Her heart pounded. She wasn’t sure how to handle this. She just stood there while the cop told her boyfriend to get on his knees. She couldn’t believe that the officer was putting him in handcuffs. She was absolutely certain that they hadn’t done anything wrong. But she didn’t want to argue with the cop and risk him cuffing her too. Then, she heard a 4-word question that blew her mind and almost made her want to collapse.
This wasn’t the first time Austin Urhahn got pulled over. As a matter of fact, it had happened a number of times. Urhahn was a speed demon, but he couldn’t help it. He loved cars and motorcycles. His girlfriend, Sam Watson, knew he worked hard to earn enough money to buy the car of his dreams. And his dedication and impressive work had finally paid off.
Urhahn used his love for motor vehicles to flip used cars and earn some extra cash. This allowed him to save enough money to buy the vehicle he always wanted, a Honda motorcycle. Then, his efforts earned him a bigger reward. He saved up enough money to buy himself a black 2006 Corvette. This car became everything to him. Thankfully, he had a special lady who made the loveliest passenger too.
Urhahn and Watson had been together for nearly seven years. She also loved cars and could drive a 6-speed sports cars like no one he had ever met before. She was also an emergency room nurse. But despite her stressful job, she never failed to come home with a smile. This made him feel like the luckiest guy on the planet. It’s why he knew she was the one, but there was a major fork in the road.
Urhahn’s passion was also his downfall. Whenever he got behind the wheel of his Corvette, he floored it! He got an adrenaline rush every time he raced. Unfortunately, this always managed to get him into trouble with the law. He couldn’t help it. He got carried away, and he always got ticketed. “I try not to break the speed limit, but it happens,” he confessed. But it was putting a strain on his love life.
Urhahn had had about 20 speeding tickets at one point, and this didn’t surprise Watson one bit. After all, she’d been in the car half the times her boyfriend got pulled over. It’s not that she didn’t appreciate his need for speed, but she was concerned. They had talked about spending their lives together, but his obsession with speed was a red flag. What if they took his license away? Then, something happened that turned this issue into a source of major relief.
Urhahn and Watson drove from Cape Girardeau, Missouri to Scott City to visit his grandfather. It wasn’t a long drive, so they weren’t racing this time. But then, Urhahn forgot to use his blinker while changing lanes. This was a mistake he quickly regretted when he heard police sirens in the background. There was a patrol car behind him, and it was signaling him to stop. “Are you kidding me?” Watson shouted. “We didn’t even speed for once!” But then things got even more complicated for the couple.
They pulled into a parking lot. Once the cop car parked behind them, the officer got out and approached them. He asked Urhahn for his license and registration. Then he told him he pulled him over because he didn’t signal when he changed lanes. He also claimed he got a report of a black Corvette speeding on the road. Watson was stunned. She knew they weren’t speeding. Then, the situation got weirder.
The cop told Urhahn to step out of the vehicle. He stepped out and walked to the rear of the vehicle. Then, the officer told Watson to do the same. No one had ever asked her to step out during a traffic stop. But to be safe, she did what he asked. Then she watched as the officer patted her boyfriend down. But things got stranger when the cop took something out of Urhahn’s pocket and said, “That’s what I thought.” She wasn’t sure what he had taken out, but she was getting pretty worried.
“You’re going to do life for this,” the officer told Urhahn as he told him to get on his knees while he handcuffed him. Watson was livid at this point. She was afraid for her boyfriend. Then, the officer told her to stand in front of her man while he went to his cop car to get the “evidence camera.” She nervously did as he instructed. And then, her entire life changed forever.
Watson watched as Urhahn pulled his hands from behind his back and placed them in front of her while he held a ring. She gasped. She couldn’t believe that this was actually happening to her. The look on her face was priceless as he asked, “Will you marry me?” She instantly replied, “Yes!” Then, as he got back on his feet, she reached out and kissed him. The cop laughed as he filmed everything. This was a set up.
As the couple hugged, Urhahn asked Watson, “Were you scared?” They both laughed after she said yes. Then, he looked into the camera, smiled and said, “Thank you very much. We really appreciate everything you’ve done. Thank you, Scott County Sheriff’s Department. Everybody, thank you so much.” Once the couple’s exhilaration started to level off, Watson learned how Urhahn had planned the entire faux traffic stop.
The couple had talked about marriage before, so Urhahn knew Watson expected a proposal unlike any other. “I don’t want it to be cliché, I don’t want it to be something I’ve seen a hundred times, and just please make sure it’s on camera,” she said to him. Now that he knew what she expected, he came up with the perfect idea.
Urhahn knew Watson was concerned over his driving record. So, that’s how he came up with the plan. Fortunately, Detective Barry Morgan of the Scott County Sherriff’s Department was friends with his sister. He asked them both for help in making this surprise proposal special. And it turned out better than they ever expected.
Watson never saw the proposal coming. “I was like what? What is this? What’s going on? And then it all made sense at the end,” she shared. But she couldn’t believe how her boyfriend made it all work. “I was very impressed with him that he went through all this. It’s something I can’t describe. It’s so many emotions in one.”