VAN BUREN (KFSM) -- A local man was recently pulled over by Van Buren Police, and the driver recorded the whole thing on his cell phone. The video was uploaded to the web and quickly got thousands of views, but not for the reason you might think.
Unlike many of the police videos making headlines recently, this was planned out weeks in advance as part of an elaborate proposal, and the bride-to-be never saw it coming.
Fort Smith native Justin Daniels came up with the idea which he pitched to his friend Shane, better known as Officer Ridenour, a patrolman with the Van Buren Police Department.
They planned out all the details. Then, Daniels decided to take it even further.
“I said, ‘I want you to kind of be a cop, if you know what I mean,’ and he said he could handle that,” Daniels said.
Ridenour got everything approved by his sergeant. Then, he made sure his partner was up to speed, telling him it was okay to be harsh during the traffic stop.
“I called him and told him what was going on, and he said definitely he wanted to be in on it,” Ridenour said.
Only one other person was in on the plan – Stephanie, a mutual friend, who recorded the big moment on a cell phone.
“Stephanie knew about it from the day I planned it,” Daniels said. “I told her I needed her help, and she was all for it.”
With his team in place, Daniels finally put his plan into action. He told his then-girlfriend, Reanna Taber, they were going to visit his “Uncle Jimmy from Chicago.” But, in reality, there is no Uncle Jimmy.
“I just remember going down there and then we get stopped,” Taber said. “I thought we were getting stopped because of a signal light, and the next thing I knew, we're getting pulled out of the car.”
Then, it got worse. Daniels was patted down by a not-so-friendly officer, as Taber watched in disbelief.
“I was kind of nervous for him, in a way,” Taber said. “I thought I was getting searched next. I was like - why all this for a signal light?”
Then finally, the moment everyone had been waiting for. Ridenour approached Daniels with a small box in his hand, saying he’d found contraband inside the car. Daniels took the box, turned toward Taber and dropped down on one knee. He opened the box to reveal an engagement ring.
“Will you marry me?" Daniels asked.
"Yes!" Taber replied.
“At the police department, we do a lot of things for the citizens. We unlock vehicles; we do funeral escorts; so I guess we do engagements now too,” Ridenour said. “It was just an honor to be part of their day.”
“I'm still kind of speechless about it,” Taber said.
“I wouldn't change that day for nothing,” Daniels said. “That was one of the best days of my life.”
CLICK HERE to see the original video which had nearly 50,000 views in the first couple weeks.