The giant banana was spotted in West Seattle yesterday! https://westseattleblog.com/2026/06/seen-in-west-seattle-the...
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Giant Banana Pulled Over: Driver Says Cops Have Stopped Him 100s of Times
81–90 of 136 posts
Re: Giant Banana Pulled Over: Driver Says Cops Have Stopped Him 100s of Times
#82> A Montana police officer spotted the giant banana rolling through Billings on Wednesday afternoon and did what countless law enforcement officers have done before him. Boys in the blue in Montana, Pulled over a giant banana. Drawn by the appeel of the yellow four wheeler, They spun jokes deadpan and deadpanner.
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Re: Giant Banana Pulled Over: Driver Says Cops Have Stopped Him 100s of Times
#83Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah, the attention of armed people with the authority to order him around. See how ridiculous that sounds?
I would advise you not drive a homemade fruit car around your town if you are this terrified of the attention it will bring. He clearly said in the article that he enjoys the encounters. He is doing this on purpose.
Attracting attention does not vindicate others in violating that person's rights.
Re: Giant Banana Pulled Over: Driver Says Cops Have Stopped Him 100s of Times
#84I'm glad the owner takes it lightly, but isn't this actually an abuse of power? If I can't pull someone over because I want a photo with their car... cops shouldn't be able to either, right?
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Re: Giant Banana Pulled Over: Driver Says Cops Have Stopped Him 100s of Times
#85Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's not true at all. The police can stop a vehicle for any suspicion of unlawful activity. For instance, to question a driver about the street-legal-ness of their homemade banana car. You can, however, refuse questioning and refuse any inspection of the interior of the vehicle and just ask them to cite you for what they pulled you over for.
They are required to have reasonable suspicion that the banana car is unlawful in some way. (e.g. missing required equipment, etc) Simply wanting to question the driver or get a picture for funsies is not quite enough.
It’s a goddamn banana car. This guy’s banana car is apparently legal, well constructed, and registered properly, but yes, the presence of a hand made banana car is reasonable suspicion that the car may not be up to snuff, road legal, or safe to operate around others.
Re: Giant Banana Pulled Over: Driver Says Cops Have Stopped Him 100s of Times
#86Earlier quoted context omitted.
Being pulled over is a command under threat of violence, by an agent of the state empowered to use deadly force, who is mostly insulated from the consequences of poor judgement or abuses of power. Being pulled over by cops cannot be whimsical.
Thankfully, not everyone thinks like you do. I have zero problems with police and never have. I trust you’ve heard of different opinions?
We can hold differing opinions about whether state sanctioned threats of deadly force are whimsical, but that is unarguably what being pulled over is.
Re: Giant Banana Pulled Over: Driver Says Cops Have Stopped Him 100s of Times
#87Earlier quoted context omitted.
They are required to have reasonable suspicion that the banana car is unlawful in some way. (e.g. missing required equipment, etc) Simply wanting to question the driver or get a picture for funsies is not quite enough.
It’s a goddamn banana car. This guy’s banana car is apparently legal, well constructed, and registered properly, but yes, the presence of a hand made banana car is reasonable suspicion that the car may not be up to snuff, road legal, or safe to operate around others.
That's a common misconception about what "reasonable suspicion" means.
"Reasonable suspicion of a crime" is an objective legal standard that doesn't mean the same thing as "they look suspicious" or the situation itself is "suspicious" -- it means that the officer thinks that a specific articulable crime has, is, or is about to occur. They don't have to be 100% sure, and they don't even have to be correct about what the law even is, but they do have to believe a law was broken.
Being unusual by itself does not legally qualify for reasonable suspicion of a crime or infraction, because being unusual isn't a crime.
Now, the officer could be interested in the car because it is a banana, and want to stop it to take a picture of it, but they have to have suspicion of some specific violation first.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whren_v._United_States
For example:
1. "Hey that banana car looks weird" > "it doesn't look like it has turn signals" > [pulls them over] > "hey do you have turn signals", "yes", "ok my bad have a nice day" = legal, because not having turn signals is an equipment violation.
2. "Hey that banana car looks weird" > [pulls them over] > "hey is this thing legal?" = illegal, because looking weird is not a crime
Re: Giant Banana Pulled Over: Driver Says Cops Have Stopped Him 100s of Times
#88Earlier quoted context omitted.
squints have you met any police?
Yeah have you? They carry guns and are prone to violence in the US at rates disproportionate to the rest of the population, and that's just against their own loved ones. > Two studies have found that at least 40% of police officer families experience domestic violence, (1, 2) in contrast to 10% of families in the general population.(3) A third study of older and more experienced officers found a rate of 24% (4), indi…
Duh? Maybe re-read my comment?
Re: Giant Banana Pulled Over: Driver Says Cops Have Stopped Him 100s of Times
#89Earlier quoted context omitted.
I can assure you, pulling over the banana stand is not the road to death camps. The death camps are.
Maybe not death camps, but it is inextricably tied to real abuses. I don't see how you ban "driving while black" stops without also banning these.
You also can’t ban these without making it impossible to stop 99% of real issues either.
A giant banana car is the definition of unusual behavior, after all.
Re: Giant Banana Pulled Over: Driver Says Cops Have Stopped Him 100s of Times
#90Earlier quoted context omitted.
Being pulled over is a command under threat of violence, by an agent of the state empowered to use deadly force, who is mostly insulated from the consequences of poor judgement or abuses of power. Being pulled over by cops cannot be whimsical.
Thankfully, not everyone thinks like you do. I have zero problems with police and never have. I trust you’ve heard of different opinions?
Please tell me which "differing opinion" excuses rampant theft through Civil Asset Forfeiture which cops don't seem to have a problem with?