not pulling over there.”
Rather than conducting the traffic stop at her current location, the Olympia resident said she would instead pull into a nearby parking lot to conduct her business with police. After a fourth refusal to pull over, she was arrested.
According to Everett’s The Daily Herald, which was shared with us via Jalopnik, the woman refused to leave her vehicle when asked and went into a fury when taken into custody. “I will own your bank account. I will own your house,” she was reported to have said.
While you could chalk the encounter up to an impatient trooper or a civilian suffering from a complete lack of practical prudence, the Prius angle makes this a hell of a lot more interesting. The time for being smug and protective of your Prius is over, and has been for about a decade. While it’s always been unnecessary, it hasn’t been fashionable since the the model’s third generation appeared.
Leave the “I own you” backtalk to the trust-fun kid driving a gold-painted BMW M4, as it has to make officers feel empowered when issuing a ticket. Meanwhile, hearing that kind of thing from a Prius owner just seems like it would be more confusing than anything else.
The police report alleges Petrozzi said she refused to move to the shoulder because her tires keep “popping,” which apparently, in her mind, had something to do with its status as a Prius. We think the only thing that was popping was the driver’s bad attitude. However, if her vehicle was suffering from some kind of audible issue, that only makes her unwillingness to stop even more confounding. Petrozzi was arrested for failing to obey instructions, refusing to identify herself, and obstruction — all of which are misdemeanors.
[Image: Toyota]
Oh man… I’m just here for the comments. I bet we get over 200 on this one!
Who is she? I wonder who is she related to/married to/works for. Part of me hopes that her peculiar judgment was, uh, chemical-influenced.
“Who is she? ”
Don’t you know who she is?… said no one really important, ever
She drives a Toyota and thinks this makes her important.
Arrest driver – impound vehicle.
LOL thanks! That was word for word what I was thinking when clicking this link.
LOL thanks! That was word for word what I was thinking when clicking this link.
But is she a teacher ? Cos they can do that you know.
Maybe she should have told the cop she was on the way to the Cliven Bundy ranch.
Maybe she had an appointment with Diane Feinstein and Christine Blasey Ford.
What a hoot. WOW, did you have to use your entire brain to come up with that?
Yeah, not sure why we had to go there.
“Yeah, not sure why we had to go there.”
probably because the average commenter here is a 40-60 year old guy who subsists on a steady diet of Fox & Friends.
Same reason we had to go to Cliven Bundy?
“Because everything is about my personal political bugaboos”.
Ding,ding,ding we have a winner. Thanks Sigivald
CAn you imagine being married to that?
Can you imagine working with that?
In fact, I was married to someone like that.
Operative word: “was.”
Does she now own your bank account? Does she now own your house?
Hmmm…now in retrospect, was that Prius lady actually declaring her love to the police officer, and the meaning of her going to ‘own his bank account and own his house’ being that she wishes to marry him for some time?
For a while, she did.
Family court is not a good place for any male to step foot in.
I don’t know about his bank account, but I bet she owns his Prius
#MeTooDumb
“I drive a Smart Car. Please arrest me for the irony.”
I drive a Dodge Stratus!
Was waiting for somebody to post that, lol.
Is that supposed to be irreverent humor?
google will ferrel and that phrase and hopefully a youtube vid will pop up, I’d link it but I can’t
Me too! A 98 in fact. (now I think that admitting to that was one of the biggest faux pas’s I’ve ever made.) :0)
After all the sacrifice she has made driving that slow, droning, penalty box to save the world from global warming, you actually expect her to pay license fees? The state should be paying her, just like they do Tesla owners.
In Virginia Tesla (and all EV) owners pay an additional tax for not buying gas – true story
Slow?
You’ve never driven an *actually slow* car, I take it?
(The Prius is by no means zippy, no.
But 9.6 seconds to 60? That’s not “slow”, either.)
I would have added felony mopery with intent and conspiracy to signal virtue to the charges.
The second one should be a capital crime.
A sense of entitlement can come in many forms, but one that comes from appliance ownership? Beyond tragic.
Hey, I’ll have you know I have a very “cool” refrigerator
Refusing to stop for the Police ?? I’m sure there is parts of the world where they would have opened fire on the Prius !
“Refusing to stop for the Police ?? I’m sure there is parts of the world where they would have opened fire on the Prius !”
The USA?
It’s quite likely this woman was in the total wrong, but man oh man I have seen the cops pull over people in dumb-ass dangerous spots when just 1/4 mile down the road is a safe pull-off or parking lot.
The onus is on the driver. I got pulled over by a statey on a winding road. I drove for 1/2 mile with my hazards on, to the first safe area for him to get out of his cruiser. Got off with a warning.
It sounds like she drove past one or two perfectly good spots (such as the freeway offramp).
Looking at the details of the story, southbound on I5 and refusing to stop until one of the Bank of Americas in Marysville WA, I’m guessing she got off I5 at the 116th Street exit (202). Google Street View doesn’t look all that “ghetto” right there, the road surfaces are so-so but nothing to hint at it being “flat tire city,” and there are other perfectly good parking lots in between…
Maybe she read one too many stories about fake cops pulling over women and then freaked out from there. I bet she uses that for an excuse ^H^H^H reasonable legal defense.
Question from Law-Abiding Citizen here:
If I do something like slow down and put on my hazards to acknowledge that I’m being pulled over, does that give me some leeway as to where? Like waiting for a wide paved shoulder, or using a nearby exit?
It buys you leeway in my state. Your supposed to pull over in first place that is reasonably safe to do so instead of immediately.
My state too, along with reasonable effort to acknowledge the situation. Common sense applies.
This isn’t Prius snobbery; this is mental illness. Nothing she said made sense, and my guess is that she was having some sort of episode.
Yeah, this is what I’m thinking here. It’s funny – if you’re fighting a disease that eats away at your body, you’re a hero and they have charity walks for a cure; if you’re fighting a disease that eats away at your brain, they gawk when you act ill and write articles mocking you.
Oh well.
One makes you a potential danger to others. It certainly makes you such that you shouldn’t be operating a motor vehicle.
That’s as may be, brn, but neither the article nor the comments are saying, “She shouldn’t have driven if she knew she was a danger”; they’re mocking the symptoms of her (possible) illness. If someone with epilepsy misses medication and has an issue driving, people might say, “This guy needs to be more careful with his meds”, but it’s hard to imagine 40 people showing up in the comments to laugh at him for twitching and falling over.
If you’re aware you’re likely to be medically incapacitated, you shouldn’t drive. But the fact that the problem is with your brain instead of your body really shouldn’t make it open season on you in the media.
” A disease that eats away at your brain ”
Now that would be a condition/conditions I’m all too familiar with.
With any ailment that could impact driving the Doctors are bound by law to suspend your license. Thats the rule in Ontario.
In the USA the laws vary from State to State .
I’m also on Alz.org blog. Convincing someone with Mild Cognitive Impairment “not” to drive, can be a nightmare, for some. Especially the Early Onset Dementia victims . Try taking bank Credit cards, and online banking away from a former bank manager !
I hid all all the car keys ,and made my wife up a set of old useless keys, that she promptly lost.
“Dementia” is a symptom that covers many Degenerative Cognitive Disorders including Alzheimers, and its nasty “Early onset ” friend.
Bottom line…. Even folks in the very early stages should NOT be behind the wheel
She should have led the cop on a high mpg chase. The Charger Interceptor would run out of fuel after about 90 minutes and she would easily make it to Captain Planet’s Compost Heap of Solitude, outside of Yakima.
“… on a high mpg chase.” That may not win you All The Internets these days, but should easily qualify for Honorable Mention.
“The KRZY-TV newscopter keeps outrunning her! This chase is happening live, at DANGEROUSLY SLOW SPEEDS! We urge our viewers to stay off the streets until the police tell us it is safe!”
The documentary movie Speed said you just drive to an airport where the helicopter can’t get you?
Because there is no law enforcement at an airport….
Don’t you mean “hypermile” to the airport? Get away from the cops *and* save the environment at the same time!
“Captain Planet’s Compost Heap of Solitude…!”
You win the Internet today!
If the Prius ran flat out with the Charger giving chase, the prius would likely run out of fuel first.
https://youtu.be/F04MXepYiBs
No such thing as a Charger Interceptor, the police version of the Charger is the Charger Pursuit.
LOL, good one!
Giving this woman the benefit of the doubt – It sounds like perhaps her comments about driving a Prius and her tires keep “popping” might actually be intended as, “I drive a wussy car with wussy tires, and I keep getting flats. I am afraid of pulling on to the shoulder, so I will drive on until I get to a maintained parking lot.”
Maybe not so crazy or entitled, as much as naive and poor at communicating.
The part about owning his bank account and his house is tough to reconcile with the benefit of the doubt.
I get what you mean about not wanting to get a flat tire and I agree that was probably her rationale in the first place. But then she went off the deep end.
Well, if I strrrreeeettch the benefit of the doubt a bit more, perhaps by the time she pulled over the cop was now beyond frustrated and gave her hell. Coulda just been reacting to his attitude.
Or maybe she’s just an entitled nut.
Often times police officers instruct cars to pull over in dangerous places like on a narrow shoulder, rather than continuing on to a safe parking lot. It drives me nuts. This lady may have had a point.
Okay, you’ve covered her failure to pull over. Now please explain her refusal to exit the vehicle. Fear of scuffing her Manolos?
I have driven many years in the area this took place. There are *plenty* of safe, wide, relatively clean areas she could have pulled over. I-5 in that area has wide shoulders that are well maintained. I have been pulled over on the *inside* shoulder in that area, it was perfectly wide and safe enough. The right hand shoulder is even wider. That’s to say nothing of finding a place in town once she exited the interstate.
And, then there is her behavior during the stop. Yeah, totally the evil police officer’s fault. He could have at least let her drive to a five star hotel and have her precious prius valet parked for her, in an extra wide, freshly paved and swept-4-times-a-day VIP parking spot. Then let her have a couple of drinks in the lounge, on his credit card of course, to calm down after the extreme stress of being pulled over for breaking the law.
Like John, I’ve driven this section of road many times and it has a nice wide shoulder. Now if she had been a few miles further south then it would a different story. As there are a number of places where they isn’t a full shoulder for some large distances.
I always assumed nice Mr./Ms officer really do not like pulling someone over where they have to hand their butts out into traffic. The roads I routinely drive, I never see traffic stops occurring in such places. The are always in places where there is a very generous shoulder. One place is posted 50 and traffic routinely goes 60-65, but the entire several miles is bridges and minimal shoulder due to its being in a tight canyon. I have never seen a traffic stop there.
Typical Priuchebag driver. They are, on average, the worst, most entitled drivers (by car type) I’ve experienced in my 30 years of driving.
Either 15 mph below the limit and holding up traffic, or breaking every rule in sight.. I once had one try to force his way into my lane (both lanes were going the same way on the off ramp, just that one backs up but ends up being faster, so he tried to zoom ahead and then cut in to the faster lane) by edging over and over, trying to scare me into stopping. I just kept right up with him, and finally honked at him, and he got the message.
100% correct. I now dread being near a Prius more so than a BMW fool or even a Buick/Oldsmobile invariably driven by a slow-reacting, deaf, cataract-ridden octogenarian.
Ahh, now we are getting down to the broad brush stereotyping type of post I was expecting this whole thread to be like.
Stereotypes do not form in a vacuum.
Any word on whether the Prius had a “COEXIST” and/or an NPR sticker?
Verbal
I m curious too.
I saw one with Tump stickers.
Accumulated fact – childless middle-aged white women driving Priuses 8/10 times have severe mental/emotional defects.
I would replace “driving Priuses 8” with “10”.
What if they’re black, older, and have children?
Well, that would be racist then.
I ve NEVER seen a black person in a prius.
(is that racist? I really dont know now day)
“Accumulated fact”
Any references to back that up?
With the ever increasing use of stealth police vehicles, many are reluctant to pull over or flag down a police vehicle. These stealth patrol vehicles have no roof mounted light bar, hidden emergency lights, and many times have ghost identifying graphics, playing right into the hands of police imposters who use hidden emergency lights to over victims. Use of hidden emergency lights by actual police get motorists used to just pulling over when these lights are seen in the mirror. Stop with the hide the police care mindset, and mandate roof mounted light bars with colored lenses so the light bar can be seen even when not activated for the sake of those who need to flag down the police for assistance. What is next, stealth police uniforms?
How exactly does that relate to the topic at hand? Sheesh.
An excuse to rant about concepts you are extemely obtuse or ignorant about should *never* be ignored.
An excuse to rant about concepts you are extemely obtuse or ignorant about should *never* be ignored.
Sure she is a part of “Resistance” movement. It means not obeying rule of law and questioning Police officers and emigrating to EU or Canada with their superior healthcare system and social security, tolerance and forgiveness. And never returning back to America. I bet my bank account on that.
Good riddance.
Wow, I’m glad I spent the time to read that post. Such added value.
I hope she doesn’t left the door hit herself in the ass on her way out.
This woman falls into so many stereotypes, its not even funny. Not all Washingtonians are entitled, self-righteous idiots, but there are enough of them to make the rest look bad. There are times I’m very glad I don’t live there anymore, despite all the good people I know up there. Usually its from about September through May, but also when I’m reminded of how some of them choose to act, like this woman.
Don’t get me wrong, there are stupid people everywhere, but I’ve seen my share of hopelessly inept people in that area. I don’t know how you can have multiple degrees and make 6 figures, yet still be a complete idiot who tries repeatedly to insert your Triple Platinum Reserve Select Blue Black Silver Gold Bill Gates Edition credit card into the dollar bill receptacle of an old vending machine.
Stereotypes exist for a reason. But if we’re gonna slap them on this person for driving a Prius, you better be ready to accept it on someone driving almost any make/model without whining about it.
There’s a fine line between stereotyping and pattern recognition.
Pattern Recognition, William Gibson’s best effort. Not Sonic Youth’s best effort.
Although this story was funny as hell, it’s definitely an outlier. Most people I know aren’t greenie SJW’s with “go vegan” bumper stickers on the back. They just want an affordable car that’s reliable and fuel efficient. Hell, I saw and Prius the other day with a “Nobama” bumper sticker.
So they weren’t a roll tide fan?
Actually I support the idea of not pulling over on the highway. It would make more sense to exit the highway and pull over in at a gas station or populated strip mall parking lot because there will be more witnesses and you will have fewer lookey-loos. Pulling over on the highway would be dangerous for everyone and it will slow down traffic. Ever watch those videos of inattentive drivers careening into cars stopped on the shoulder?
I had a book written by a former state patrolman about how to avoid tickets. One of his points was to reduce the officer’s stress level by pulling over in a place where they feel safe relative to their exposure to vehicles going by.
There is also an excellent self-help video, by Chris Rock, on this topic.
Interesting this makes the news when there are dozens or hundreds of instances every day of people doing far more dangerous and antisocial things with “performance” cars. I guess because the Prius incident is so unusual. The driver sounds like she has a mental problem.
Weird. A psycho Prius driver (redundant I know) from Washington State.
I bet she makes up some baseless claims of being sexually harassed by the trooper 35 years ago.
People like this need to be removed from civilized society. I hear Siberia is nice this time of year.
Sounds great. You should try it.
“People like this need to be removed from civilized society. I hear Siberia is nice this time of year.”
Trust me, they don’t want her over there. When I go to Siberia these days it is actually a refreshing break from all the politically charged SJW politics and other nonsense, and none of the crazy waves of refugees that Western Europe is suffering. Just people raising families, having lots of kids, sanctions be damned.
“Just people raising families, having lots of kids, sanctions be damned.”
That is why Russia is sanctioned – because of not being politically correct. You cannot have a lot of normal (in terms of 1950s) kids and live simple life – it is not politically correct.
Eventually all liberals end up in labor camps because even communists have to establish law and order as soon as they take over the power – thanks to liberals. That is what happened in every communist country with socialized medicine and free college education.
@Inside Looking Out; That is the funniest post I have read in weeks. Thanks so very much for highlighting the reality that not one established liberal democracy has ever ‘become’ communist.
A while back, I landed up with a Prius rental car while my car was getting some accident damage repaired. Immediately, 30 something women were interested in me. My current opinion is a Prius is better than a Porsche if you are looking to be a player.
They mustve either been 67 year old aging boomer ex hippies, or assumed you were a feminist beta soy boi upon seeing the car. Someone should offer a cash bounty of photo evidence of attractive people driving Priuses, because its pretty much the same kinds of people 99.999% of the time. The women I’m attracted to have specifically stated that owning a hybrid car, especially a prius is an immediate and savage rejection.
Chicks driving a Prius? Usually hirsute anthropology students with weapons grade acne. Either that or lonely 30-something bank tellers with 6 cats and elderly mothers who are becoming burdensome. The Prius is not the vehicle of choice among cheerful women.
She missed several of Chris’s recommendations here-including “obey the law” and “be polite’.
https://youtu.be/uj0mtxXEGE8
Yep, that’s the one! I knew there were a few other fans out there among the B&B.
+1
In the beginning she was too absorbed in smelling her own farts to notice the cop, and when she did, she didn’t want to open the window and waste the exquisite scent. So she made up the lame tire popping story in a fleeting moment of self-awareness.
That’s my analysis of the situation given the facts at hand.
Hybrid is so 2004, she is nobody unless she’s driving an EV.
Dang it the police saw a Prius! I drive a gray prius, stretching the speed limited to the max on the same long commute for a decade and have never once been pulled over, knock on wood.
Say what you want about the prius but it is the perfect commuter not only because of the milage but also to the near invisibility to law enforcement.
Any Toyota car is pretty much invisible.
She refused to pull over because she’s a sanctimonious b****.
May I play Devil’s advocate here?
DOT seldom if ever sweeps the Interstate shoulders of gravel, glass, nails & screws. The one flat I EVER had on my motorcycle resulted from pulling on to the shoulder to remove a layer of clothing. Drywall/deck screw.
I absolutely understand leading a trooper to the next exit. If nothing else too many morons, drunks, and cellphone using drivers threaten to sideswipe you pulled over on a highway shoulder.
/flamesuit on.