so that happened…

So I recently got a ticket. On foot.

It was a such a beautiful day out that I shed my jacket and was wandering across 17th St. into Farragut Square on the way to work. On the other side, I was approached by a uniformed police officer and told that he’d have to give me a warning, as I crossed when it said “Don’t Walk”. He made no mention of the fact that I also appeared to disregard the crosswalk entirely. I liked this guy’s style.

We were both polite and he was almost self-deprecating in his manner. “They actually have us out giving tickets today for jaywalking, which you just did. But I’ll let you go with a warning.” He took my license, jotted down my info, and we talked about my block and neighborhood, which he used to patrol, and how nice the day was.

As he handed me my ticket, he said, “feel free to throw this away, or use it for toilet paper or something.” We both had a laugh and I went on my way. However I very carefully crossed 18th and 19th Streets in full compliance with the law.