Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler Any of you beaten a ticket before? I just did...

I'll tell my story later...but I am SO happy I got out of my $250 ticket. Fought it...won...awesome.

He fought the law and...was....awesome...
He fought the law and...was....awe...some...

They ain't all going to be that easy Buckwheat ... unfortunately, I speak from experience.

Please tell me there were no farm animals harmed in this process?

I got ticketed for 70 in a 30 (thought it was 40...) and failure to stop when signaled. It was going to be about $400 in fines. But I got out of the failure to stop. I looked up the law I was charged with breaking. It turns out in Maryland it is the siren or siren plus lights which means stop, not the lights alone. The car which was signaling me had only turned on its lights. I did eventually stop, but he was trying to pull me over on a steep hill, I had only been driving a manual for a month, and was looking for a better place. The Judge also reducing the speeding to a $70 plus $30 court costs. That made me feel pretty good.

Here's the story...in a nutshell.

I was driving back to school, on superbowl sunday with friends. Was passing people along the country road to make up time.

If you don't know country roads, most of them go through a small town, speed limits drop pretty fast down to about 30, go back up to 55.

Well, I went through one town, stopped at a blinking red light, and noticed a squad car sitting at a gas station looking like he could be leaving. I passed by, kinda looked in my rear view mirror to see if I was being followed. Some other car was behind me so I no longer thought about the police car. I still watched my speed anyways.

Then I hit the 40 mph sign, then 55 mph, and I see flashing lights waaay behind me, I think it's an emergency vehicle going somewhere, so I eventually stop, then realize I was the one being pulled over.

"What's wrong officer?"

"Someone called in and said you were going pretty fast, and I got you for going 45 in a 30"

Puzzled how he picked me out from cars that surrounded the front and behind me I asked how he picked me out, why he pursued me...etc. While I'm talking to the officer this another car pulls up behind the squad car, comes up and talks to the officer, and I overhear them chatting about how I was the "blue" car going fast...I recognized it as some SUV that was going like 50 mph that I passed. What a cheeseball. He was the guy that called me in!

At that point I knew the cop had it previously set in his mind to pull me over for anything because this bloke called me in...might have been his friend, I dunno. I was pretty pissed that someone would actually call me in, and that the cop pulled me over without any hard evidence (i.e. being directly behind me, actually being close enough to "clock" me, etc.)

So, with that in mind, I delayed the court date an extra 3 months...and today was the trial.

I visited the court yesterday to scope things out. The judge was young (for being a judge, that means middle aged and balding) and seemed to be pretty fair and casual. Good for me.

At this point I assumed the cop "paced" me, so I designed a list questions asking anything from what specific car my vehicle was, to how many passengers were in the car, to speedometer calibration records, to where he pulled me over. I also made a map to illustrate where I first saw the cop, where the "infraction" took place, where I eventually got pulled over.

So, this morning comes, I get dressed in a nice dress shirt. No other fellow defendants dressed up, everyone was in ratty T-shirts. I felt pretty good about looking nicer than the usual crowd.

My case was called first after the defendants with attorneys. I was happy to be the first person fighting for myself, and just to get it over with before everyone else. I got sworn in, and we went right up to the judge's "table" right up to his "podium" he sat in. Nice and close with the judge. Weird.

I took a big breath, relaxed, and felt pretty confident. I was going to object if I saw the officer reading from his notes. If he reads from the notes as a witness, that piece of paper is evidence, and I get to see it too. I had a lot of "objections" I had floating around in my mind that I could pull out, as well as all the questions I wanted to ask. I was a little tense, but the case went on.

Let's see what the prosecuting attorney asks my favorite policeman...

While he's asking him the default "Did you see this vehicle go 45 mph..." questions, I notice the only thing the cop has in front of him is the citation, which makes me believe he actually memorized the case with no notesn. Not really good for me...maybe he did his research.

Then, it was my turn to cross-examine the witness (the officer). I start by asking if he can recall the specific color of my vehicle. He looks at me kind of funny, tilts his head, then swings over to the citation, points at the box with his finger that says "Color" then says "Blue". Heh. He doesn't remember anything about the guy who called the "blue car" in.

I ask if he knew how many passengers were in the vehicle. He kinda babbles, then says he doesn't recall.

I then ask if he recalls where he ultimately pulled me over. He can't recall. Unbelievable. I start to get more confident.

I then start to ask about things really specific to the case.

"Do you recall if there were any cars between my vehicle and you?" He kinda babbles something about him not having his notes with him, then says he doesn't know.

Then I just go..."Do you remember anything about distances or how you estimated my speed?". He says no.

"No further questions your honor." I almost said it with a smile.

I then tell my testimony of the events, how I have a clean driving record and such. Pointed out that I noticed vehicles behind me, etc etc.

Now its the prosecuting attorney's turn to cross examine me, and he is at a little loss for words because his witness just completely embarrassed himself. There was a brief pause where I almost let out a huge smile as he tried to think of questions he asked me.

Basically, he asked me two basic questions, then was stumped.

At this point, the policeman's gears had to be really turning. Up to now he's come up with zip-o and looks like a fool to the packed courtroom and all his policeman buddies.

The judge asks him with a thread of hope that he'll remember: "So, how did you end up so far behind the vehicle? Was there traffic between you and the defendant?"

The guy kinda had a light bulb moment, and finally remembered how he ended up being so far away from me, then spilled the beans "Oh, I had to wait for the car in front of me to pull off onto a side street before I caught up to the vehicle."

There was humor in the air as the judge kinda rolled his eyes and probably thought "What the hell is this guy thinking, he just dug himself into a hole."

The judge kinda goes on a banter of how I probably was speeding (maybe to leave the policemen with one small shred of dignity), but given my accurate testimony of events, and the officers failure to give an accurate recollection, he would "give me a break on this one." He then kinda sternly reminded me that if I got a ticket in the same town again, I wouldn't get a break. Then said something about being careful, and obeying the speed limit in small towns.

I turned around, did a tiny little arm pump, an old lady winked at me and mouthed "good job", and I walked out of there victorious.

Very good, Dan; apply to law school.

Good job!

I’ve had my luck avoiding the ticket in the first place. I always have a spare uniform in my car in case I come off the line from a dirty job like a brake change and have to go see “The Man” for something. The few times I have been stopped they see the uniform just warn me and then thank me for serving my country. I always return the complement by thanking them for serving the community.

Not at all the way it use to be in the late 70s and early 80s.

Get a room!

In about half a heartbeat if it was the female cop who I had arrest my apartment neighbor. Any woman who makes ballistic armor look good…