Stranded on the side of the road with a dead car, this woman thought the police who passed by would help her—they politely declined.
On the list of things you likely didn’t know, this is one of them. According to many users online, police aren’t allowed to jump cars, but the Daily Dot could not confirm an official source of truth on the matter.
Some claim that police are trained to help stranded drivers and carry jumper cables for this reason. Others say police cars have complicated electrical systems that could short if they were to jump another car or that police are simply too busy with higher priority tasks to help, like one commenter on this Reddit post said.
Well, in this viral TikTok with nearly half a million views as of Sunday, Deanna (@deannawltrs) got first-hand experience with a cop denying help.
She explained in a follow-up video that she had her key in her car for about 10 minutes, but the car wasn’t fully turned on. When she went to turn it on it wouldn’t work. She suspects that leaving the key in drained the battery.
However, this seems unlikely since the general consensus online is that it takes several hours for a car battery to drain if you make the mistake of doing something like leaving your headlights on.
Given that she was stranded on her way to work, Deanna flagged down a cop car that was passing by. But, his response to her plea for help surprised her.
“We’re actually not allowed to jumpstart cars,” the officer allegedly told her (she shared these specifics in a follow-up video). But she added that he was “very nice when he denied me.”
“I’m so embarrassed. I don’t know what to do. I have to be at work in 25 minutes,” Deanna said in the clip, stressed.
@deannawltrs he said they’re not allowed to use police cars to jump start! Womp womp I’m late for work now
♬ Just A Girl – No Doubt
It is suggested that drivers use some sort of roadside assistance service like AAA, which will jump your car for free or for a small fee, depending on your membership level. However, the wait time for roadside assistance can be hit or miss. While the average wait time was recently reported to be 21 minutes, they can sometimes leave people waiting more than an hour.
“Can’t jump start with the police car because of all the electronics in the vehicle (radio, etc.). It could blow fuses and mess up their car,” a commenter shared on her video.
While one commenter told the TikToker that she needed to save herself, Deanna shared that her neighbor jumped her car for free. “Didn’t have to wait on AMA CAA AAA. Quick easy fix,” she replied.
In the comments section, several people shared their own car stories featuring unhelpful police.
“One day I had a road accident because of black ice on the highway and a cop stopped by just to give me a ticket didn’t even ask if I was okay,” the top comment read.
“One time my tire was flat on the freeway so I got out and changed it and a cop came and told me I couldn’t park my car there and I needed to move it,” another shared.
“One time I drove my fwd car up a hill in the snow and then called 911… the cops blocked the road and watched as my car slid down the hill,” another wrote.
The Daily Dot reached out to Deanna for comment via Instagram direct message.
