The cop asked him "How are you tonight", and his one-word answer -- his spoken answer -- at an "intoxication checkpoint" -- was "High."
He told the cop he was high!
(Oh, sure, in his transcript, he typed the word "Hi." Very coy. SO coy that not even anyone HERE caught it, until hundreds of posts into the thread!)
Now, if YOU are a cop, checking for intoxicated drivers -- knowing that "vinas veritas" -- and you ask a driver "how are you", and he replies that he's HIGH, well, what are YOU going to do? Smile and wave him on, saying "Drive safely and have a great evening"?
Nope. You're going to say, OK, this guy is so looped that he blurted out that he's high -- to a cop! I gotta get this joker off the road. But first, let's see if I an get a handle on HOW high he is. "So, whatcha up to tonight? Where ya headed?" -- casual stuff, something to get the guy chatting, so you can find out HOW high he is.
This seems like a pretty straightforward "reverse-sting".
I haven't listened to the audio, just read the transcript. The kid was being an ass, but it's the trooper's job not to lose his cool.
At a drunk roadblock the police are very busy trying to get the non-impaired drivers moving on. By chatting up drivers the police can get a quick handle on whether the driver might be drunk or high. If he looks tipsy or high then the next stage is roadside sobriety test and/or blowing into the alcohol meter. This snotty punk was interfering with this procedure by refusing to talk with the cop
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Yikes. I didn't catch it.