I Was Found Guilty in Court Today

[LAGC]

"Routine" traffic stop from back in May. I was on the interstate driving to school around 11:15 in the morning when I came up upon a state trooper in the middle lane going only 60mph in a 65mph zone. He was impeding one vehicle behind him, so I said "Fuck it, let's pass him -- I'm only going 65 and don't want to be late for class." Big mistake. As soon as I got in front of him he pulled me over claiming I was going 78mph. I knew he couldn't have gotten me on radar going that fast when I passed him, but I didn't contest it at the time, just politely accepted my ticket so he'd let me go so I wouldn't be late to class (it was Finals week, to boot). I was actually surprised he even showed up in court today, but told the prosecutor (who just before court took me aside and told me I could just plead guilty, since many folks just come to see if the cop even shows up) that I still had a couple questions and wanted to continue to trial. (Thought maybe I could still catch him in a lie, or if he misremembered the particulars of that stop.) Turns out he was "pacing" me from about a mile back, noticed me gaining on him "in the #1 lane" (far-left lane) so he turned on his rear radar, which is why he slowed down to 60mph so I would pass him and fall into his trap. To add insult to injury, he was a sergeant with like 30 years experience, all sorts of extensive training in every sort of radar and laser system ever invented, etc. At that point I realized I was fucked and just told the judge it was a big misunderstanding and accepted my punishment.

But what was most interesting about this court session today was there was one other guy fighting his case just before me, he was an off-duty rural county sheriff deputy who was just passing through in his personal vehicle and got pulled over by a state trooper as well. The deputy pointed out that the state trooper followed him for some time before pulling him over, figured it was just a "pretext stop" (drunk driver check, since it was 2 in the morning) and was surprised he got ticketed for speeding, considering the trooper's initial questions had nothing to do with speed. Most damning though, the deputy admitted: "usually in these situations we fellow law enforcement officers flash our badge just to let the other law enforcement officer know we are armed, which also usually implies 'professional courtesy' that a citation not be issued, but I didn't, because I didn't think I had done anything wrong." This pissed the hell out of the female judge who blasted him: "Law enforcement officers shouldn't be extending any sort of 'professional courtesy' to each other, we should all be held equally accountable when we break the law, myself included." Even though he presented a witness (his wife) she still found him guilty.

That little demonstration I witnessed right there of cops often times letting other cops get off scot-free for breaking the law and being called on it was worth every penny of that $90 fine.

[Nashorn]

Did they probe your anus or use pepper spray ?

[Partisan1983]

I have seen cops in a few states in unmarked vehicles (not MI, it's illegal for an unmarked vehicle to pull traffic stops) pull people over...not for speeding, but for passing a douche with a badge.....mind you this was decades ago.

Ohio
Indiana
Missouri
Iowa
Kansas
Minnesota
Wisconsin
Illinois...(I think they executed everyone in the vehicle)

[El Jefe]

You should have been tazed, pepper sprayed and curb stomped, just for fucking breathing.

[FunkyPertwee]

...(Thought maybe I could still catch him in a lie, or if he misremembered the particulars of that stop.) Turns out he was "pacing" me from about a mile back, noticed me gaining on him "in the #1 lane" (far-left lane) so he turned on his rear radar, which is why he slowed down to 60mph so I would pass him and fall into his trap. To add insult to injury, he was a sergeant with like 30 years experience, all sorts of extensive training in every sort of radar and laser system ever invented, etc. At that point I realized I was fucked and just told the judge it was a big misunderstanding and accepted my punishment....

Tried to be smart ass but turned out you were messing with someone smarter than you.

Priceless.

[chiak47]

driving to school

What are you going to school for?

[alismith]

Invest in a radar detector....

[jojo]

Did they probe your anus or use pepper spray ?

Now that was funny....................

[El Jefe]

What are you going to school for?

Advanced jackassery.

[jet3534]

What are you going to school for?

My guess -- an Associate Degree in Community Organizing Studies.

[LAGC]

What are you going to school for?

At the end of this Fall Semester I'll have earned my A.S. degree in Biology: Healthcare Emphasis.

My original plan was to shoot for my B.S. in MLS (Medical Laboratory Science) to hopefully land a job as a medical microbiologist, first working in a hospital or clinic somewhere, then once I get some experience under my belt: research. But I just found out one of the prerequisites I need to get into that one-year program I won't be able to take in time for the 2015-2016 block, so I can either shoot for 2016-2017 block instead, or maybe shoot for a different major like Bioinformatics or something at a different four-year university (which is actually closer to where I live) which may allow me to graduate sooner. I already have 32 credits from that same 4-year university from attending part-time over 10 years ago.

I still need to weigh all my options.

[LAGC]

Invest in a radar detector....

I don't know. I do have a bit of a lead foot, but I've only gotten one other speeding ticket in the past 3 years... I'm just not sure if the hassle of fucking with expensive equipment, having to set it up and break it down to hide it when parking so that someone doesn't steal it, is really worth it.

And I only have one cigarette lighter in my car, so I wouldn't be able to use my GPS (on road trips) at the same time. So that would suck.

[miketx]

What are you going to school for?

He's learning to be a candidate for tasters choice.

[skorpion]

Invest in a radar detector....

Detectors only work in instances where a radar unit is transmitting a signal. Most of the time the radar units are in standby mode, where the unit is on but not activated. Officers first judge the speed of a vehicle by eye, and if he or she suspects the vehicle to be speeding, only then is the radar unit activated to obtain the actual speed. By the time the radar detector warns you, it's too late. Unless it happens to be a lazy officer who just sits there with the radar unit constantly activated. I stopped a guy once going 39 MPH in a 25 MPH residential area. He said I was lying because his radar detector didn't alert him. Truth is I was able to estimate by eye that he was going around 40 MPH and I only activated the radar unit just long enough to record his actual speed and lock it in (less than a second). He only got a warning for the speed, despite his douchebaggery.

[NAPOTS]

there is always the active radar and laser jamming technology.

[ltorlo64]

That little demonstration I witnessed right there of cops often times letting other cops get off scot-free for breaking the law and being called on it was worth every penny of that $90 fine.

You witnessed one cop saying he did this and you witnessed another cop that obviously didn't, and last, and most important, you witnessed a judge forcefully explaining to the cop that he was not above the law and that the cop that gave the ticket did the right and honest thing.

As for the ticket, my wife got one recently for an illegal U-turn. The issue was the cop mistyped the violation number and charged her with putting up an illegal U-turn sign (a felony vice a moving violation). She was willing to pay the fine for the illegal U-turn but not to plead guilty for the felony. Because of this she had to listen to everyone else that was fighting their moving violation tickets. She said it was just sad and a waste of the police's time as people who were obviously guilty, knew they were guilty, tried to trick the police into misremembering events or accuse them of lying. She said the best (worst) one was a young woman how questioned the police who had given her a speeding ticket for about 5 minutes about everything (weather, road conditions, color of car, etc) except if she was really speeding. Next the young woman brought out the "technical manual" for the radar the police used that she had downloaded off the internet. The judge asked to see it and then explained to her that it was not a technical manual and that items downloaded from "howtobeatspeedingtickets.com" were generally not legally reliable (the web address was on the bottom of the pages). My wife said she had to physically restrain laughter when that happened.

[skorpion]

there is always the active radar and laser jamming technology.

Radar jammers are ineffective against current-production radar units. They are also against FCC regulation. Basically, the only effective defense against radar is not driving above the posted speed limit.

[5.56NATO]

Shame you didn't have the time to tell the cop to his face he's a liar.







That is, if you were not actually speeding.

[FunkyPertwee]

Shame you didn't have the time to tell the cop to his face he's a liar.







That is, if you were not actually speeding.

He would also need balls for that.

[FunkyPertwee]

I don't know. I do have a bit of a lead foot, but I've only gotten one other speeding ticket in the past 3 years... I'm just not sure if the hassle of fucking with expensive equipment, having to set it up and break it down to hide it when parking so that someone doesn't steal it, is really worth it.

And I only have one cigarette lighter in my car, so I wouldn't be able to use my GPS (on road trips) at the same time. So that would suck.

Its probably cheaper just to drive the speed limit.