Ok, so what was the charge: ...And how do you plead?

Dunno if this subject has ever been on TW or not, but damn sure gotta be relevant to this Fluster Cluck. Restricted to stupid shit, nothing serious on this thread please?

I'll start off with an easy one..... Drunk as a skunk and lookin' to call out some MPs outside a bar. I had just got out of the Navy and wuz feelin' my oats. They let me have my rant with their windows rolled up, then they smiled and pointed when the patrol cars showed up. ...So I took off.

I was charged with 19 moving violations, evading arrest, and destruction of property (I climbed a telephone pole). My lawyer got it reduced to a guilty plead for running a red light. DMV confiscated my licence plate for a year. ...Oh, my father let me rot in jail overnight.

Next?

 

Got charged three years ago with doing 42 in a 25 mph zone.

Went to court. Got it reduced to 35 mph.

Got a parking ticket a few years ago, too.

Sucks.

 

bttt

 

By the time they caught up with me, I was pretty damn sober already. Not even a field sobriety test, so i think they felt I'd done myself in pretty much without adding to my grief that much more!

 

Lets see....havent had anything in about 8 years now.. knock on wood.. but i have a

couple speeding tickets-- reduced payed fines..

a couple accidents-- insurance went up.. all before i was 25 so it was sky high..

got one for "not Yodeling" on forest land-- payed $35 fine...

Ok story behind last one was.. some friends and i were out muddin and having a good time. No drinking, drugs or anything of that nature.. just having fun. I had 6 People in the back of my 91 Toyota pickup, and 4 inside. Drove by a campsite with us all singing at the top of our lungs.. Next thing i know, getting pulled over.. Officer asked for everyone's license.. then searched my truck for Drugs/alcohol ect. (as none of us did any drugs none were found) he gave everyone back their licenses.. He asked me to come back to his vehicle. Told me that we had scared some campers from Florida with our OUTRAGEOUS music and singing. He stated "since he pulled us over he had to do something" So then tells me that because of our singing it would be a noise violation. After writing the ticket tells me if i would have been yodeling he wouldnt have given me a ticket.. He left.. looked at the ticket and he sure enough wrote it on it haha.. we all got a good laugh and i paid the fine...

 

Probably 5 years ago I had someone tailgating me really badly on a back road. Got irritated and for some reason my decision was to step on it to get some distance from them. He kept up keeping virtually no distance from my back bumper the whole time. Hit about 70 in a 45 and he turned his blue lights on. Was an unmarked silver Ford Fusion with normal plates and no signs of an antenna. He was wearing jeans and a sweatshirt, walked up to my window, told me he'd better never catch me driving like that again, went back to his car, and left. I'm still not sure if he was a real undercover cop or someone who put illegal blue lights on their car. Either way, I got really lucky.

Otherwise, never had so much as a parking ticket.

 

I didn't think so at the time. Lawyer fee and traffic fine busted my bank account, judge took my drivers licence for 3 months, then the DMV took it and my licence plate for an additional year. Plus, I had a bicycle to buy and a huge bill at the body shop, and Public Works nailed me for maintenance on the light pole. I'll tell you though, that night in the Oakland City Jail general population was the scariest night I ever endured!

 

A handful of speeding tickets that I own up to but the worst was a negligent ticket that I was found to have not committed. The cop thought I was trying to run from him.

Story:

Leaving my town out of the south end our main street 30MPH, turns into 45, then 55 in a matter of a 1/4 mile. There's a stop light right where the 30 ends and the 45 begins. I had my wife in the car and my year old son in the back. It was Sunday and we were going for a picnic at a park by the river. The road to the park is a frontage road that dives off of the highway in the 55 section.

From the light I took off and definitely hit 55-60 while still in the 45 zone, but I could see the 55 sign up ahead. They hide troopers there frequently and I didn't see him, was chatting with my wife about something.

He was facing the other way trying to get people coming into town who didn't slow down in the 45 and 30 zone. He saw me and radar'd me as I went by, I was doing 57 or so while technically still in the 45 zone. This road I was on sweeps under the freeway and about a 1/2 mile after that is where the frontage road drops off to the right. I never saw the cop and took the frontage road to go to the park. He was just coming around the sweeping corner when I took the exit. He caught up to me just before the park entrance and I pulled over immediately upon seeing his lights. He had to get in his car, turn it around and come after me, hence the delay.

When he got up to the car he was irate and very rude he was positive I had tried to ditch him on the frontage road. I explained the situation, showed him the picnic basket and the park where we were going. He had none of it and wrote me up for negligent ticket. He accused me of putting my son in harms way etc. Once I realized he wasn't going to calm down and come to his sense I got pissed off.. in a very calm way. I asked him if I was speeding on the fronatge road and he said no. I asked him if that made sense since he thought I was trying to run. Either I didn't see you and am going about my way, or I am running. Why would I be obeying the stop sign and the speed limit.

I contested the ticket, we both went to court the and judge scolded him in front of everyone for the way he wrote the ticket and acted. He has to describe what I was doing on the back of the ticket, all he said was that I was speeding and that I didn't stop immediately and tried to run. He didn't even come close to proving negligence. Negligent means I endangered others. I took pictures of everything, the basket etc. and had texts I had sent to people before he pulled me over saying we were going for a picnic. I admitted I was speeding and showed the judge map printouts of the road layout.. she was familiar with them anyway. She dismissed the ticket and I got to smile at the officer on the way out of court.

I fully support our LEO's, this was the first time in my life I came across one who was a total douche.

 

Got hit with radar doing 95 in a 55 on my CBR600. He was traveling in the opposite direction when he hit me with the radar and hit his lights before passing by. I pulled over and waited. He was pissed. Chewed me out and gave me a ticket for speeding. Luckily didn't call a tow truck and take the bike as I had no motorcycle endorsement and he stated he "wasn't allowed to let me ride off with out one.". Wrote me a ticket for the 95 in a 55 he then stated "I'm going in that direction" pointing in the same direction he was traveling originally. Then stated "I don't know if you pushed it, had somebody come pick it up or what. But don't let me see you riding it."

I was moving to Florida in a couple weeks, this was in Colorado, and blew the ticket off. I was young and thought that by moving to Florida I'd just deal with it at some time later, if ever. I moved to Florida and got my FL license before my Colorado court date. Live in Florida for two years and then moved back to Colorado. Knew I needed to take care of the ticket in order to get a Colorado license. Blew it off a couple more years while I just held my Florida license. Eventually got a lawyer to look into it and take care of it. Turns out that Weld County had just updated their computer system and dropped a bunch of minor things. My ticket for one. Got a letter from the county and went and got my Colorado drivers license. Didn't cost me a thing as the lawyer was a friend of a friend and just made some calls.

Lucky.

Edit: The ticket was a mandatory court date. No just mailing it in. Mostly why I blew it off as I was moving to FL before my court date. I had a bench warrant for not appearing all those years. Main reason for keeping the FL drivers license when I moved back.

 

Exhibition of speed and reckless because my 2 friends several hundred yards behind me raced from a stop sign and I was called out as the "timing vehicle" or some garbage. Happened just after I turned 18 and 3 months before I was supposed to enlist in the Coast Guard, my recruiter wasn't to happy when I had to reschedule MEPS because it was the same day as court.

Reduced to something lesser and paid $300-400 court fees and $70 for driving school.

 

While living in Florida I was pulled over a lot and got some tickets. One time during Spring Break, I lived in Daytona and this was 93/94 and it was a PARTY during Spring Break w/ MTV and all, I was partying w/ some peeps I had met earlier in the day on the beach. We went to Razzles and I had parked my CBR. I came out of Razzles and was hangin' by my bike with other bikers. I was a bit drunk and needed to pee. They put out port a lets during Spring Break to keep young dummies like me from pissing in public. I went to the port o let to pee and left my helmet on my CBR unsecured. When I came back someone and stolen it. I hung for a while and the night started to get quiet and I decided I'd just ride my CBR without a helmet. There was a helmet law in Florida at the time. I didn't make it 100 yards before I got pulled over right in front of Razzles. I tried to tell the cop my helmet was stolen and I was just trying to get home. He stated "even if you hadn't been drinking tonight I still couldn't let you ride." Let me go call my girlfriend, who btw is now my wife, from a nearby payphone. While I was on the phone the cop left. I talked to my gf for a minute and then went and got back on my CBR and raced to my girlfriend's apartment as fast as I could. Went out and bought a new helmet the next day.

Lucky. Again.

 

19 years old, end of first semester away at school. Had 3 shots of whiskey on campus at 8pm, rode as a passenger (sober driver) to an off campus party. Agreed that i wouldn't drink at the party and would DD home later that night...5 hours later having had water and pretzels only at the party I drive my drunk friends back to campus....road block. I told the officer that i had a little to drink hours earlier, he pulls me out and breathalyzes me. 0.02 BAC....all the while i notice 3 cars go through the road block, all from the party, with drivers i know were drunk/stoned. he let them all go...put me in the klink. $300 fine, lost license for a year, had to go to substance abuse classes to get my license back. even the arresting officer told me he knew i was sober. the dean at my college laughed at me since i was really involved on campus and had a 3.9 GPA....the whole thing was ridiculous. worst part is every single security clearance/job interview I've had in the 14 years since it comes up. such a PITA.....booze it and lose it!

 

Some people always have the luck!

 

That right there is what also happens! 20 years after the incident, I was disqualified for a high security job due to my record when I was a dumb ass kid.

 

I was hanging w/ a buddy who was in a band. I had picked up a 6 pack earlier around 7:30-8:00 pm. It was Summer and still light out. Picked up my buddy and took him to a recording studio where he and his band were recording a CD. Drank a couple beers but gave some away as well. Head home later around 1:00 in the morning. Drop off my buddy and head home. Get followed by a cop who eventually pulls me over for "weaving". I had an 85' Mustang GT and the tires were wider than the ruts in the asphalt at this particular spot. I always wandered a bit as the tires tires popped in and out of the ruts. Pulls me out and makes me do the roadside. She says I failed the roadside and takes me in to the station for a breathalyzer. I blow a .051. Which is illegal in Colorado and charged as a DWAI (driving while ability impaired. I call it driving while almost impaired) the cut off is .50. .049 is legal and .05 is impaired. Now mind you just about every other state in the Union has a .08 limit. Meaning .079 is legal. So a very low blood alcohol limit here in Colorado. I was 140 lbs. at the time which meant 1 beer put me right at or over the .050. I literally had 3 beers in about 4 hours and didn't pass.

Cop can't figure out why I did so poorly on the roadside w/ just a .051. Takes me through all the rigamarole of some tests in a darken bathroom and a flashlight looking at how my eyes reacted. Meanwhile the tow truck driver finds my Proto Pipe in my car. Eventually charged with DWAI, weaving, and possession of drug paraphernalia. Thought I was focked big time.

Found an attorney and hired him and he let me make payments. It was $600 and I couldn't pay it all at once. Ended up getting everything dropped w/ a plea to the weaving charge. Judge tried to sentence me to alcohol classes and my attorney corrected the judge and told him he COULDN'T sentence me to alcohol classes because I hadn't been found guilty of an alcohol charge. In my mind I'm thinking "lawyer man, shut the fock up! I don't care, I'm just happy to get this plea." Judge meanwhile looks through his big book in front of him for a few minutes. Looks up and states my attorney is correct and sentences me to fines and court costs for the plea and slams his gavel. FYI, a judge is under no obligation to accept a plea and why I was still nervous especially when my attorney called him out.

Best $600 I EVER spent. Saved me so much just in insurance increases due to a DUI. Not to mention more fines, alcohol classes, etc.

This was actually my first lucky. I've been on the other side a few times as well. Thankfully nothing too serious.

 

The only time I have ever been pulled over was a few months ago, the day before I turned 21. My Dad and I were going up to Food Lion in the Grand Master Slug. (Our 94 Dodge Grand Caravan) I was driving. We were about a quarter mile from the store when we saw a cop heading the other way. He was looking dead at us. Watched in the rearview as he flipped around at a break in the median and turned his lights on. We were already in the intersection when he flipped his lights on, and the opening to the Food Lion parking lot is immediately after the intersection, so I pulled up in there. Cop pulled up behind us and got out, asked me for license and registration. I handed him my license. While dad was digging the registration out of the glove box, the cop walked around the front of the van, looked at the van, and walked back. "Nevermind, y'all are free to go. And congratulations on being 21 tomorrow."
Never offered us an explanation, but I wasn't complaining. I reckon he had been looking for two other people in a beat up purple Dodge van with green doors. :shrug:

 

I never got caught.....

 

Got caught doing 126 in a 60..... big fine, but i was going 145 so I felt that I got off easy. 450 dollar ticket.

 

GTFO

 

Plea bargaining, and reduced charges shouldn't be allowed. You do the deed, you do the penalty! Same thing with concurrent jail times. Shouldn't be allowed!
Concurrent jail time rewards criminals for multiple infractions