First Ticket and It's Bad - the Outcome
#16
Nordschleife Master
#17
Three Wheelin'
Good leg work on your part. I had somewhat a similar experience in that I was driving on my local expressway on a Sunday morning and didn't see the F150 police truck merging and drove past him at about 115mph. I did notice the flashing lights about 1/2 mile to my rear and thus slowed down and let him catch up and pull me over. I knew he didn't have radar since I have a K40 in all of my vehicles. Regardless, I thought that a good Sunday drive was ruined and that I would probably go to jail. To my amazement he stated that he had paced me at 80 mph in a 60 mph zone and further added that I was still accelerating. I promptly apologized for my moronic behavior and thanked my lucky stars that 80 mph was going to be my ticket. A $300.00 ticked that I was, for once, happy to pay without any complaints.
#18
#20
In law school we learn in trial practice classes to really drill leos during cross examinations because some will perjure themselves all day long with a smile on their face. Pretty disheartening.
#21
Three Wheelin'
This brings up a good question that I have been thinking about recently.
A while back I was driving down the freeway and noticed an ambulance approaching behind me. There were a couple of cars right beside me, so I accelerated and moved over for the ambulance. Next thing I know I'm getting lasered and I get pulled over. After the cop wrote the ticket, I asked him to please note that there was an ambulance behind me. He said that he didn't have to note it and that he would put it in "his notes." I asked politely again if he wouldn't mind just noting it on my copy. He flat out said NO, told me to drive safe and walked off. I didn't want to push the issue further so I left it at that. When the court day came, the ambulance was magically void from his testimony.
I managed to get the ticket dropped out of sheer luck but I have always wondered this: If you ask a cop to note a special circumstance, EG no uniform or approaching ambulance, can they just refuse?
TIA!
A while back I was driving down the freeway and noticed an ambulance approaching behind me. There were a couple of cars right beside me, so I accelerated and moved over for the ambulance. Next thing I know I'm getting lasered and I get pulled over. After the cop wrote the ticket, I asked him to please note that there was an ambulance behind me. He said that he didn't have to note it and that he would put it in "his notes." I asked politely again if he wouldn't mind just noting it on my copy. He flat out said NO, told me to drive safe and walked off. I didn't want to push the issue further so I left it at that. When the court day came, the ambulance was magically void from his testimony.
I managed to get the ticket dropped out of sheer luck but I have always wondered this: If you ask a cop to note a special circumstance, EG no uniform or approaching ambulance, can they just refuse?
TIA!
#24
Nordschleife Master
This brings up a good question that I have been thinking about recently.
A while back I was driving down the freeway and noticed an ambulance approaching behind me. There were a couple of cars right beside me, so I accelerated and moved over for the ambulance. Next thing I know I'm getting lasered and I get pulled over. After the cop wrote the ticket, I asked him to please note that there was an ambulance behind me. He said that he didn't have to note it and that he would put it in "his notes." I asked politely again if he wouldn't mind just noting it on my copy. He flat out said NO, told me to drive safe and walked off. I didn't want to push the issue further so I left it at that. When the court day came, the ambulance was magically void from his testimony.
I managed to get the ticket dropped out of sheer luck but I have always wondered this: If you ask a cop to note a special circumstance, EG no uniform or approaching ambulance, can they just refuse?
TIA!
A while back I was driving down the freeway and noticed an ambulance approaching behind me. There were a couple of cars right beside me, so I accelerated and moved over for the ambulance. Next thing I know I'm getting lasered and I get pulled over. After the cop wrote the ticket, I asked him to please note that there was an ambulance behind me. He said that he didn't have to note it and that he would put it in "his notes." I asked politely again if he wouldn't mind just noting it on my copy. He flat out said NO, told me to drive safe and walked off. I didn't want to push the issue further so I left it at that. When the court day came, the ambulance was magically void from his testimony.
I managed to get the ticket dropped out of sheer luck but I have always wondered this: If you ask a cop to note a special circumstance, EG no uniform or approaching ambulance, can they just refuse?
TIA!
#26
Poseur
Rennlist Member
Rennlist Member
While most cops are regular people, there are always a few who feel they can just do anything they want. Perhaps it's from hanging out with undesirables so much. I would encourage someone to produce a small video cam corder for your car that can record forward and aft imagery and also sound,--store it on a hard drive up to 2 hrs worth,--and then be available to the owner should a question of he said she said come up. Imagine how many cases wind up reversed because of such evidence. (Rodney King comes to mind...)