Of all the actions that might lead to a confrontation with police, it's fair to expect that walking is low on the list.
However, a Redditor recounted a frustrating experience in the r/f***cars subreddit in which they were "harassed by a cop for 'walking too much.'"
The OP explained that the incident occurred while they were on a work trip in Texas. With their car in the shop for a couple of days to repair the alternator that had broken down, the OP decided to brave the Texas sun and walk to their destination. Unfortunately, an officer drove up to them and started peppering them with questions about why they were there, the company they worked for, and why they were sweating.
"He seems to be going for a gotcha question. Eventually he asks for my ID and I ask what's going on. He says that it was suspicious that I walked so much," the OP stated. "I point out that I thought that is what crosswalks and sidewalks were for. He glares at me and drives off."
Sadly, this confrontation is not an isolated instance. Similarly, a mom had the infuriating experience of being "pulled over" by police for walking her son home from a doctor's appointment in a small city in Georgia. Commenters revealed that they were subjected to the same treatment in other areas in the United States.
"In Georgia, I had police follow me for a block while I walked alone at night. They said they were 'worried if I was injured' because they couldn't understand why I was walking at night," one user recalled.
Another commented, "I got harassed by the Seattle PD for crossing an empty street downtown at 5 am on a Sunday morning. I was on-call for work and had a call downtown and was just walking across all the streets because they were, you know, empty, when the cop stopped me for 20 minutes saying he'd been watching me for 10 minutes (uh-huh) and caught me 'Jaywalking' at least 10 times."
Despite these annoying incidents, you shouldn't be discouraged from choosing to walk (safely) to your destination. People who choose not to rely on their cars all the time are helping the environment by reducing their contributions to harmful emissions of planet-warming pollution.
Some cities worldwide are encouraging the reduction of car dependency and doing their part to make things safer for pedestrians. Every effort, however minimal, can go a long way toward creating a cleaner environment.
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