By URIAH KISER
I was coming up over the hill on Old Bridge Road and there he was – radar gun in hand, his police motorcycle parked to the side of the road.
He stepped out into my lane of traffic, held out his hand and motioned me to pull over, so I did.
Through my driver’s side window is the first time I met Prince William County Police Officer Chris Yung. He asked me why I was traveling at 52 mph in the 35 mph zone, and he wanted to know why my state inspection sticker was dead.
“I’m on my way to a meeting, and as for the sticker, well, that’s my fault,” I said to the officer.
While the window sticker did lapse, I’d like to think of myself as a pretty good driver. It had been at least seven years since a police officer felt the need to give me guidance on the road.
But on that late December morning in 2011, Officer Yung issued me tickets for both the speeding and for the expired inspection. But he didn’t just hand me a sheet of paper and say “get lost.”
When I asked him about traffic laws, proper driving techniques, and what was considered reckless driving in Virginia, he not only took the time to answer my questions but he did so with authority and a smile.
I was initially irked because drivers on the opposite side of the road are allowed to travel at 45 mph, but I apparently missed the signs on my side of the road that limited my speed to 35 mph. In my mind it was unfair and unbalanced, but when Officer Yung handed my ticket I actually said “thank you.”
The next month while in court, I explained to a judge about the confusing unequal speed limits on that stretch of Old Bridge Road (Most days I only traveled the road on the 45 mph side), and during my pleadings I also told the judge how professional the police officer was who issued my summons.
I ended up paying the tickets and court costs, and I also once again thanked Officer Yung. His professionalism shown through in the courtroom just as it did on the street. He has been the only officer I have ever thanked after being issued a speeding ticket.
This has been a trying week for our community as many remember Officer Yung after the 35-year-old was killed in a crash on Monday while on his motorcycle while responding to a separate crash in Bristow. Tens of thousands of people altogether have attended a funeral service, candlelight vigil, stood along roadways with U.S. Flags to view a procession in the officer’s honor, and have taken to social media sites to share condolences.
Businesses in the community have also remembered Officer Yung. At Chick-fil-A in Woodbridge where Yung was part of a police motorcycle squad that brought Santa Claus to meet children last month, a memorial has been erected in his honor. Being the third Prince William police officer killed in the line of duty since the department’s founding in 1970, and having served his country in as a U.S. Marine, undoubtedly more memorials will be erected in Yung’s honor.
For me, I’ll hold on to a memory of a single interaction with a police officer who not only taught me a traffic lesson, but did so proficient patience and poise.
