Got a ticket form a mustang cop car, is this legal?

[redfiresvtsnake]

Ok I was driving back from my girlfriends house in Wilmington, NC not speeding or anything, just minding my own with the cruise on. Well my car is kinda loud, magnaflow cb and offroad x pipe. A few mile back at a light I took off, not fast mind you, just normal acceleration, and this black mustang in a left turn lane turns his signal off and follows me. He tails me for a whikle and then when I'm cruisin down the road in a 55mph zone doin almost 60, this mustang gets on my ass bad! Like I almost copuldnt see his headlights anymore close. I tap my brake pedal just to light up my brake lights and he revs his engine at me, I brake slightly to slow down hoping he'll pass, nope, flips on his blue lights! North Carolina highway patrol. Writes me a ticket for careless driving, $145 fine. Says I wasnt suposed to hit my brakes that hard with a car behind me that close. WTF, I didnt brake hard at all! Is was just enough to light the brake lights and drop like 10 mph in a few hundred feet! He was clearly tryin to get me to race him so he could get me for that. What are my legal rights? I had another person in the car who saw it all. What should I do? I had a speeding ticket and got prayer for judgement, so now I gotta pay that speeding ticket cause of this.

 

[93 347 Cobra]

Ok I was driving back from my girlfriends house in Wilmington, NC not speeding or anything, just minding my own with the cruise on. Well my car is kinda loud, magnaflow cb and offroad x pipe. A few mile back at a light I took off, not fast mind you, just normal acceleration, and this black mustang in a left turn lane turns his signal off and follows me. He tails me for a whikle and then when I'm cruisin down the road in a 55mph zone doin almost 60, this mustang gets on my ass bad! Like I almost copuldnt see his headlights anymore close. I tap my brake pedal just to light up my brake lights and he revs his engine at me, I brake slightly to slow down hoping he'll pass, nope, flips on his blue lights! North Carolina highway patrol. Writes me a ticket for careless driving, $145 fine. Says I wasnt suposed to hit my brakes that hard with a car behind me that close. WTF, I didnt brake hard at all! Is was just enough to light the brake lights and drop like 10 mph in a few hundred feet! He was clearly tryin to get me to race him so he could get me for that. What are my legal rights? I had another person in the car who saw it all. What should I do? I had a speeding ticket and got prayer for judgement, so now I gotta pay that speeding ticket cause of this.

Try to fight it if you can. You might need an attorney though...

 

[redfiresvtsnake]

Yeah I'm def takin this to court with a lawyer. Its just not right.

 

[juzlookzfazt]

Cop or not, I hate the people who do that, I just flip my blinker, and switch over to the next lane and slow down, let them do as they please. Keep us updated.

 

[redfiresvtsnake]

There was only one lane in the direction we were going or I'd have done that. There was a passing zone which is why I slowed down, thinkin he'd pass me. Nope, what a jerk. Cops are not bad at all as some ppl think but he's just one of the ones that give them that rep.

 

[Tabres]

Not going to comment on right versus wrong on the officers part, but...

Yeah I'm def takin this to court with a lawyer. Its just not right.

No offense, but why? Even in the event you win the lawyer fees and court costs, not to mention the money you'd lose for missing work, are going to be in excess of the $145 you would pay for the ticket and unless you can't afford the points the ticket carries (if any, I don't know..) it's not worth it in my opinion.

 

[redfiresvtsnake]

The speeding ticket I'd have to pay from an earlier time will be $225, plus it'll make my insurance go up because it was excessive speed, 81 in a 70. My insurance company says if I am found guilty to this speeding ticket it will hit my insurance and put me in a different risk category making my insurance go up almost $330 every 6 months. They very highly frown upon 15mph+ or excessive speed tickets. I wont miss out on work because I'm active duty military and will be given time off to take care oof this, no income or leave lost. This $145 ticket will screw me over good if I dont get out it. I did nothing wrong, I'm not gonna pay this. It'll cost me $120 bucks for a lawyer I know to appear for me and that sounds like a good deal to me. Plus I have a witness who saw the whole thing.

I'm really curious if any LEO's could help me out, would I stand a chance at getting out of this?

 

[FordSVTFan]

You always have a chance. A summons is only an allegation. The judge is the trier of fact and the decider of law in this type of case. If you go and present a cogent and articulate defense with proof, you will form a defense and if the judge believes what you have presented you will win.

 

[Traveler]

Hmmm. What year Mustang was it? The new body style? About two weeks ago I saw a Mustang around Goldsboro NC. Solid black and it was moving away from me (same direction) at a pretty good clip of speed. I found it odd to see blue and clear strobes in the taillight assembly. Sounds like the NCSHP has a few new toys. Interesting.

 

[Juruense]

Oh man you brake-checked a cop. Never a good thing...

 

[redfiresvtsnake]

Oh man you brake-checked a cop. Never a good thing...

I didnt brake check him. I slowed down about 10mph in a distance of about 500 ft. I was very gradual braking, by no means a brake check.

It looked like an '04 to me. It was balck had windows tinted very dark, and had the bullit style wheels on it. The only tell tale sign was the light bar mounted on the dash which was a low profile unit you couldnt see at night when it was off. The NC highway patrol in the wilmington area also has a few Z28 camaros and even a Corvette from what I'm told now, a hardtop. Though the vette is supposed to be a show vehicle they use to go around promoting stuff. I'm not kidding whe he was tryin to get me to race him, he kept backing off and gunning it tryin to antagonize me.

 

[redfiresvtsnake]

You always have a chance. A summons is only an allegation. The judge is the trier of fact and the decider of law in this type of case. If you go and present a cogent and articulate defense with proof, you will form a defense and if the judge believes what you have presented you will win.

Thanks thats what I'm hopin for, just going and presenting my caes calmly and pointing out the facts about what happened. You think having a witness will help any being that this is just a traffic violation? I've never really heard of someone taking a witness to traffic court.

 

[SnakeEyes03]

My department has 5 mustangs 2 05's, 2 99's and a 06.

 

[redfiresvtsnake]

My department has 5 mustangs 2 05's, 2 99's and a 06.

Thats cool, those things are very decieving. Are they just your run of the mill mustang GT buy chance? I couldnt tell by looking at it.

 

[TR03Mach1]

Just voicing my opinion here, no advice being given.

What exactly gives the police the right to violate the same laws that they are supposed to enforce? I believe most states have statues that deal with "following too closely" or something similar that deals with what is basically tailgating.

I had an experience not too long ago where an officer had followed behind me without any lights at all on his vehicle and I didn't even know he was there until I came upon a lone street light that illuminated his vehicle for me. If an animal, or a pedestrian, for that matter, had forced me to hit my brakes, I probably would have been rear ended by a police car that I didn't even know was there!

I just think some of the stuff that is done by some police officers is not only dangerous, it would be considered a traffic violation if comitted by a citizen.
I've always been a proponent of the idea that unless they are responding to an emergency, police vehicles should obey the same rules of the road as the rest of us.

 

[mrose75]

Definately take it to court. Don't take the pole from him. He was obviously trying to entice you. Then he was tailgating, so what the hell? I'd make him explain his actions in front of the judge.

No offense, but why? Even in the event you win the lawyer fees and court costs, not to mention the money you'd lose for missing work, are going to be in excess of the $145 you would pay for the ticket and unless you can't afford the points the ticket carries (if any, I don't know..) it's not worth it in my opinion.

It's a matter of principle!! Sometimes that means more than $$$.

 

[TrueBlueGT]

Ok I was driving back from my girlfriends house in Wilmington, NC not speeding or anything, just minding my own with the cruise on. Well my car is kinda loud, magnaflow cb and offroad x pipe. A few mile back at a light I took off, not fast mind you, just normal acceleration, and this black mustang in a left turn lane turns his signal off and follows me. He tails me for a whikle and then when I'm cruisin down the road in a 55mph zone doin almost 60, this mustang gets on my ass bad! Like I almost copuldnt see his headlights anymore close. I tap my brake pedal just to light up my brake lights and he revs his engine at me, I brake slightly to slow down hoping he'll pass, nope, flips on his blue lights! North Carolina highway patrol. Writes me a ticket for careless driving, $145 fine. Says I wasnt suposed to hit my brakes that hard with a car behind me that close. WTF, I didnt brake hard at all! Is was just enough to light the brake lights and drop like 10 mph in a few hundred feet! He was clearly tryin to get me to race him so he could get me for that. What are my legal rights? I had another person in the car who saw it all. What should I do? I had a speeding ticket and got prayer for judgement, so now I gotta pay that speeding ticket cause of this.

You're getting yanked. The tailing car needs to give you room to brake in case of an emergency so in this case, the fault is not yours but his own for following too closely. If he has video of the stop, summons it and have another officer issue a citation to him for following to closely. I'd say fight it and fight it hard.

 

[redfiresvtsnake]

Definately take it to court. Don't take the pole from him. He was obviously trying to entice you. Then he was tailgating, so what the hell? I'd make him explain his actions in front of the judge.



It's a matter of principle!! Sometimes that means more than $$$.

Exactly, you hit the nail on the head it's a matter of principle. There's laws against what he was doing that should be upheld to everyone, not just select few. My laywer says he knows this cops name and has delt with issues with him before and says I will pretty much get out if it with the facts and witness I have.

 

[redfiresvtsnake]

You're getting yanked. The tailing car needs to give you room to brake in case of an emergency so in this case, the fault is not yours but his own for following too closely. If he has video of the stop, summons it and have another officer issue a citation to him for following to closely. I'd say fight it and fight it hard.

Good point, I didnt even think about the video thing. I will call about that now so my lawyer can pushto get that if possible.

 

[TrueBlueGT]

I just reread your post and, although I am not an attorney (but I did stay at a holiday inn express!), the whole thing just sounds like complete b.s. Think about what he said: "you aren't supposed to hit your brakes that hard with a car behind you that close". WTF? What happens when a deer jumps out in front of you? What happens if a kid on a bike came out of a driveway a few feet into the road? Ooops, shit, sorry kid. I had to run over you because I'm not allowed to brake hard since that car is following me too closely.