There are funny bumper stickers, and then there are ones that read like a bad idea in progress. A Buffalo man found out which is which when New York State Police troopers spotted his Dodge on Route 33 on April 4 without any license plates, complete with a sticker that read: “Sorry officer, I thought you wanted to race.”
Spoiler alert: the officer did not want to race. The officer wanted him to pull over.
While the New York State Police identified the vehicle as a Dodge Charger, images from the scene clearly show a Dodge Challenger, indicating a likely discrepancy in the initial report.
According to the New York State Police, troopers out of SP Clarence were on patrol around 4:26 p.m. as part of a cooperative speed enforcement initiative with the Buffalo Police Department when they observed the vehicle without plates. When troopers activated their emergency lights, the driver didn’t hesitate. He accelerated and attempted to flee at a high rate of speed.
Now, in fairness to the situation, either way, it is a Dodge muscle car with some legitimate street cred. The Charger and the Challenger have powered plenty of Fast and Furious fantasies. However, Route 33 in Buffalo is not the streets of Los Angeles, and this was not a movie.
Here is where the story takes a turn that only traffic can deliver. The fleeing driver exited onto Route 198, where he was promptly stopped by something no horsepower in the world can defeat: rush hour traffic. He got stuck. In a jam. After trying to run from the police.
Troopers approached and arrested the driver without incident, which is a very polite way of saying the car’s big escape lasted about a New York minute.
The Charges: A List as Long as His Sticker Was Wrong
Authorities identified the driver as 23-year-old Elias E. Cook of Buffalo. He was charged with third-degree unlawful fleeing a police officer in a motor vehicle, a misdemeanor, along with third-degree aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle and multiple vehicle and traffic violations, according to the New York State Police.
Cook was transported to SP Buffalo, processed, and released with an appearance ticket. He is scheduled to appear in the City of Buffalo Court on April 22, 2026.
So to recap: no plates, a fleeing charge, and a getaway plan foiled by congestion. If there were an award for the least effective escape attempt in upstate New York history, this one would be in the running.
The Dodge Charger (and Challenger): A Great Car Deserving Better Decisions
Let us take a moment of silence for the Dodge muscle car at the center of this, which deserved none of it. Whether Charger or Challenger, these are genuine American performance cars with a proud legacy. People love them. Enthusiasts tune them, admire them, and post photos of them online with the kind of reverence usually reserved for religious icons.
And this particular 2015 model was out here being driven plateless through Buffalo traffic with a sarcastic sticker as its defining feature. The car did not deserve this. The car was simply trying to live its best life.
A Word on the Sticker
Let us give credit where credit is due: the sticker is funny. In the right context, like on a track day car or parked at a car show, it is genuinely a good bit. The problem is that humor, much like license plates, works better when it is not actively being used as evidence against you. If your bumper sticker accurately describes what you are about to do to a police officer, it might be time to reconsider the sticker or reconsider the plan.
The New York State Police, for their part, reported the arrest without commentary on the irony. Professionals, truly.
Update: Clarified a discrepancy between the New York State Police release and images from the scene, which appear to show a Dodge Challenger rather than the Dodge Charger listed in the initial report.