Got pulled over this morning . . .

[CarreraS2]

Thankfully he was a decent guy.

[BlueSkyJaunte]

Originally posted by SoCal911SC
Thankfully, he was a decent guy.

No, he wasn't. He was trying to be a power-tripping POS and you called him on it.

Good for you!

[nostatic]

you're a felon. I'm not friends with you any more.

no front plate...how could you?!?!?

won't anybody think about the children?!?!?

[Tervuren]

Thats when you want a full harness. Bit hard for them to say you just put it on.

[masraum]

I'd like to assume that we can give them the benefit of a doubt.

THey're human and make mistakes.

[widebody911]

I've had that happen to me when wearing harnesses in the 911. Each time, the cop had a deliciously funny WTF/OS look when he sees the 5-point harness at the same time he's telling me he pulled me over for not wearing a seat belt.

[BlueSkyJaunte]

Cops here just shoot unarmed drivers and the copcycles like to run over pedestrians on streets closed to traffic.

I'm not feeling too charitable lately.

[Jeff Higgins]

What recourse do we have when a cop is simply wrong? What if he wrote you up? If you fight it you wind up in court with your word against his. Absolutely impossible for you or him to prove a thing. Now what? The judge will almost certainly find for the cop.

I just went through this on a speeding charge. At the time I was stopped I had not been speeding... for at least half an hour. Maybe it's a kharma thing, but I digress. I took a day off from work and went to court, as much out of curiosity as anything else. I had not been in traffic court in 20 years.

I sat through three hours of the most incredible proceedings I have ever witnessed. Granted, there were the usual b.s. excuses that the judge sumarily blew off. There were, however, in addition to those, some of what I though were some very valid and pretty serious points raised by defendants. They were all pretty much sumarily blown off as well. No credence was given to anything a defendant had to say. Every implausible and incomplete statement made by a cop in person or in writing was accepted as gospel. If the statement was incomplete enough as to not provide enough information to find "committed" (they don't say "guilty" in traffic court) and the officer was not present to clarify, the judge filled in the blanks and made assumptions. He even said that out loud.

By the time my turn came I simply changed my plea to "committed". I explained that I had taken a day off from work and had driven three hours to get there to plead my case. I explained that while I had not committed this offense, it was very clear from the previous several hours worth of proceedings that that really did not matter in this court. I stated that very clearly everyone that walked into the courtroom was guilty simply because the officer said so. I said I thought that might be a little backwards from what I was expecting. While I was ready to raise sufficient doubt concerning the circumstances surrounding the stop, the officer was not there to fill in the blanks. With the judge doing that for him, I said I did not feel like wasting any more of our time.

Believe it or not, he was cordial about the whole thing. He even reduced the fine. I was shooting for contempt, but in retrospect that would have been too much work for the lazy bastard. Anyway, sorry to spin off on a tangent like that. Bottom line is you have no recourse even if they are simply wrong.

[bryanthompson]

Jeff, you are a rockstar!

[legion]

Jeff, I have had the same experience in traffic court. In my case, the office blatantly lied on the stand...so it came down to my word against his. Guess who lost?

The case after mine was with the same cop. He had busted a reticulated bus for doing 85 (same as he said I was doing) at the same spot on the same highway. Thing was, the bus had a speed limiter that kept it from exceeding 70, even going downhill. The bus driver had provided documentation from the manufacturer explaining how the speed limiter worked. He got off. I was hoping his case would get called before mine.

[nostatic]

I once got a ticket for "driving through a bus zone" up in the bay area. I was on a community college campus looking for a particular building (to drop off a cv for a teaching position). I was driving slowly, and came to this open area that was adjacent to a parking lot. I was doing 5mph, there were no buses, no obvious signs, and no people. Not a one. I made a u-turn, then saw this cop parked a short distance away. I drove down and pulled up next to him to ask him if he knew where the administration building was. He said, "no", and asked for my license and registration. Wrote me a ticket. I could not believe it.

I went to court, had a picture of the one sign saying bus zone (with grafitti on it), and asked the cop the following questions:

me: were there any buses around?
him: no
me: were there any people around?
him: I don't recall
me: there was not a single person there (it was about 4pm on a friday).
me: I estimate my speed at 5mph, would you say that is correct
him: yes
me: was I operating my vehicle in a manner that was unsafe to any person or property?
him: no
judge: is that all?
me: yes
judge: guilty, next case
courtroom audience: groan and hiss

[COLDBASS]

BTDT many times...

During the last 3 years, I have receive 2 tickets for this offense. My bad, as Its always been as I am leaving somewhere and turning onto a street. Beach Blvd - Buena Park...

Law Enforcement has always been cool...every so often I get a "tickler" but never resulting in anything other than the above tickets...fair enough w/me...

[Burnin' oil]

I saw a cop testify that the defendant was not wearing his seatbelt and that it was obvious because it was a black belt and he was wearing a brown shirt. The defendant said his interior is brown, the same color as his shirt. The judge sent the cop, the defendant and a neutral party out to the defendant's vehicle. The interior was brown and the defendant was not guilty. The cop was wrong.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

I was pulled over earlier this year for doing 100 in a 55 and racing another 911. Reality was I wasn't. A 996 did pass me very fast, and I did make a lame attempt to catch up with him, but there was too much traffic, I hit 75 or so before slowing down to traffic speed. $375 fine. When the officer pulled me over, with the other 911 who had gotten caught up in heavy traffic some 10 miles down the road, I was doing 55 at most. He said someone called in that 2 red Porsche's were racing. He asking me how fast my car could go. He gave me the ticket for doing 100.

Went to court, must have been 200 people there and I was sure I would be called last. First person was called. No show. Next person was called, I went up to the bench, an officer who looked exactly like the one who pulled me over was conferring with the judge. the judge asked if I was racing another Porsche. I said no. He said "dismissed" and told me to slow down.

I went home.

[Superman]

Originally posted by Tervuren
Thats when you want a full harness. Bit hard for them to say you just put it on.

I've been told to never try to argue a speeding ticket when you were bucked into a five-point harness.

One day my daughter and her friend were riding with my wife to a church function and got pulled over. The cop said he estimated her speed at 45 mph and added that "This must be your lucky day...I did not have my radar gun turned on." But then he returned with a ticket for going 45 in a 30. We appeared in court and the prosecutor wanted to meet with all defendants who were pleading Not Guilty. They were dressed very sweetly including my 12 year-old daughter who had heard the officer admit that his radar gun had not been turned on. We also had a copy of the additional report filed by the officer, which asserted he had verified speed by using his radar gun. The prosecutor elected to simply drop the charges. The judge seemed curious, but the prosecutor was good at verbal tapdancing, so he moved on.

[TerryBPP]

I look at it like this, if i was make $35k dealing with the scum of the earth I would most likely have a grudge against someone in a fine european sport car. I relicous in the jealousy........well I use too.

[Jamie79SC]

Jeff,

Get ready for a first:

I agree absolutly with your observation of traffic court. It doesn't matter how lame or valid your case is, the verdict is the same - reduced fine, pay the bailif...

You have to ask yourself why these traffic court judges have made such a horrible boring job for themselves.

[masraum]

Here in Houston there is a law firm that specializes in traffic cases that appear at the Main downtown court house. You pay the lawyer $60 and are almost certainly dismissed. It's amazing really. I've used him for myself or my family 2 or 3 times, and have had many friends use them many times, probably 15-20 and they've all gotten dismissed. The last time that I went the lawyer had a list of about 15 people in my court room (several rooms in this court), and all of the people except one were dismissed. The only reason that one wasn't dismissed was because the cop said he remembered them. They pissed the cop off by being a smart ass so he wouldn't let them off. Every cop had showed up that day. THe lawyer spoke to each cop and every ticket was dismissed without having to pay a penny to the courts. It's an amazing racket really. I can't see how it benefits anyone but the lawyer and the people who are getting their tickets dismissed.

[id10t]

Hey, enjoy that trip wiht your son. Some of my best memories of my father are of when he and I did road trips (Fl. to NC and back, to the keys, etc) in what is now my 356.

[Mulhollanddose]

Originally posted by masraum
You pay the lawyer $60 and are almost certainly dismissed.

...Man I wish he was in California...I have 2 speeding tickets I am dancing around the LA superior court as we speak.