A man has been left gobsmacked after being threatened with a parking ticket for sitting in his car to listen to a podcast. He explained how a patrol officer ordered him to go inside his house to finish off his podcast as listening to it on his driveway was "suspicious".
Taking to Reddit, he said: "I was driving home from a friend's house and was listening to a podcast while I drove. As I pulled into my driveway, the podcast was almost over (about 15 minutes) and I wanted to finish it. So I put the car in park per usual and sat back and finished listening, and lit a cigarette.
"I know that's kind of weird to just be sitting in my car but it never crossed my mind as illegal." The man, from Oklahoma, America, went on to explain how the patrol officer parked straight across his driveway to "block him in" before slowly approaching his vehicle.
"I rolled my window down all the way and he asked what I was doing. I explained and he started looking into my back window, and then asked if I had anything illegal in the car," he added.
"I told him no, I had just gotten home, had not been drinking or anything, and I was convinced he was going to make me step out.
"He then said I needed to go inside because what I was doing is deemed as suspicious behaviour and he could cite me next time if it happened again."
Confused, the man asked whether the audio was too loud - but was told "You can't just be sitting in your car like this'.
The officer continued: "Go inside, your car is running and you don't have a seatbelt on so I could technically site you now for that. Don't do this again".
Not wanting to cause trouble, the man turned his car off and made his way into his house.
"I don't live in a bad neighbourhood, the most I've ever interacted with law enforcement was a stop sign ticket 11 years ago."
After asking Reddit users whether he was "accidentally doing something illegal", one user commented: "Turn off the car, take your foot off the brake (so no lights) and probably no one would call the police if you're just smoking a cig."
Another user added: "It is not illegal to sit in your car in your own driveway anywhere in the country.
"Some places have laws against idling (running the engine), but that has nothing to do with a seatbelt, it's to prevent unnecessary emissions. Next time just don't run the engine."
A third user said: "It may barely be suspicious but 'suspicious' is not a crime or violation."
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