A man has posted a bizarre story to TikTok. In a video that has over three million views, TikTok user Sammy (@topmansammy) has said that he was pulled over and put in handcuffs after he had bought a Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat from an owner who had a shady past.
Sammy had gone to buy the car from the previous owner, and he had a friend along as a passenger. The video shows the two in the car, and it was only 20 minutes before the recording that the deal for the car had been agreed upon.
As the video from inside the muscle car progresses, Sammy’s passenger is heard asking, “Why are there so many cops coming?” before a police officer begins to yell at them and demands that they step out of the car as quickly as possible. Something was clearly not right.
The two get out of the car and comply, and try to explain the situation to the police officers. It was only after seeing Sammy’s paperwork and understanding that he now owned the car that the police managed to fill the two in as to why they had been pulled over.
Why Was Sammy Pulled Over in the Dodge Muscle Car?
@topmansammy Side quest with @habibis.cat 😂😂😭we made it out tho #hellcat #cops #mopar ♬ original sound – Topmansammy
The officer in the video yells at the two occupants to get out of the muscle car. “Drive, step out! Open the door from the outside and get out, now!” he can be heard shouting in the TikTok video. The two occupants get out of the car, and they are then handcuffed by police officers.
“I just purchased a vehicle. I have the title and everything. Just got notarized,” the TikToker said in the video. It was soon after this that they found out why they had been pulled over. According to the police, the car had been pulled over because someone in it had a warrant for homicide. However, that wasn’t Sammy or his passenger, who had only just been to pick the car up about 20 minutes before the incident.
The police officer soon realized that this was true, and that the pair were not who they had been looking for. He did, however, warn them that there was a chance another group of officers could pull them over again. The two were still left baffled by what had just happened to them, and naturally a little shaken at having so many police officers swarming around them. Sammy was at least able to keep the car, as that itself was not wanted.
This Is How They Were Confused for a Criminal in the Dodge
The most likely explanation in this scenario was that the previous owner had been wanted for homicide, as the officer had said. While the car had been sold and Sammy had the title, the license plate and muscle car may have still been associated with the previous owner at that point. The police officers out on patrol may then have spotted the car, hence the move to pull it over and arrest the occupants.
Aside from that, a license plate reader could have signalled to police that the car was on a “hot list.” And while ownership of the Dodge had clearly changed hands, it may well have been too soon for the state to have recognized that ownership had changed. Had it done so, then the car should not have been flagged as belonging to the person the police were after. This sort of situation is more common than you think.
Police Often Mistake Cars for Those Belonging to Criminals
Flock security systems have been rolled out across America, and they should be able to identify a car, its license plates, and a lot of other information. However, a police department in Roseville, California, actually found that 71 percent of stolen vehicle or felony alerts from the system from 2023 to 2024 were wrong due to misread plates. So while the technology has clear benefits, it can also cause problems. Thankfully, Sammy, his passenger, and the officer handled this situation perfectly, and no harm was committed.