Is There a Problem, Officer?
Months ago Adam got a ticket for running a stop sign. Now, I’m not going to go into all the nitty gritty details {I considered drawing a chart} but trust me when I tell you that:
- The stop sign was easy to miss {neither of us saw it}.
- It was a really, really screwy double intersection thingy that would be confusing for anybody.
- It was dark on top of all that.
So there was no way we were going to let the ticket go uncontested. We knew we might not be able to completely defeat the charge, but we figured we could at least convince the judge to lower the fine. So we planned our vacation around Adam’s court date and awaited his chance to prostrate himself in front of the masters of justice and mercy.
The big day arrived and Adam headed downtown to plead with the judge. Shortly after he left I got a phone call, from him, asking me to come be a witness. So he rushed back home, picked me and the little me up and we headed back to the courthouse. His turn came and I, being a witness and all, waited outside the courtroom.
I was excited and kind of nervous. I’d never been a witness before. Was I going to actually sit up on the stand and get sworn in and everything?
No.
Because the judge threw the ticket out on a technicality.
Chalk one up for bureaucracy ladies and gentlemen, sometimes it does work in our favor.
Have you ever gone to court over a traffic ticket? How’d it go?
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10 Stubborn Stains:
Awesome it got thrown out... but could they not have told him that BEFORE you packed everything up and hauled ass down there? Nonetheless, it's too bad you missed your Law & Order moment. Hopefully, you don't get another opportunity... ;)
Ya know, SOoooo many times the officer who wrote the ticket doesn't show up for the court date and it gets thrown out. So its worth it to just show up sometimes!
I've never contested a ticket. Usually, if crying doesn't work, I take it because I usually deserve them. Except the jerk who ticketed me for my license being expired by a week. That was crap.
my friend got pulled over for making a "faulty left hand turn." i was in the car so we ended up contesting the ticket and using myself as a witness. Anyways, the officer who pulled us over was know for not missing a single of his court dates (which is odd because why would a legitimate officer have that many court dates based on his legitimate, or not so, tickets). when it was my turn to go in we drew diagrams and everything. the friend ended up winning too. it was an interesting experience.
Thanks for the replies ladies! Keep 'em coming! I'm loving these stories!
I'm glad he got off! Those intersections can be tricky, and if you aren't familiar with them, it's hard to know if you are doing the right thing!
I didn't get a ticket, but I was hit by a lady on the freeway and she kept going. It was just a nick, in the same spot the car had been hit about a month before. One thing wasn't broken in the first wreck - the headlight glass. Guess what she broke? Yup. And I had already gotten an estimate on the car, and it didn't include the headlight. Proof of damage by her.
She was tailgating me before she pulled around on the near-empty freeway and cut me off too close, hitting me, so I got a nice good look at her. We also got her license plate and car description (future-hubby was in the car with me.) Turns out her license had been suspended *several* times before, and that the car she was driving belonged to her ex, and she was not supposed to have it (but her ex wasn't making an effort to get it back.)
I didn't press charges, but the Eagan police did - for hit and run and reckless driving.
We took the day off of work to be witnesses to the charges. Sat at the courthouse for a while.
She got off with an "illegal lane change."
Almost 10 years later, I'm still mad at the judge for giving a lady a slap on the hand - a lady who really should have already lost her license according to MN laws, who endangered our lives (if she had hit us any harder, we would have spun out on the freeway at 70 mph) and who very selfishly was obviously incapable of following laws - whether it was divorce and property laws or road rules. :(
Wow! That is great. I am frankly amazed. I didn't think they ever threw those things out.
I've never done that, but I've heard if you actually go to court and contest, the officer rarely shows up and they'll throw it out most of the time.
god forbid you actually pay a fine for something you did wrong, blowing a stop sign is illegal and reckless regardless of the reason why you failed to see it
google knows it :-D
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