CHP Officer Draws Weapon in incident with Touge Driver

by Michael Satterfield

A video posted to Social Media January9th shows Tyler King being stopped by a California Highway Patrol officer for crossing a double yellow line on Couser Canyon Road, in Southern California. The shocking video has received thousands of views and has some questioning the tactics that the officer used in this incident.

We reached out to Tyler to get his side of the story. It turns out that Tyler like many automotive enthusiasts enjoys driving through the mountain roads of Southern California in his sports car. On a spirited run through Couser Canyon Tyler found himself behind a slower driver, who upon seeing it was clear, waved him by to pass.

Unfortunately for Tyler a CHP officer was up the road and saw his Miata cross the double yellow line, in a move that many are finding baffling the officer decided to stand in the traffic lanes and even leaped out in front of the moving car as it came around the corner. Tyler slammed on his brakes to avoid running over the officer who then drew his weapon, Tyler immediately put his hands up and the officer used his gun to wave Tyler to the side of the road where he was detained. After 20 mins in the back of the patrol car King was released with a ticket for the moving violation.

Image via @tyler_king_mx5

According to King the CHP officer was on site responding to a car that had gone over the side of the road a few days earlier and was waiting on a tow truck to come when he saw the Miata cross the double yellow line. It is unclear why the officer decided to not simply wave the Miata to the side of the road, instead the officer decided to jump in front of the car and unholster his weapon.

While crossing the double yellow line is dangerous and illegal, the actions of the CHP seems to be getting more and more aggressive against canyon drivers.  Including last year’s two months long undercover investigation into a group of canyon drivers in the LA area and constant crackdowns on what is being deemed as “street racing” have increased. While driving the mountain roads is a blast, drivers need to be aware that law enforcement is actively cracking down on unsafe driving.