Balcones PD pulled me over in SA for registration (San Antonio: apartments, house)

[ZacharyDY4]

Let me elaborate, last night I was driving down Fred Rd in San Antonio when a Balcones officer pulled behind me from the median infront of the Vineyard Village apartments (former Warren Inn). I know this for a very specific fact because I work for the company that owns that complex and had just come from locking up a different property. He put his lights on just before we crossed 410 and pulled me over on the access road, at no point were we ever in Balcones Hts. I was ticketed for expired registration, that is all. On the ticket he put the offence occurred at 4600 Fred Rd (Wonderland Mall, the wonder is that it's still open). This is a clear and blatant lie, every night I lock up the Vineyard House on 410 & Cherry Ridge then take the I10 access rd to Callaghan to lock up the Vineyard Gardens, then Fred to 410E to go home. At no point do I ever enter in to Balcones. My question is, was this a legal stop and if not, what should I do. There is no question he was out of his jurisdiction.

[lepoisson]

The ticket should have an address on it. I bet if you went to court and showed the ticket with a non-Balcones address, it would be thrown out. Also, show proof of renewed registration.

[ZacharyDY4]

Problem is the ticket does have a balcones address, the mall is in Balcones Hts but that is not where I was stopped, it's a lie, plain and simple.

[ged_782]

Not sure if it applies in this situation, but the City Of San Antonio and some of the local suburban cities have reciprocal agreements that allow them to cross up to 200 yards into each other's boundaries, for traffic and other minor offenses. I don't know if Balcones Heights is a participating city or not.
SA Allowing Police Officers to Chase Traffic Violators into Suburbs | News Radio 1200 WOAI

Best thing, though, is to keep current on the registration, as you could just as easily have been cited by SAPD for the same offense.

[Hedgehog_Mom]

Get your registration sticker, go to court and the ticket will be dismissed with a fee of $20 for court costs, according to the Balcones Heights website.

If I'm right, a city cop can pull you over for violations that are within 1000 ft of his city limits. So since Wonderland mall is in Balcones Heights and he pulled you over on the access road (I'm assuming you mean the access road of 410 just before I-10, in front of Wonderland mall where the Target store is), he's most likely within 1000 ft.

You need to get your registration done anyhow. If this was a ticket for a moving violation it would make sense to try to argue that you were out of their jurisdiction and try to fight the ticket, but the sticker is a black and white issue...you either have a current sticker or you don't. Sooner or later you'll get pulled over somewhere, have to get the registration, and have to pay court costs to get the ticket dismissed. So you might as well get it over with.

Usually when you go to get your registration renewed and it's been expired for a while, they'll ask if you got any tickets for expired registration and then they'll charge you a fine based on how many days your registration has been expired. But the times that my husband had been ticketed for the registration and I went to renew it and they asked if I had been ticketed, I said no. (Technically, the hubby was ticketed, I was not.) And they didn't verify it in any way, so I didn't have to pay a fine at the tax assessor's office.

[TexasRedneck]

Easy enough....renew your registration and have it when you go to court.

[TUMF]

My gosh dude...
Here's the question:

Was, at the time you were stopped, your registration valid or expired?

If it was valid, he wouldn't have given you a ticket.
Since it was, and still is expired - pay the dang fine and quit trying to 'but mom, he's not telling the truth!' your way out of the ticket.

MAN UP FOR CRYIN' OUT LOUD!

[Azure110]

Originally Posted by Tumf

My gosh dude...
Here's the question:

Was, at the time you were stopped, your registration valid or expired?

If it was valid, he wouldn't have given you a ticket.
Since it was, and still is expired - pay the dang fine and quit trying to 'but mom, he's not telling the truth!' your way out of the ticket.

MAN UP FOR CRYIN' OUT LOUD!

The issue the OP is talking about isn't the fact his registration was expired but if the police officer overstepped his boundaries or not.

I agree that OP should have kept his registration current though.

[txtea]

You should have just run away like everyone else does around here......

[Azure110]

Originally Posted by txtea

You should have just run away like everyone else does around here......

Everyone?