HOUSTON – A drive to work took a dramatic turn for a woman who says she was run off the road by a police officer.
Natalie Fink, 28, was headed into her downtown office, where she works for an oil and gas company, when she said an HPD officer started to merge into her lane nearly running her off the road.
"Never noticed a signal that he had on to get over into my lane, never noticed his emergency lights on," Fink said.
To avoid an accident Fink told Local 2 she slowed down.
"He had his window down and started yelling at me to pullover and was pointing, so I did," she said.
Fink parked on the shoulder and said the officer approached her SUV and told her she was getting a ticket for failing to yield to an emergency vehicle and accused her of blocking traffic.
"I had gotten out of my car to take a picture of my vehicle to prove I wasn't blocking traffic, that I was completely on the shoulder," Fink said. "He walked over and said, 'I'm now giving you a ticket for walking on the freeway.'"
Fink said the officer handed her his ticket book and asked her to sign the citation. She did but also asked if she could have his name and badge number.
"He advised me I had two seconds to give him his book back or he was going to arrest me for theft. He counted to two and tried to open my door, so I rolled up my window and called the police," said Fink.
Fink said she asked for another officer to come to the scene because she was scared and didn't know what the officer was going to do next.
"He stood at my window and glared at me until another officer showed up," she said. "He seemed like he was in a bad mood and was taking it out on someone."
Fink was eventually let go.
A spokesperson for the Houston Police Department said the officer who initially stopped Fink called for back up when she took his ticket book. The officer also called the District Attorney's Office because Fink had a handgun but doesn't have a concealed handgun license. The DA did not accept the charge.
"I just had no idea what I did. I just tried to flow with traffic and get to work like everyone else," Fink said. "I handled myself pretty calmly considering I didn't think I did anything wrong."
Fink plans to hire and attorney and fight the tickets, she may even file a complaint against the officer.
"I would just like to see that people aren't treated this way," said Fink.