Police incident in Mexico. All's well that ends well.

[telcoman]

It was the final day of a 3 month caravan. All went well until we go about 50 km south of the border. I got a radio call from about half way back in the caravan and was told the guy at the end had been pulled over by the Federales and needed a translator. It took me 10 min to get everyone safely parked and get back there. I pulled over on the other side of the highway and could see the cop brow beating the customer. I tried to cross and he yells, NO at me. I think he felt we may be ganging up on him. I got back in my vehicle, pulled down the road a few hundred feet than came back on the opposite side. It seems the customer had cut off a semi and driven him off the road.The Federale thought it was a case of hit & run and was understandably upset. The customer was unaware of what he had done. Just then the semi in question showed up. He had been driven into an embankment and had some damage to the lights on his trailer and a damaged strut on his front end. I asked him how much he estimated the damage was and he said about 3000 pesos (about $200 US). Great, I gave him the 3000 pesos and he was happy. $200 is far less than the $500 deductable an insurance claim would have cost. The Federale was happy not to have to fill out reports, take the customer in, or any of that stuff. When it was all over, believe ti or not, we had a group hug, myself, the customer, the cop & the truck driver. The cop was actually a real decent guy after he realized it was not intentional. Oddly enough we nearly always have a Green Angel as a tailgunner. They are like AAA, but government employees with quasi police powers. Had one been there, we would have been fine. However, being the last day with the "run for the border" factor in play, I never bothered to arrange it. My mistake, won't make that one again. But it all ended well.