Our colleague Ariane Campo Flores, who covers Florida,
has been on plenty of police ride-alongs before.
Drug busts, gang investigations, routine patrols.
But this one, in Lake Worth, Florida, this one was different.
I honestly didn't know what to expect.
I've never done a ride-along of this nature before.
Aryan rode along with Master Sergeant Tony Kingery of Florida Highway Patrol.
You know, those state troopers with the wide-brimmed hats and khaki uniforms,
the officers who might ticket you for speeding.
Except, on this day in July,
Sergeant Kingery was keeping an eye out for something else, undocumented immigrants.
So at one point, we were driving through this commercial district, and then he noticed a white van.
So there's a van over here, but he ain't gonna go now.
A white van missing a bumper, a clear violation of traffic law.
It doesn't have a front bumper, which is illegal in the state of Florida.
You have to have a front bumper.
And so Sergeant Kingery then pulled another U-turn to get behind him and that's when he also noticed that the van was missing a rear taillight and he flashed his siren and so he decided to pull it over.
Kingery walked up to the driver and told him about the missing bumper and broken taillight.
He also asked the driver for his license.
And that's when the traffic stop became more than just a traffic stop.