A Different Perspective

I’ve had that changed version in my head all week. Singing, “I fought the law, and I won!”

Yes, I won. I went to court on principle. I came to a complete stop before turning right on red, and I was not going to pay the ticket unless I was found guilty at trial.

And the cop showed up. Nobody wins when the cop shows up, right?

Here’s what happened in court:

The officer recounted what happened, but he left out that he was in a conversation with two other police officers while he was monitoring the intersection. That opened up the opportunity during the questioning phase for me to ask if he remembered what he was doing right before he observed my car turning right. He did not remember. I asked him if he remembered our conversation when he pulled me over. He did not. I then stated perhaps that conversation would refresh his memory, and I asked if he remembered asking me why I would go through a red light like that (turning right without stopping) when there were a group of police officers on the corner. The officer was honest and admitted he did remember and that there were three officers on the corner. I asked him if they were having a conversation, and he said, “Probably.”

Then it was my turn. I stated what I honestly believe. The officer looked up after I had come to a complete stop at the limit line and assumed I never stopped. The officer had written a nice little diagram of the intersection on the whiteboard in the courtroom, and I used his diagram to show that because another street branched off at that intersection, the limit line sits back even further than it normally would at a standard intersection. Basically two major streets and a third side street all come together at that intersection.

The limit line being placed so far from the intersection lended to the perception that I had never stopped. When in fact, I stopped at the limit line and accelerated to where I would turn slowed a tad to make sure it was okay to proceed, then accelerated quickly through the turn.

I stated that I believed the officer was honest, and he ticketed me based on what he saw, but he was in a conversation and not watching the whole time. The judge… agreed! He pronounced me not guilty, and I walked out of court a happy man.

To the officer’s credit, he could have lied and said even though he left out he was in a conversation, he was still watching the whole time. Instead, when he had a chance to respond, he just said, “The people rest.”

And I saved $400 by seeking justice. I wanted my day in court. I got it, and I won!!!

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 13th, 2008 at 3:12 pm and is filed under Announcements, Life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.