On October 26, 1998, Michael Hyde was pulled over by Abington, Massachusetts police for an excessively loud exhaust system and unlit license plate on his white Porsche. The stop should have ended in a fix-it ticket at worst, but escalated when Hyde accused the cop of pulling him over for his hippie hair. That was just the beginning: Apparently, Hyde was secretly recording the show and filed a complaint over the incident...which is unfortunate, since secretly recording a traffic stop is illegal in Massachusetts. The cops pressed charges and Hyde was sent up the river. His conviction was confirmed by the Massachusetts State Supreme Court on appeal.
The stupid part of this whole thing is that the guy just had to inform the officer he was recording the stop and everything would have been totally legal. Now, we're always wary of abusive police power combined with divisive state laws, but this case seems like the driver was just an ass looking to get one over on the cops. Karma, it seems, is indeed a bitch. [Details at PansyPatrol (what a great name)]; Photo from Flickr