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Law Enforcement type help
Hockey Johnston
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
My gf did a dumb thing today: during AM rush hour, she let herself be in the middle of a busy intersection when the light changed. A cop (on foot) came up and rapped loudly on her window, yelling at her to pull over to the right.
By this time, she had room in front of her. By all accounts she yelled 'fuck you' (I know...) and took off down the road. Made it to work without incident. Whether or not he got her plate or bothered to do anything about is up for debate. He was clearly unhappy with her.
So, leaving aside the obvious criticism of her behavior, we're left with a problem. How can I find out if she has a warrant without waltzing into the precinct and asking? Should we run a background check on her through the internet? Is that going to have up-to-date information, as the whole thing happened less than 8 hours ago. If you go to get your driving record from the DMV, is that guaranteed to be up to date?
Anybody with some knowledge that might be helpful -- I'm all ears. Thanks in advance.
By this time, she had room in front of her. By all accounts she yelled 'fuck you' (I know...) and took off down the road. Made it to work without incident. Whether or not he got her plate or bothered to do anything about is up for debate. He was clearly unhappy with her.
So, leaving aside the obvious criticism of her behavior, we're left with a problem. How can I find out if she has a warrant without waltzing into the precinct and asking? Should we run a background check on her through the internet? Is that going to have up-to-date information, as the whole thing happened less than 8 hours ago. If you go to get your driving record from the DMV, is that guaranteed to be up to date?
Anybody with some knowledge that might be helpful -- I'm all ears. Thanks in advance.
Hockey Johnston on
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I'd imagine you should just call or stop in. Honestly, she's going to need to confront it sooner or later. No time like the present.
If she would like to avoid being arrested, she can hire a criminal defense attorney to check (should be flat rate and not too expensive), or go to the local court house where said incidence occurred and ask the court clerk to check. She likely would avoid arrest there.
/Not an attorney
If it's a ticket you will get notified in person or by mail.
God. She's such an idiot. At least it doesn't seem like jail time, though I wonder if she'll get a suspension.
Blocking Traffic, failure to pull over, leaving the scene?
Leaving the scene??? The scene of what? There was no accident. And she did pull over, she just left.
There should be one for blocking traffic. What she did was evade arrest or detention, which is at least a misdemeanor depending on your jurisdiction. I'd be more psyched she's not facing jail time. Let us know what the tickets are for, too.
IANAL
So that could explain a third ticket. She's lucky she wasn't arrested for taking off when the officer said pull over.
I don't know your state and IANAL though. We've established fleeing was a bad idea, but it doesn't sound like she's going to get hit up with a class D felony for it!.
Lawyers may do free consultations. I'd look into that first. If it's just fines from misdemeanors, ... would those affect insurance? That'd be my second concern after suspension.
Changing lanes in the middle of an intersection is illegal so that is probably one.
I find it weird that you cant be in the middle of an intersection when a light changes though. Here, you get leeway on that, and its actually accepted that after the light turns red the next 2 cars are allowed to proceed to turn left. There is actually a delay in the cross traffics light turning green to allow for this.
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It wasn't some loon in a paper-bag hat and high heels. It was a cop. Not exactly tough to pick out as being on duty. Since when do you doubt the authority of a traffic cop to pull over and give citations?
If she'd pulled over she probably would have gotten a warning or a single ticket which could have been negotiated down at the court date. The municipality frequently doesn't care about giving points; they just want your money. They don't reap anything from making your insurance go up.
In the current situation she's probably going to take the hit for all three tickets - better hope the third ticket wasn't reckless endangerment, that one tends to be a Very Serious Issue.
That is lying, she knew damn well a cop rapped on her window and when a cop working a traffic detail tells you to pull over you're supposed to.
Saying something so incredibly stupid as what you suggest is not going to help her.
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Really this, I would just plead for leniency and hope for the best. This was one of the stupidest things she could have done and there is no real way out of it.
why bring this part up
it's not like that is what the tickets were for
the fact of the matter is it's pretty hard to confuse a cop rapping on your car window and a hobo or prositute accosting you or something. she knows what she did was wrong. got the tickets, all good, pay the man.
In the OP it is even specified that it is indeed a cop. This leads me to believe that the Girl knew that it was a police officer and still sped off.
well the problem is if she could make that argument convincingly, then the judge could also make an argument on the same grounds that she is incompetent to hold a license
i mean i assume this was in broad daylight and the cop was in the intersection fully uniformed and stuff
besides the general protocol for this type of thing is to pull over when you feel it is safe and call the police to report/verify the encounter which she clearly did not do
making that argument in a courtroom will more likely end up hurting you than helping you
yeah, this
So a cop needs a light or vehicle to tell you to pull over and prove that he/she's a cop? No, sorry. Doesn't work that way. As well, she was in a crowded intersection, she wasn't in the middle of nowhere.
1) Find out the name of the police officer and his police station. It should be on the ticket.
2) Call the police station and ask when the officer will be on duty. If they ask, explain the situation and state that your wife was upset, and she would like to apologize.
3) Bake some cookies or some other homemade treat (Don't buy something ready made from Wal-Mart, you want to show some effort. You can buy something like cookie dough, however.), and go with her to deliver it to the precinct when the police officer is on duty. Have her apologize in person to the officer. Ask him if he would be willing to downgrade any or all of the tickets to a non-moving violation (These typically don't count against your insurance, and still bring in money to the city coffers).
4) If all else fails, go to the court date. If the officer skips that night, the charges should be dropped as you have the right to face your accuser.
What you're doing is demonstrating that you're willing to put in the same effort in your apology as you made the officer go through in tracking you down. You're also not trying to get out of paying the city money, just paying less and more importantly not having your insurance rates go up.
Honestly, I don't think it will work. But it'll be $10 and a few hours of your time, so it's not a huge investment. I think the most important thing during this is to be polite and civil.
Yeah, this isn't going to work. No cop is going to reduce the charges (if he can even do that?) for some cookies and an apology. I seriously doubt with the amount of shit cops have to deal with, that he's going to buy her fake sad shtick.
So, yeah. Find out the exact charges, lawyer up if needed, but I have to agree with the general "Go in, admit this was a stupid thing to do, pay the fine" advice.
People have been accosted by perpetrators posing as police officers. Women have been raped by perpetrators posing as police officers. It is not an unfounded or entirely unreasonable stance to claim that without the obvious signs of authority (i.e. vehicle, lights) that prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the man in fact is a cop, then the possibility exists.
For future run-ins with police, the smart thing, if you honestly are concerned for your safety, is a) if they have a vehicle, tell them you're driving to the nearest station, or b) call 9-1-1 or local number and ask for another officer to be sent.