My day in court!

[Kaan]

Yesterday was my day in court. I was facing two charges, "Failure to Obey a Highway Sign" and "Illegal Exhaust." I went in knowing I was guilty of one (exhaust) and NOT guilty on the other. Though I went in with pictures of my car with its shiny new stock exhaust hoping to get out of that ticket as well.

The judge started off by letting the police officer speak. He talked about how he could hear me 100 yards away, thats what made him aware of me... how he had to do 60 mph to catch me. how he used his in car radar to validate my speed, etc. When he pulled me over, it was a Sunday morning... I was on my way to church but i had to stop by my old house for a few things... and he bascially said "He said he was running late for church." which i found funny since i got a ticket at 8:24am and church starts at 10:30am. He also tried to bring up my past driving record at this time and was slammed by the judge... "Officer that is not relevant for the case at hand... please stick to what happend that morning."

When it was my turn to talk I submitted my church bulletin stating the start time of church and explained that the 2 hours i had was plenty of time to drive to woodbridge from Oakton, pick up the things i needed, and then drive the 20 mintues from woodbridge to lorton. I submitted the exhaust pictures, was denied submitting car performance stats from Car and Driver... not that i really needed them but if the judge didnt understand the "constants" arguement i was going to toss out there i might have needed them.

I started asking questions that i had typed up even before i went to court. "Where were you when you saw me?" "what were you doing when you saw me?" "what intersection did i get pulled over?" .... but for some reason when i asked "Were you inside of outside of your vehicle?" he kept responding with "i was going back to my car." I must have asked the question 5 or 6 times, pissing him off in the mean time and giving the judge a shit eating grin, before I asked the judge to explain the two answers he could give me.... he finally said "i was outside the car." I then asked him "what are the speed limits on 123 and Braddock road?" he answered that one fine... i wrapped up with this question "Do you always wear your seatbelt?" The judge asked me where i was going with all of this... and i told him i needed to know the sequence of events from the time he was outside the car to the time he got in the car... he allowed it... and the officer stated "No i dont always wear my seatbelt?" so i followed with "well that took an assumption out of my arguement... do you always wear it at work? or do you always wear it while in your personal car? or do you not wear it some times in both?" he stated "I dont always wear it, patrol car or personal car." all i ended with was "interesting."

I then submitted my final peice of evidence, a mapquest measurement of direction (dont ask why they let me submit it)... the intersection he left to the intersection i was pulled over was .27 miles. I then asked for a peice of chalk.

i went up to the chalk board and explained:
60mph = 1mile/min = 15sec to travel 1/4 mile... i wrote out more but whatever...

45mph (the speed limit) = 3/4mile/min = 20sec to travel 1/4 mile.

the judge understood the times and "constants"... so then i had to explain that if he was doing 60mph as a constant... and i was doing the speed limit... that gave the officer 5 seconds to enter his car, maybe put his seat belt on, accelerate to the constant speed of 60mph, and then when he catches me we both stop to 0mph instantly. after that explaination the judge cut me off to say....

"Mr. Canturk, I'm fairly confident you werent speeding. So i'm going to throw that out... but since you have prior exhaust tickets... i'm going to let that one stand."

all i could say was "Thank you, your honor." and start packing up my stuff.

while i was packing up the judge started to rip into the officer. something to the effect of "Officer you have disregaurded protocal... made a member of this commonwealth take time from work to defend himself against a claim you had very little evidence to back up... I'll be sending a letter to your supervisor that i will recommend be put in your permenent file."

i started walking out... nearly laughing... off to pay a $207 exhaust ticket... on my way out every lawyer in the place is giving me the thumbs up!

[Sijray21]

i heard this earlier, but it'll never get old. way to get yourself out of a charge while keeping a level head about it!

[WRXtranceformed]

Hell yeah dude, way to fight the man!

And DAMN that is a steep exhaust ticket!!! I didn't realize they were that expensive. I need to never drive up there.... ever.

[REED]

haha - I know you've been talking about doing that for awhile, but I had no idea it would work - way to "stick it to the man" kinda sorta

[Kaan]

It would have been cheaper to prepay the exhaust ticket... but since i converted back to stock i thought he might let me off. its like $86 prepay... but if you go to court the judge sets the price. it was a risk i had to take... i had to show the judge that in good faith i fixed it... to lend credablity to myself... and i know i wont get anymore of those tickets... i'm done with that crap.

i'm sure my exhaust did tip him off... or at least make him think i was traveling at a high rate of speed. lots of noise and slow

1 day off work, $207 exhaust ticket all to get out of a charge that wasnt valid. thats bascially why the judge is writing the officers supervisor. And it wasnt so much that i was not guilty... it was that the judge was convinced that i couldnt have even been doing the speed limit when i passed the cop... and i wasnt i was doing 40mph...

sure they have a judgement call... but when he catches me SO quickly... he should have known i wasnt speeding.

[CaptainHenreh]

HOORAY KAAN!

Congratulations! I owe you a celebratory beer.

Proof that every once in a while, Justice is done in Traffic Court.

edit: I wonder if we could get a transscript?

[Evan]

while i was packing up the judge started to rip into the officer. something to the effect of "Officer you have disregaurded protocal... made a member of this commonwealth take time from work to defend himself against a claim you had very little evidence to back up... I'll be sending a letter to your supervisor that i will recommend be put in your permenent file."

That right there made it all worth it. This dipshit is going to think twice from now on about abusing his "authority"

[Sijray21]

And DAMN that is a steep exhaust ticket!!! I didn't realize they were that expensive. I need to never drive up there.... ever.

he's a 'repeat offender' according to the judge, right Kaan? :wink:

[PDenbigh]

That is outstanding Kaan! Props to you sticking to your guns in a situation where that is often very hard to do. Way to go!

[Kaan]

Yes... i am a repeat exhaust offender. This is the 4th exhaust ticket on my record. I have one more pending. but i have to go find the police officer at the west springfield police station to show him the new exhaust... so he will throw out the ticket. He asked why i hadnt fixed it since my last ticket (the one i was fighting yesterday)... and i told him... because i only get paid once a month... and sure enough... on the first of the month i was at the muffler shop!

[Maengelito]

while i was packing up the judge started to rip into the officer. something to the effect of "Officer you have disregaurded protocal... made a member of this commonwealth take time from work to defend himself against a claim you had very little evidence to back up... I'll be sending a letter to your supervisor that i will recommend be put in your permenent file."

That right there made it all worth it. This dipshit is going to think twice from now on about abusing his "authority"

that is awesome kaan. i dont care how much the exhaust ticket is worth, but to stick it to the man by having the man's man stick it to him is awesome

[Apoc]

It's great that you dealt with it like a mature adult and were rewarded for it.

Nominee for TOTY

[.RJ]

Nominee for TOTY

Turk of the year?

[Kaan]

but my issue is... i should never have been served the ticket that i had to go fight. i should have just been able to prepay the exhaust ticket and move on with life. instead i paid more for a ticket just to get off on another ticket that was unjust. I think thats why the judge was sticking it to the officer.

stick it to me for the obvious illegal issue... my exhaust. dont pull up my driving record and then try to issue me a bullshit ticket becasue you think i'll just prepay it. I dont prepay if i think i was in the right.

how many other officers pull stunts like this? how often is it being abused? The officer that wrote me the second exhaust ticket that said he would have it thrown out if i showed him i fixed it when i got paid... he wrote me a ticket because i couldnt produce my registration while he was talking to me... but when he came back with a ticket for the exhaust and no front plate... he also had a ticket for no registration... but i handed that to him right then and he tossed that ticket out.

Police officer have become more of a means to tax the residence. At no point should "protecting and serving" be put second to taxation. Who are the police protecting by writing an exhaust ticket? maybe my ear drums... but really... who are they serving by doing that? its not equally enforced. A harley with VandH pipes isnt going to get pulled... a mustang with glass packs isnt going to get pulled... they are serving the state and the political agenda... which is not their purpose.

I really think there needs to be a revolution in policing the people. Sure speeding is a crime... get it on radar... bam your done. catching people for DUI DWI or speeding is protecting people... but when you are running around looking for hondas with mufflers... you are just doing something to pass time... and not proactively protect the people in your area from real crime. Vandalism, car theft, B and E, etc... those are things they need to police. It seems they just hire more police officer to patrol the roads to catch people doing things to bring in more money.

hell there was a state trooper in court yesterday that had 120 cases... in court... lord knows how many were prepaid! thats 4 tickets a day ... every day that month... and i know he didnt work 30 days straight. I'd like to tell that officer... "how about you help someone thats broken down on the side of the road... and put your ticket book down for once."

Edit: and i'm not saying i didnt deserve the exhaust ticket... i was illegal... but dont they have something better to do? and then he literally made up a ticket for a "speed" offense... as many times as i have been pulled over i feel that FFx Co and the state troopers are just harrassing me and other people instead of doing something productive.

[Kaan]

It's great that you dealt with it like a mature adult and were rewarded for it.

Nominee for TOTY

and you thought i would handle it like a child? please! after i cooled down and got things straight... i sat down, typed out the questions i needed answered and then shut him down

Madison Motorsports > GMU PD!

[Jeff]

GREAT JOB! Its nice to see traffic court give one up for once. Maybe that asshole will think again next time he "nabs" a loud honda... though I doubt that ricer will have the mental ability to fight it like this.

[Apoc]

In college I was pulled over for running a yellow light in the 2 blocks between my flag football game and our apartment. I'd forgotten my wallet at home so didn't have proof of insurance or my license, I don't remember which. Anyway, I had to go to the Traffic Court in downtown Philly within 3 days to show proof of whatever I was missing. When I did that their "system" was offline so they couldn't do anything else than take a note, give me a receipt and input it later. While I was there I also decided I'd show up to court on my date to try and fight the speeding ticket.

Court date comes and I'm found guilty of the ticket in like 30 seconds. They then asked about the missing license/insurance and I told them I'd fixed that. The judge said the system didn't show that and asked what my plea was. I showed him the receipt and he said he didn't care what sort of paper I had, the system didn't show it. The court clerk asked him to look at the paper since it was legit and he refused.

I had to pay a fee to appeal the damn thing in court on another date. The prsecutor offered to let me plead to a lesser offense before the trial (to save them time) and I explained the situation. I was out of there in less than 10 minutes but I still had to take the day off and pay the appeal fee for THEIR mistake. In hindsight I would have done well to appeal the speeding ticket since they offered deals but the points never transferred to my VA license so I guess it didn't matter.

[Feersty]

Awesome Kaan. But don't you think it is fair that when a cop sees a dude driving a car with an exhaust that the driver could be a deliquent? Its unfortunate, but it happens.

[CaptainHenreh]

Awesome Kaan. But don't you think it is fair that when a cop sees a dude driving a car with an exhaust that the driver could be a deliquent? Its unfortunate, but it happens.

Don't you think it's fair that when a cop sees a black man driving a BMW that the driver could be a drug dealer?

It's unfortunate, but it happens.

[BLINGMW]

word Kaan. 8) One small step for us regular guys. But you're right, there's a HUGE problem that'll get worse if we don't all fight. Traffic court is an abomination. Taxation thinly disguised as protection.

Jess? Do something about it already!