Mexico is truly the land of freedom. Where else can I get involved in a high speed police chase that doesn't end in me getting shot? We just got home from what was our fastest police chase yet, which was fun and exhilarating. It ended in us reversing down the street in a cloud of smoke, getting away without problem. This is probably our fourth or fifth police chase since living here, and not one has ended in us being shot or arrested.
We were driving around town looking for butane, as there are very few places that we've found to purchase the high quality butane we use for dab making. On our way to another store, we got stuck behind a very slow Federales. We were not in a good place to pass them due to high traffic, so we remained behind them for a little while. They were going so slow that another Federales passed all of the traffic backed up behind them, and eventually them too. So we did what we always do when stuck behind a slow ass cop here in Mexico, we passed them. John made a comment in here on how in the states, even not being on the run, we'd be freaking out. Until the beginning of the chase we were calm. Even after, there was no fear, just adrenaline.
They evidently became very upset that so many people were passing them, as they seemed to take issue. They started to follow us riding our tail. It seemed like they were flashing their headlights, but I can't be sure on that. John mentioned he thought they were going to be dicks and right when he said that they pulled up next to us. There were four of them, in white shirts which is weird for the policia here. They were saying something to us, which we couldn't understand but we could tell it's not what they usually say to try and get us to stop. Honestly this was a weird encounter from the start. For example, they didn't even turn on their lights at any point during the chase.
We kept driving on, refusing to stop. They repeatedly pulled up next to us to yell at us and we just accelerated away, refusing to stop like always. They got pretty aggressive and John made the decision to dip on a side street and make them chase us up the hill, if they had the gumption to. For the time being they did, and they followed our ass and repeatedly tried to cut us off.
It was around this time that it became high speed, or the highest speed you can go on the side streets of Acapulco. John increased his speed and made several turns, and they did a good job of keeping up with us. At one point, we encountered one of the most obnoxious topes that Acapulco had to offer, one that happened to be more than 2 feet tall. We went over it, John and I both hoping they hit it at high speed, as it would have destroyed their car. It would have been fun for them to explain to their boss why they trashed a car chasing a gringo. Sadly they sped down enough to save their car and they kept pursuing us attempting to get in front of us and make us stop.
They finally managed to get in front of us and block us off, as there were was a car on each side to keep us from going around them again. They managed to get in front of us once before this, only for us to swerve around and speed away. This time they stopped, got out and started running towards the car. John immediatly threw the truck in reverse and squealed his tires, backing up. I've always wanted to flick off a cop, so I did. According to our english friend who was with us, the fat one noticed and smiled, as he chased us down the street. He probably reversed for more than 1000 feet down that side street, dodging cars parked on either side of the street. John later remarked that he had always wanted to get in a chase like that, leaving the police in a cloud of dust with the squealing of tires.
The cops chased us the whole way on foot. At a point some of them raised their guns threateningly, as they by this point had noticed we were gringo. It wasn't with much confidence as none of them were really going to be the guy to shoot some gringos over a traffic violation. So they just ran after us, probably unsure of what else to do and too ego hurt to give up. At the end of the day with these guys, it's generally their ego that gets them chasing you. Embarrass them enough and they give up, which they did.
We got onto the street we had just come off of and drove away. I looked back to see if there were any headlights from policia in pursuit, and there weren't. As expected, that was the end of it. Despite us running from them, giving them the bird and embarrassing the hell out of them, they couldn't realistically act. In the States, we would have at the very least been thrown in jail, if not shot and killed. Here, we laugh and talk about how we have another police chase story to share with the world.
This serves as a lesson for anyone moving or considering moving to Mexico: Don't stop for cops. We've had the chief of police tell a community member explicitly not to listen to the cops here. This is advice we followed before we ever received it as we have reason to not want to deal with the police. We've never had to pay a large bribe, and we've never been arrested here. It is because of the way we handle police interactions that we've had no bad experiences where they've stolen our property or whatever other horror stories you hear here about dick cops looking for a bribe.
A tip to remember is you don't have to stop for any strickly military checkpoints (or any for that matter, if you have the guts) because they can't come after you if you run. They are always intended to be mandatory checkpoints, but they cannot do anything if you don't stop, and many don't (us included). As for policia, if they chase you, run away. They won't shoot after you, the worst they'll do is cut you off. Yell at them in english and it generally ends the altercation. If it doesn't, less than a 40 peso (yes, I mean pesos, not dollars) bribe should do the trick. Police will never physically shake you down for pesos, so you can always tell them you don't have any and they can't do anything about it.
Don't stop for cops!