What do you think would happen if you were driving over 100 mph on a highway, crashed into another vehicle and then finally pulled over after police chased you with their lights on?

Would you expect the police officer to:

Politely ask why you were driving so fast and whether you needed an ambulance – and then shake hands with you after issuing two tickets?

Bark at you to exit the car, put you in handcuffs and then take you to jail?

The vast majority of us would get handcuffs, but if you're Vince McMahon, you get handshakes.

McMahon is not only wealthy – the former chairman of World Wrestling Entertainment has an estimated net worth of up to $3.6 billion – he’s also well-connected. His wife, Linda McMahon, is the U.S. secretary of Education, and the power couple is close friends with President Donald Trump.

I was treated worse by a police officer for my 12-year-old car’s tint being “too dark,” compared with McMahon, who was charged with two misdemeanors and released.

Contrast that with any number of law enforcement encounters of people with color captured on video, like the Black college student in Florida who was removed from his vehicle and beaten. Police stopped the student for not driving with his lights on during bad weather.

Video of Vince McMahon released after USA TODAY requests records

McMahon's crash occurred in July. On Feb. 26, dashcam footage of the incident was released following a public records request by USA TODAY.

The video shows McMahon, 80, driving at a high rate of speed in his 2024 Bentley Continental GT in the northbound lane of the Merritt Parkway in Westport, Connecticut. He accelerates and hits the rear of a BMW. According to a police report obtained by USA TODAY, McMahon then crashed into a median wooden beam guardrail, and a third vehicle that was driving southbound collided with "debris projected over the center median" from McMahon's vehicle.

Although no one was seriously injured in the crash, the focus isn't on McMahon's speed or his admission of foolishness afterward. Instead, people are discussing the double standard in how people are treated by law enforcement. Watch the video and judge for yourself when an officer asked McMahon, “Why were you driving over 100 miles an hour?” McMahon answered, “It’s my granddaughter’s birthday.”

When the officer asked him if he saw his emergency lights on trying to catch up to him, McMahon replied, “I did see that. I saw lights, but it did look normal.”

“Yeah, I was trying to catch up to you, but you kept taking off,” the officer said.

McMahon said he wasn’t trying to outrun the officer, but he did say that he had not driven the 550-horsepower car in some time.

“I understand that, but that’s why I was very confused,” the officer replied.

I suspect that most of us apprehended after causing a crash, which could have resulted in serious injury or loss of life, would not hear an officer say, “I understand.”

Maybe I’m traumatized from my run-ins with police, but I suspect the officer would have different words for me, something like, “Get out of the car! ….. You’re going to jail!”

When the officer said, "It's fast, I'll tell you that," McMahon responded, "Yeah, too (expletive) fast."

Are police in Connecticut nicer or does it depend on the type of car you're driving or the color of your skin?

What is more troubling is that the officer reported that McMahon was traveling at speeds near 115 mph and then offered McMahon the opportunity to defend himself by asking whether he may have been looking at his phone or experiencing a medical emergency at the time.

The stop ended with another officer shaking McMahon’s hand.

Justice is not blind. Scales can easily be tilted by dollars.

Mark Sherman, McMahon’s attorney, said the court granted a motion to suspend and dismiss the case.

"Vince’s primary concern during this case was for the other drivers and (he) is appreciative that the court saw this as more of an accident than a crime that needed to be prosecuted," Sherman said in a statement.

I've received a few speeding tickets in my younger days, but none of them went as smoothly as McMahon’s. The officer never shook my hand, but he handed me a ticket with a court date.

Last October, McMahon entered a probation program. If he avoids any further traffic violations by this October, the charges will be removed from his record. Additionally, as part of the agreement, he was required to make a $1,000 charitable contribution.

Can you say privilege?

It’s often said that justice is blind, but we see everyday that the scales can be tilted by money and connections.

James E. Causey is an Ideas Lab reporter for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, where this column first appeared. Reach him at jcausey@jrn.com; follow him on X: @jecausey

© USA TODAY