Captain Kirk Evades Traffic Ticket

By Azad March 5, 2001 5:15 PM

In an interview with Craig Kilborn on The Late Late Show, Star Trek star William Shatner told him that he once used his image as Capt. James T. Kirk to evade a traffic ticket. During production of the original series, "we had an early morning out in the desert at Vasquez Rocks," near Los Angeles, Shatner told Kilborn. "I said to wardrobe, 'Instead of me getting there at 4:00 in the morning, I'll get there at 4:30. I'll take the wardrobe home and I'll get into it in the morning.'"

The next morning, Shatner said he put on the costume, got in his car and raced toward the desert at a high rate of speed. On the way, he heard a siren behind him. "A cop pulls me over at 4:00 in the morning, it's dead dark. ... And I got out of my car in my Star Trek uniform. And I turned around, and I said, 'What is this? I've got 400 people to command! I'm on my way to the spaceship! Now what exactly do you want, sir?'" Shatner said. The officer was stunned. "He said, 'Well, I-I, uh ... I, uh ... Well, get along.' The only thing was, I walked back to my car, and then I began to wilt. And as I turned around to see what he was doing, he said, 'Beam me up, Scotty.'"