Worth fighting this ticket?

[VettTheRipper]

I drive to work at 4:00 AM on a stretch of road with few cars on my way to the interstate. There are a lot of LEO's (and drunks on their way home) on this stretch this early so it's pointless to speed or drive stupid. I made a left turn through a green light (you do have to yield here to oncoming traffic) and there was a car coming the other way but it appeared I had plenty of time to make it through. After making the turn I glanced in my mirror as I usually do since cars like to ride your tail through this light. As I did, I happened to see (and hear) a patrol car lock up his brakes in the middle of the intersection. Thinking nothing of this I continued on to the highway. About a mile down the highway I got pulled over. He told me that I pulled out in front of him and that "that sort of stunt driving" is dangerous. Although I was dumbfounded, I didn't argue and was polite. He gave me a ticket for failure to yield and I was on my way.

I can't figure out what he saw that I didn't. Any advice?

 

[JR-S3]

I'd at least go and see the D.A. about it. If you don't get out of it, you will probably only have to pay a small fine. I got a "street racing" ticket and was given a $10 fine after explaining what had happened and that was a year and a half ago when I was 17. You will more than likely get out of this ticket.

Bryan

 

[Floridalawdog]

I'd at least go and see the D.A. about it. If you don't get out of it, you will probably only have to pay a small fine. I got a "street racing" ticket and was given a $10 fine after explaining what had happened and that was a year and a half ago when I was 17. You will more than likely get out of this ticket.

Bryan

We dont have a D.A. in Florida. If you take the court option you go to court, and face the officer in front of a judge or hearing officer. I would suggest that you call his department and leave a message on his voice mail for him to call you. Dont complain, just ask what you had done. If his explanation is good, then I would pay the ticket, if it is BS go to court. Maybe if he likes you he will dump the ticket in court.

 

[VettTheRipper]

Dont complain, just ask what you had done. If his explanation is good, then I would pay the ticket, if it is BS go to court. Maybe if he likes you he will dump the ticket in court.

I have my doubts as to this approach. According to what he told me at the scene, I pulled out in front of him in a manner consistent with stunt driving. What visual information he used to make this determination leaves me clueless and only an idiot would do this in plain sight of a patrol car. That said, In my eyes, it's clearly BS but it essentially boils down to his story verses mine and in reality, I have no story. I simply made a left turn in front of him that for some reason, he felt was inappropriate.

Maybe I can get a part-time job as a stunt driver to pay for the ticket. I wonder if he'd give me a recommendation :dw:

 

[JR-S3]

I have my doubts as to this approach. According to what he told me at the scene, I pulled out in front of him in a manner consistent with stunt driving. What visual information he used to make this determination leaves me clueless and only an idiot would do this in plain sight of a patrol car. That said, In my eyes, it's clearly BS but it essentially boils down to his story verses mine and in reality, I have no story. I simply made a left turn in front of him that for some reason, he felt was inappropriate.

Maybe I can get a part-time job as a stunt driver to pay for the ticket. I wonder if he'd give me a recommendation :dw:

haha, well see how much the fine is and if you have the option to goto court and take it, tell him to bring that night's video w/ him.

Bryan

 

[VettTheRipper]

haha, well see how much the fine is and if you have the option to goto court and take it, tell him to bring that night's video w/ him.
Bryan

Would this really be on video?

 

[JR-S3]

not sure, but most cops turn them on if they have them.

Bryan

 

[Floridalawdog]

haha, well see how much the fine is and if you have the option to goto court and take it, tell him to bring that night's video w/ him.

Bryan

I wonder where you heard that most cops turn their video on when driving. First of all, most cops dont have video cameras in our vehicles. The ones that do have video dont ride around with it operating. You would need too many tapes. They are activated when the lights are turned on in the patrol car. Unless this cop has video and was just riding around with his lights on, there will be no video. If he had his lights on then vetttheripper probably wouldnt have pulled in front of him.

Sounds like the officers perception is that vetttheripper didnt have enough space to safely turn left in front of him. If this is the case then his right of way was violated and the ticket is good.

 

[StangJason]

Were you the only one turning left at this intersection? Could someone behind you have turned in front of him also. It sounds either like you or the cop have very bad depth perception.

Are you sure you aren't one of those people that see people a 1/4 mile down the road doing the speed limit and it takes you so long to ease your butt through the intersection that it causes everyone that was a 1/4 mile away to slam on their brakes just to miss you ;-) ?

 

[VettTheRipper]

Were you the only one turning left at this intersection? Could someone behind you have turned in front of him also. It sounds either like you or the cop have very bad depth perception.

Are you sure you aren't one of those people that see people a 1/4 mile down the road doing the speed limit and it takes you so long to ease your butt through the intersection that it causes everyone that was a 1/4 mile away to slam on their brakes just to miss you ;-) ?

There was a truck behind me so there was no confusion. The thing here is that I was already a good 30-50 yards clear of the intersection when he locked em up. I watched him in my mirror. It appears that he locked his brakes not to avoid hitting me, but so that he could stop in time to follow me through the on-ramp approach. Having run through this scenerio several times, I only see one possibility....maybe he felt I went through the intersection a bit fast but since he didn't clock me, decided to nail me for failure to yield. That said, you have to slow to well below the speed limit to make this turn so I'm certain I wasn't speeding. I also think that my choice of vehicles may have played a part as much as I don't like to believe this. Given the time of the morning (4:00am), maybe he was a bit trigger happy given that this is prime time for drunks to be on the road. Either way, there's absolutely no way I cut this guy off.

To add insult to injury, this event also cost me a $400 rear tire. He pulled me over on the bridge. There's no place to pull over except the emergency lane which is cluttered with road debris and I picked up a large roofing nail which I discovered upon my departure from work. It's too close to the sidewall to patch. In the end, to say that I'm freakin furious over this would be an understatement. In my history of this and other forums I have been nothing but an ally and staunch supporter of LEO's but it's crap like this that tends to paint them all in a bad light. I am NOT a pleasant person right now :mj:

 

[SEANGT]

In my history of this and other forums I have been nothing but an ally and staunch supporter of LEO's but it's crap like this that tends to paint them all in a bad light. I am NOT a pleasant person right now :mj:

I feel you man. It really sounds like this cop was a Cobra owner and has been killed a few times by your counterparts. To make you feel better, I had a flat the other day, turns out I lost my wheel key :mj:. I had to tow the damn thing to Les Schwab :mj:, damn Les Schwab doesn't have the key like they said they would :mj:, then I had to tow it to a god damn machine shop :mj:, then They had to cut off all my wheels (yes they had to CUT off my god damn wheels, totally f'ing them up) :mj:, then I towed it back to Les Schwab to buy new wheels and a tire :mj:, total: $2000 :cuss:

 

[FordSVTFan]

I feel you man. It really sounds like this cop was a Cobra owner and has been killed a few times by your counterparts. To make you feel better, I had a flat the other day, turns out I lost my wheel key :mj:. I had to tow the damn thing to Les Schwab :mj:, damn Les Schwab doesn't have the key like they said they would :mj:, then I had to tow it to a god damn machine shop :mj:, then They had to cut off all my wheels (yes they had to CUT off my god damn wheels, totally f'ing them up) :mj:, then I towed it back to Les Schwab to buy new wheels and a tire :mj:, total: $2000 :cuss:

Why did you let them cut off your wheels?

There are quite a few ways to get the wheel locks off without the key, that dont require your wheels being destroyed!

Plus if you had one flat why did you have all the wheels cut off :shrug:

 

[shocker 420]

I feel you man. It really sounds like this cop was a Cobra owner and has been killed a few times by your counterparts. To make you feel better, I had a flat the other day, turns out I lost my wheel key :mj:. I had to tow the damn thing to Les Schwab :mj:, damn Les Schwab doesn't have the key like they said they would :mj:, then I had to tow it to a god damn machine shop :mj:, then They had to cut off all my wheels (yes they had to CUT off my god damn wheels, totally f'ing them up) :mj:, then I towed it back to Les Schwab to buy new wheels and a tire :mj:, total: $2000 :cuss:

Cut the wheels off?! Describe how they did this... but that sucks!!!!! I hope you don't have any problems in the future with your wheels....

 

[SEANGT]

well i guess you could say i lied a bit, but les schwab said i would have to cut the wheel off if they do not have they key for the wheel lock. they said they have most keys but not all. Fordsvtfan read my follow up to you in the Party Crashing thread, i said i was an ass. fordvtfan how else can i get them off, my friend has a welder at my house, i could weld on a regular lug nut maybe.

 

[StangJason]

VettTheRipper if you feel you are innocent I think just about anything is worth fighting for especially if you know with all of your conscience you did no wrong. If you can afford to take the day off of work and don't mind spending the day in court to have a judge find you guilty or give you a lesser charge that will cost you the same amount or more. The sad part about the judicial system is that it's more about the judge making you pay the court costs and fine so the city and himself can get their money so whether you are guilty or not he will probably care less :cuss:

well i guess you could say i lied a bit, but les schwab said i would have to cut the wheel off if they do not have they key for the wheel lock. they said they have most keys but not all. Fordsvtfan read my follow up to you in the Party Crashing thread, i said i was an ass. fordvtfan how else can i get them off, my friend has a welder at my house, i could weld on a regular lug nut maybe.

This may sound weird but a small business here in Decatur, Alabama does it somehow I'm told. You might want to give them a call just to find out how they do it. The businesses name is Minor Tire and their number is (256) 353-4957 . I don't know but I'm thinking if you are at wits end and you don't know of anything else to do just call them before spending $2000.

 

[LIGHTNING LARRY]

well i guess you could say i lied a bit, but les schwab said i would have to cut the wheel off if they do not have they key for the wheel lock. they said they have most keys but not all. Fordsvtfan read my follow up to you in the Party Crashing thread, i said i was an ass. fordvtfan how else can i get them off, my friend has a welder at my house, i could weld on a regular lug nut maybe.

Why the fock would you lie? Def. shows a lack of class! :nonono:

 

[SEANGT]

Why the fock would you lie? Def. shows a lack of class! :nonono:

I thought it was pretty funny with all those angry faces. As for class, my 18 yr old girlfriend's fake boobays speak for themselves along with my parents seven digit income.

 

[LIGHTNING LARRY]

I thought it was pretty funny with all those angry faces. As for class, my 18 yr old girlfriend's fake boobays speak for themselves along with my parents seven digit income.

If mommy and daddy made a 10 digit income it still wouldn't say anything about you. :shrug:

 

[piss&vinegar]

If mommy and daddy made a 10 digit income it still wouldn't say anything about you. :shrug:

Good one Larry!! When did class and having money mean the same thing? I guess those who have no class think having money means you have class. :shrug:

 

[VettTheRipper]

Well, I've decided to fight this and I think the smoking gun to prove my innocence lies in their own dispatch records. If he had in fact locked up his brakes to avoid hitting me as he stated, he would have been right on my bumper at the intersection. I would never had made it off of the entrance ramp before being pulled over and he woould have instantly had my plate #. In reality, I was already at least 1.5 miles away before he caught up with me and I know he didn't get my tag until he pulled me over. Something smells rotten. I'll post the results...good, bad, or ugly.