When an officer spotted a Honda Pilot speeding out of Powell earlier this month, he attempted to pull the vehicle over. But the driver did not stop.

As the officer continued following the Honda on U.S. Highway 14-A, with lights and siren activated, he asked a dispatcher to pull the registration information for the Idaho license plates; the data made it unclear whether the plate actually belonged with the Pilot.

At that point, “it had the potential of possibly being a stolen vehicle,” explained Lt. Matt McCaslin, “so that kind of ups the game a little bit.”

The driver finally pulled over around Garland, shortly after 8:15 p.m. on June 5. Given the circumstances, the responding officer conducted what’s known as a high-risk traffic stop, ordering the driver out of the car at gunpoint.

Only then did everyone realize there had been a misunderstanding. As it turned out, the driver was a resident of China, who said he’d simply missed the 35 mph speed limit sign in Powell and apparently didn’t know he needed to stop for the officer.

“Evidently, in China, unless you hear the siren, you just maintain your speed and the police will go around and you don’t pull over for them,” McCaslin said. “He didn’t hear the siren, apparently.”

As he was being followed by the officer, the driver actually called a relative to ask what he should do — and that family member told him to pull over. Powell police had requested backup from other area law enforcement agencies, but “it all got resolved before others were involved,” McCaslin said.

The Powell officer wound up issuing the driver a warning for speeding and allowed him and his two passengers to continue their travels.

“They were able to quickly get everything figured out and get the people back on their way,” said McCaslin, “after a little education on the proper procedure [for traffic stops] and driving procedures in the United States.”