A cop once followed me for nearly two miles before I finally looked into my rearview mirror and realized he was there. I had just gotten news that I was about to be laid off from my job, and my mind was completely elsewhere.
When I was in the Navy, I was driving home from Cecil Field in my yellow MG Midget with Massachusetts plates. I was doing the straight through drive, and wasn't as sharp as I could have been.
I was just south of the Virginia border on I-95, and to my surprise saw flashing lights in my rearview mirror.
I pulled over, the cop walked up to my car, and I felt like I was in a movie. The cop, with his mirror shades and Smokey The Bear had, put his hands on my door, bent down so his face filled my window, and said "Boy, do you know how fast you were going? I thought that I was doing under sixty, and that was the time of 55 mph speed limits...
He was pissed. He said "I've been following you for about five miles, you knew I was back there behind you, but you didn't slow down, just kept speeding. I gave you a chance, and you were just being a wiseass and kept going!"
I stammered and stuttered and impressed upon him that I had no idea, wasn't trying to speed (honestly), and he actually let me go! He said: "The Virgina border is 10 miles up that way. I expect to see you do the speed limit. If I see you do even one mph over the speed limit, you are going to get a ticket! If I ever see you break the traffic law in this state, you will be in jail! Now get going!"
He followed me all the way to the state line. I think that he not only didn't like Yankees, he was having a bad day. But to his credit...he didn't write me a ticket either!