| Author | Message | ||
     Staindus |
So 4th of July weekend I am in south jersey where my folks have a summer house. I am heading north on route 9 in a car and as I watch the car in front of me pass a person on the side walk I see the person stick his foot out onto the street and then quickly step back. As I drive by he does the same thing. At that time I notice a black wire going around his shoulder and he is holding it near his mouth. Also the person never looked up from the ground at any time. not too far away a police officer in standard clothes with a walkie talkie near his head points to me and the car in front and motions to pull over. He explains that I was pulled over for failure to yield to a pedestrian in cross walk. The younger kid who got pulled over next to me said he just got pulled over for it 10 minutes ago and that it was his second time. The police officer yelled at him and told him "stop pushing my buttons" and told him that he would find more stuff in his car to write up. He hands me the ticket and says come to court and we will see what we can do about the points. So I try to plea not guilty but when I go to court yesterday, I was advised to plea guilty, because over 60 people were there for the same ticket and no one had one a case. The one person that had a lawyer there was rescheduled (probably so the rest of us didnt see what the outcome was) So now I have 2 points on my license and had to pay $90.00 for wasting my time. My question is why dont they have a fund raiser instead of extorting people? Sorry this is long I needed to get it off my chest. (Message edited by staindus on September 13, 2006) | ||
| Eboos |
That is the biggest bunch of B.S. I have ever heard of. There has to be something illegal about the way that whole opperation was conducted. Intentionally creating a condition in order to write the tickets, I would start making some phone calls. | ||
| Daves |
I'd have been talking to the other 60 people and calling a lawyer. | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
What a flying load of monkey excrement! You should try to catch that little sting operation on video. Sounds like total BS. | ||
| Darthane |
entrapment –noun 1. the luring by a law-enforcement agent of a person into committing a crime. 2. an act or process of entrapping. 3. a state of being entrapped. If that 'kid' was communicating with law enforcement and acting in the described manner, sounds like it fits the bill to me. | ||
| Fullpower |
my advice: do not sell that kid any crack | ||
| Staindus |
LOL thanks fullpower. I am glad I didnt make that mistake. I did talk to the others, but they all changed their plea to guilty as well. I am thinking of writing the local newspaper. I am not really sure what to do, but I want to do something positive. It is my understanding from talking to other Police Officers and Lawyers that this is common, and its how small towns make money. BS! There has to be a better way. | ||
| Naustin |
Should have called a lawyer. The attorney's fees would have been less than the increased insurances costs as a result of the points. Plus, you'd have gotten the satifaction of sticking it to the 'man'. That bastard... | ||
| Daves |
who advised you to plead guilty? | ||
| Staindus |
That was the choice I had to make. I already lost one full day of work because of it. I really never been in court like that before and should have done more research, but I was too naive and thought that there was such thing as justice. By the way the few people that were there for really committing a crime had more options to compensate their fines and charges. Why does that not make sense to me. | ||
| Staindus |
The state representative. I did not trust him, but everyone else with the same charge was doing the same. and I really did not know what to do or say.  (Message edited by staindus on September 13, 2006) | ||
| Chainsaw |
I would have requested a trial by a jury, and made it clear to the DA (or the DA's rep) that I would not plead guilty to anything, period. In my personal experience I've found this technique to be a fine way to have B.S. charges dropped outright or changed to something trivial. They don't want to waste a jude and jury's bench time on crap. Your Trial Experience May Vary.  | ||
| Glitch |
That would be great to get on tape and the evening news. | ||
| Bdabuell |
i don't know much about law, but that sounds very entrapment-esque i'd say write to your local newspaper and/or news station....who knows, one of them may pick it up and look into it. | ||
| Naustin |
Naw, just forget about it. Its too late now. Pay your fine, and keep your fingers crossed that your insurance company can tell the difference between points from a dui and points from a bullshit ticket. If your rates do go up, you could try to call your Ins. co. and explain what happened. If you have a clean record, they may waive the surcharge for the points based on prior good driving and relationship. | ||
| Loki |
Wasn't there something awhile back... in the news about a person getting hassled by the police for.... Standing up the street from a speed trap with a sign describing the upcoming speed trap. | ||
| Ryker77 |
Revenures... All that pig is doing is creating revenue funds. 60 people in one day times 90.00 fine = 5400.00 in PROFIT for the county or city. Do this a few times per month , 12 months per year and thats alor of revenue. Go visit your local state senator. Also you should have plead not guilty and requested a jury trial. | ||
| Gmc310 |
I was once pulled over by a woman cop who was hiding around the corner 200 feet away writing a ticket , I stopped at the stop sign went around the corner and she motioned for me to pull over without even picking up her head . She said she was only going to give me a warning to prove that she was "in the area ". I was pissed . Sometimes the Cops just suck and there is nothing you can do about it .The points and fine really sucks . | ||
| Ryker77 |
"Sometimes the Cops just suck and there is nothing you can do about it ." File formal complaints, write the police chief, mayor, etc etc. I got a state trooper put on dispatch duty for 6 months at a pay loss for his smart ass comments about my military service.. But I did get paid back with a no seat belt BS ticket last week. It was still worth it. I'll plead not gulity and request a jury trial. Just becuase I drive a cheap car and live in a cheap house doesn't mean that they can bully me around. I've got plenty of cash and time to play there game. | ||
| Rum_runner |
yeah i've had my share of tickets and points. all yeah i deserved every one of them. they just will not let me have any fun. stupid a$$ po po's | ||
| Hdbobwithabuell |
entrapment –noun 1. the luring by a law-enforcement agent of a person into committing a crime. The cop would have had to entice you into not stopping for the ped. 2. an act or process of entrapping. this would have been whatever they did to entice you. (offer money, threat, etc.) 3. a state of being entrapped. Sounds like a lame sting, but probably not entrapment. You could argue that you slowed, but proceeded when it became apparent that the ped was not moving. This was more than likely an operation called for by the likes of the mayor's office in response to a recent vehicle vs ped accident. (Message edited by hdbobwithabuell on September 13, 2006) | ||
| M2nc |
There are several small towns that use Law Enforcement to raise money. There is one town surrounded by Cleveland that has been on 60 minutes for their exploits. I ran into something similar when I was 19. I did get a lawyer and town was talking tough until the lawyer advised me to request a change of venue to the county. You see the town loses the money at that point and has to pay a town attorney to represent the town. They will avoid that at all cost because instead of making money, they lose money. I still had to pay, but we settle at only court cost and no points. | ||
| Staindus |
Damn I should have posted earlier. Thanks all for the info. Now I have some options incase this ever happens again. I never thought that a judge the cops and legal persons in a town could all be corrupt like that. | ||
| Chainsaw |
Question: Did the kid ever actually cross the street in sixty odd attempts? | ||
| Midknyte |
I'm curious to know what they would have considered compliance/avoidance. Did they want you to stop completely? Slow down? Change your own path? | ||
| Staindus |
Chainsaw, the person on the sidewalk was an undercover cop with a concealed mic. And no The representative said even if his toe was in the crosswalk your guilty. Midknyte, If I had jammed on my brakes I would have caused an accident, I felt no need to do anything since his foot went back. Like I said he never looked up never even looked like he was even attempting to cross the street. I thought he doin the hockey pokie! (Not really but couldnt resist.) (Message edited by staindus on September 14, 2006) | ||
| Bdabuell |
I still say talk to someone...news tv, paper etc. From a legal perspective, there is probably nothing wrong with what they're doing...but from a public opinion perspective (the people who run towns are elected, after all) it's pretty darn low | ||
| Rex |
I would go to the newpapers radio and tv stations...they may feel like it would be worth doing a counter sting operation on them, showing their little scam...tv stations love to do this.....rex | ||
| Swampy |
Has anyone ever tried to plead "Innocent"? They will not let you, they will only let you plead, 1. Guilty 2. Not Guilty 3. No contest, or mute Not Guilty implys guilt. Always fight, no matter how many days off you have to take. I have a friend who sat for 30 days for trial, got off innocent, now whenever he goes to court, they drop the charges. He was just at a hearing for another friend and when he got done "explaining" the situation to the sheriff, the "judge" was thanking everybody for coming to an equitable resolution. I don't know whats listed on LEIN about him, but he gets a pass on everything. Its truly fun watching him at "Work" he shows no fear. | ||
| Skyguy |
Fight damm it. The freaking Nazis plan on you giving up because paying the fine is cheaper than taking time off work. I always fight unless the cop was very cool about nailing me. (I got a 60 in a 50 once and when I asked for a break the cop said he had been trying to catch me for ten minutes. Ten minutes before I was doing 120............ I never fought it. |
