80s Rock Star Pulled Over by Cops on the Way to His Kansas Concert

John Waite ran into a bit of a delay on the way to his latest show. The ’80s icon was heading to his Kansas concert when he and his band were pulled over by Kiowa County Sergeant Justin Rugg.

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Luckily for Waite and his band, Rugg was a big fan. Instead of writing the guys up for speeding, Rugg appeared to let them go with a warning—all for the price of a couple of photos.

In a Facebook post, the Kiowa County Sheriff’s Office shared those pics. In one shot, Rugg gave the camera a thumbs up as he posed next to Waite.

Another hilarious photo showed Waite and his band standing with their hands on the hood of their career, pretending they were getting arrested.

“It’s not every day our Deputies get to pull over cool guys!!” the post read “Sergeant Justin Rugg pulled over a vehicle who happened to have John Waite and his band in there headed to Dodge City tonight to play a show! Yes, Sergeant Rugg was excited!!”

Indeed he was, stating, “I’m not even on cloud 9, I’m on like cloud 12.”

“John Waite thanks for the photo,” the post added. “Have a rockin’ time and check out that beautiful Kansas sky!”

Waite also posted about the experience on Facebook, writing, “Pulled over for speeding. Good guy cop!”

John Waite’s Career

Waite began his career as bassist and lead vocalist for The Babys, wowing with tracks including “Isn’t It Time” and “Every Time I Think of You.” Shortly after Waite injured his knee during a concert, the band broke up.

From there, his solo career began. During that era of his career, Waite released songs including “Change,” “Tears,” and “Missing You.” It was the latter track, which peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, that Waite became best known for.

He continued to release music in the years that followed, including tracks such as “Every Step of the Way” and “These Times Are Hard for Lovers.”

Eventually, Waite teamed up with  Jonathan Cain, Ricky Phillips, Neal Schon, and Deen Castronovo to form supergroup Bad English. Their single “When I See You Smile” peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Waite has continued to put out music and play live shows in the years that followed.

Photo by R. Diamond/Getty Images