Benz-o-matic

I recently ran into the following serious situation. Any advice, especially from those members with experience in this, or litigious experience, would be appreciated. I cannot afford points on my license, but a lawyer would be around the same cost. I am a student. Sorry for the length...just wanted to lay it all out.



To preface- I am a young white male, no criminal record, no moving violations or points. Past tickets- 2 plate. 1 tint. 9mph over posted reduced to random offense. I am always polite when pulled over, all sirs and officers. I never try to fight it there...thats what courts are for.

Driving home from work at midnight (bartender) I stop at a traffic light. The speed zone is a 50. Leaving the light I floor it and level off at 45, because the zone changes to 45 and there is a cop that sits in a restaurant lot 50ft from the light. (Note- I drive an AWD car- there was no CHIRPING or BURNOUT as the cop decided to embellish- planning on getting letter from service advisor to state my car is incapable of such)

I pass the officer in his patrol car and note he is, as usual, not shooting radar (Escort Detector). Around 50ft after passing him I note that his headlights are moving indicating his car is probably pulling out.

At this point, considering I drive on the same road for 10 min before making any turns, I decide I will pull over and call my girlfriend to let her know I'm out of work, thus allowing him to pass so I can drive home without him tailgating me all the way home.

Around 4 seconds have passed since passing the cop. I put my turn indicator on and begin to look for a place to pull over. I see what looks like a shoulder. As I pull into it, I realize it is a turning lane for a building. As not to be blocking a road lane as a cop drives by I turn into the building, blinker on. As I do this I glance in my rearview and see the cop, far away, has his lights on.

I park my car and turn it off and get out my cellphone. Next thing I know he blows around the corner and shouts on the megaphone to show my hands, and his gun may have been drawn- his spotlight was on so I couldn't see. I roll down all windows, turn on interior lights, and display my hands.

He procedes to shout at me asking why I'm running from him. Also accused me of speeding, which I denied politely saying not to be argumentative sir I did accelerate hard but I did not exceed the speed limit. Despite having no clock of my speed he continues to insist I was speeding. I let it be.

The officer proceeds to then:

-Call backup
-Tell me how he wants to charge me with evasion but doesn't have the grounds because he was too far away
-Backup scoffs at the situation and leaves.

My insurance was one month expired...could not find current in car. Fortunately my parents live about 10min away.
Gives me an ultimatum- I can wake up my parents at this ungodly hour and have them drive my current insurance to me at the traffic stop, or my car will be towed and impounded.

I woke up my poor mother who came down. He wished to speak to her, and would not allow me to be with her and made me wait in my car- this I found highly inappropriate and unprofessional. I am an adult, and this is no time to talk to a woman, outside, at night.

After conversing with her for about 10 minutes he gave me a careless driving ticket and an insurance ticket.

Does he have grounds for the careless? According to New Jersey Annotated Statute 39:4-97 says, “A person who drives a vehicle carelessly, or without due caution and circumspection, in a manner so as to endanger, or be likely to endanger, a person or property, shall be guilty of careless driving.”
-Did not exceed posted speed limit (was not clocked or given ticket for speeding)
-Signaled turn

He stated that the reason he was so agitated was because there were recent armed home invasions in the area and he was looking for speeding sports cars and assumed I was a "bad guy".

Any words appreciated. I plan on requesting a dismissal or a reduction.

Edit- This occurred in Basking Ridge/Bernardsville NJ

bhamg

If your state allows for a Trial by Declaration, file it. It's a no-lose proposition, and you seem eminently capable of presenting a reasonable case and collecting persuasive supporting documentation.

SonnyakaPig

I don't know how a careless driving ticket and a driving without proof of valid insurance ticket are treated in your state, but you owe it to yourself to at least contact a local traffic court attorney (one that also handles criminal law) and learn the full scope of your rights. It may be wise to hire a lawyer to defend you. But, you will have to weigh the cost/ benefit once you learn what you're up against (fines, points, jail, future impact on insurance rates?) It would be unwise for you to comment further. This is a publc forum.

rory breaker

I also would talk to an attorney. You can do the same things they will, difference is they know the cops, judges, and DA. May just be a conversation with the DA where your guy requests they drop the charges with a "do you really want to pursue this one, Fred?" type twist.

Good luck, ****ty situation.

jbec.keane

I'm not sure about the insurance charge, but unsafe driving does NOT have any points in NJ. In fact, it is often the charge you can plea to in order to pay a ticket without accumulating any points.

BK63amg

Def get a lawyer - better safe than sorry. GL!

Merc63

Get a traffic lawyer, sounds like you have grounds to fight it.

I fight evey single ticket I get.

If they want to give you tickets, exercise your right to challenge it. If everyone fought their tickets the pigs would start to think before they wrote pointless tickets to basically collect money from us.

CoolBDPhenom03

+1 on lawyering up. I mean you could fight it on your own, but that would be about a 50/50 chance. If you got a lawyer, they could get the facts from you and your mother and pin down the cop for whatever BS charges he's trying to inflate.

Based on your side of the story, 9mph over should just be a speeding ticket. Reckless is usually around 15-20mph+. And if you mother could bring your current insurance to you, then that should have put you in the clear. I mean seriously, if I were a cop pulling someone and they had to call their mother, I would have probably felt a little pity for the kid.

Maybe your lawyer can even find the other backup cops who scoffed and left.

This guy needs to chill the F* out. That's why I'm seriously starting to think I should mount my ContourROAM on my dash (which I just started to use on my bike).

cptdaz

Out of curiousity, who do you have as your insurer? I can pull up proof of insurance on my insurance website with my phone 24/7. I have done this at the DMV and I'm sure it's legally as good as any piece of paper.

propain

No offence but pulling off the road behind some building late at night and cutting off the engine and lights is a douche move. That is why you got a hard time from the cop. It could have been much worse.

However, you can fight it in court. Just plead not guilty and have the ADA work with you. In this case I believe you will get it knocked down to something without points and save yourself some money on the lawyer. Best case the cop doesnt show and it gets dismissed.

Good luck.

63'd

State law varies, I know in Florida you can receive a citation for accelerating too fast. I'm not sure how vauge the careless statute is in NJ, but if he can articulate ANY careless actions he will typically win. A lot of it boils down to your word against his, and unfortunatley your word loses 9 times out of 10. I agree with propain, your actions, while questionably illegal, were definitely suspicious.

I am Jeff

I wish NYC had ADA stationed at the court houses so that you can go in pay double and walk away with no points. That would make me so

propain

Yeah the city courts dont do it. The LI courts do though.

SonnyakaPig

This is a very interesting point. What you say makes sense. Seems like it should work. Times are changing, so this may be okay now-a-days. But, I don't know.

Btw, your car looks great. And your list of mods shows really good taste.

HoozyerdaddyC63

Propain is right on this one. The second you decided to leave the road is where he can claim you were evading the police. The best thing to do is to stay on the road within the legal speed limit and unless he has you clocked he has nothing on you.

Your best bet is to get a lawyer. A good amount of the time the cops don't even show up to court (at least in Chicago) and you can plead not guilty and get it thrown out.

Good luck with your situation!

I am Jeff

OP - Just go to your local township and speak to the District Attorney to see if they can offer you a plea. You're going to pay one way or the other, so just take the deal they offer you. It's going to most likely be double the fine with no points. I know this because my friends were pulled over on the NJ turnpike for doing 118 and 116 respectively in the 55 section of the pike. They both got reckless tickets, but just paid double the fine and everything was squared away.

If you're hoping to get off with no fine and points, you need to wake up!

Harold1898

I think some of the advice here may be ahm......slightly erroneous. Definitely engage a lawyer experienced in your state traffic laws. Good luck mate and remember, 2 lawyers go into court both sure they are going to win, one always comes out the loser.

Clark Kent

A little side note . . . I don't think a letter from the service rep will be usable in court as 'testimony' needs to be available for cross examination. A letter cannot be cross examined. The service rep's confirmation of facts may be a nice piece of the puzzle to present to the court but I think he'd have to physically be there.

w204nyc

I was hit with the same ticket in secacus nj. Careless driving and he had no radar or laser on so he didnt know my speed. I went to court with a lawyer and the lawyer himself said that the courts don't let this type of offense go. He sai he will represent me for free just to show me that they wont dismiss it. All said and done i was hit with careless driving and unsafe lane change

w204nyc

He doesnt need to clock you to give you a speeding ticket! And recently they schedule the hearing on the officers days off and they get paid overtime for that so many of them will come

w204nyc

I got a ticket in lake katrine and when i showed up to everyones tickets were being dropped to a non moving violation except the few people who were going over 21mph over the limit like myself. Mine was dropped from 6 points to only 3

propain

The courts are interesting in the fines. As long as you pay they have no problem making your life a little less miserable.

That is unless you are endangering the lives of others. Then they might be inclined to teach you a lesson. This happens to repeat offenders.

danlnyc

as much as I would hate to say it, but Propain is right on the dot. If I was the cop, I would've been suspicious as well.

if you were from LA, you would've got shot first and then asked questions later so feel lucky you're still alive.

_timothy

What? without proof, how does this hold up in court? dont laser and radar guns spit out a ticker of the speed? or do you mean he can ticket you to waste your time/money etc?

danlnyc

"pacing"

if you were going 80 in a 65 zone, they are trained to "pace" you to determine your speed.