speeding ticket SCAM! (Emporia: felon, taxes, live)

[jasonbushnell]

I got a ticket In Emporia in June. Payed a lawyer 80 and did not get any points. Cost more then paying the ticket but in long run will save on insurance.
Cop sitting at the bottom of a hill were it goes from 65 to 55. Never saw the sign quite the racket they have.

[akorna]

Originally Posted by jasonbushnell

I got a ticket In Emporia in June. Payed a lawyer 80 and did not get any points. Cost more then paying the ticket but in long run will save on insurance.
Cop sitting at the bottom of a hill were it goes from 65 to 55. Never saw the sign quite the racket they have.

Jasonbushnell,
We're you ticked for 65 in a 55? What lawyer did you use? Got ticketed last Friday in Emporia on route 58.

[Bigfoot424]

Originally Posted by jasonbushnell

I got a ticket In Emporia in June. Payed a lawyer 80 and did not get any points. Cost more then paying the ticket but in long run will save on insurance.
Cop sitting at the bottom of a hill were it goes from 65 to 55. Never saw the sign quite the racket they have.

I notice you didn't say what speed you were doing. Regardless. Are you sure this was reduced to something with no points? If it was still speeding but reduced to a less amount over the speed limit then there are still points. Points are automatic in VA if convicted of a moving violation. If reduced to defective equipment then yes, no points.

[StopMoveOverLaws]

Shadowbat, thank you for your response. The Internet could use more measured discussion like that.

[Fighter 1]

Originally Posted by Beenaroundabit

This is incorrect. A speeding ticket IS a complaint. One that gives you the option of settling out of court.

The alternative would be to have an officer stop you, just to jot down your name and address, then present his "case" to a prosecutor later on. That prosecutor would then then file charges against you in court, for which you would HAVE to appear. Not the easiest way to deal with what's arguably the most common petty offense in a country of 280 million people...

Tickets being dismissed "all over the country" because the ticket isn't a legal complaint and, thus, the driver's constitutional rights were somehow violated? No.

Tickets are surely dismissed regularly, and for a variety of reasons. Depends on the circumstances of each individual case. But 42 USC 1983 is used almost exclusively in civil rights violation cases or where an officer acts outside his or her authority - i.e. they do something OTHER THAN make a legal traffic stop and issue a valid citation.

But in a routine traffic stop where the officer acts properly and within the scope of the law, 42 USC 1983 probably isn't going to help the driver - unless his attorney is Johnny Cochrane...or Jackie Childs...

I know this is an old post , but just for the record! Both highlighted responses show you are misinformed. U.S. Title 42, 1983 can and is used when ever there has been a violation of yours or mine ( I have used it in an action against a So. California city during a local code enforcement action and won!) rights to due process. In the case of the traffic ticket without the proper knoweledge you would make the statement that was made , but in reality that so called ticket ( notice to appear) your promiss to be in court on that special daymay look like a complaint "BUT" by law if you know enough to demand it " a verified complaint " that your right to face your accuser and question him/her as to their injury. What is not known to many is that when you demand your constitutional rights in a court action only an injured person can comply with you request . No injury ? ( traffic tickets don't qualify officer was not injured by your actions) no legal action any court of law can proceed with / case dismissed. If it sounds to simple! thats because it is.

[jasonbushnell]

It was for 10 miles over speed limit. Got a defective equipment (guess speedometer). You will get tons of lawyer letters. I just picked the cheapest.

[CountryDriver]

Originally Posted by Fighter 1

... I have used it in an action against a So. California city during a local code enforcement action and won!...

Could you please provide more details about your case?
Thank you in advance.

[selhars]

1)

As for the individual who suggested that "pigs will be pigs" - thank you for painting us all with the same brush. As a cop tasked with putting my life on the line for ungrateful people every day, I really appreciate the thoughtlessness.

Maybe if more of you would stop covering up for the bad apples you KNOW are in your ranks, the citizens YOU SERVE wouldn't have that opinion of you and your colleagues who are supposed to behave as PROFESSIONAL public servants.

2)

Take the alternate route (I think it's I-295) out around Richmond next time.

FTI -- I-295 doesn't by pass Emporia. 295 around Richmond/Petersburg is way north of the Emporia area.

3)Boy, going back and reading this thread is scaring the crap out of me. I love driving overnight (no traffic, open road,etc), and a couple of times over the years have headed down to my sister's house in NC right after getting off from work at midnight in DC. I know Emporia's corrupt reputation, my family has a little property there. So driving overnight I'd get to Emporia at about 2-3a.m.. Now I'm scared as all get out, being a woman driving alone to do that in that area.

[Beenaroundabit]

Originally Posted by Fighter 1

I know this is an old post , but just for the record! Both highlighted responses show you are misinformed. U.S. Title 42, 1983 can and is used when ever there has been a violation of yours or mine ( I have used it in an action against a So. California city during a local code enforcement action and won!) rights to due process. In the case of the traffic ticket without the proper knoweledge you would make the statement that was made , but in reality that so called ticket ( notice to appear) your promiss to be in court on that special daymay look like a complaint "BUT" by law if you know enough to demand it " a verified complaint " that your right to face your accuser and question him/her as to their injury. What is not known to many is that when you demand your constitutional rights in a court action only an injured person can comply with you request . No injury ? ( traffic tickets don't qualify officer was not injured by your actions) no legal action any court of law can proceed with / case dismissed. If it sounds to simple! thats because it is.

I've been signing "complaints" via written citations (tickets) for 17 years and no one has ever gotten out of one using 42 USC 1983. That's because I never violated anyone's civil rights in issuing a ticket and no one was foolish enough to try to make that argument.

If a court in SoCal said yours were violated for that reason alone - just because ticket was not a valid complaint - I'd chalk that up to getting lucky, having a judge who apparently doesn't think like any other judge in America, and being in a place like SoCal, where an off-the-wall argument like that might actually fly.

What I wouldn't be doing is telling everyone seeking advice on the internet about speeding violations that they should argue that their civil rights were violated or how there's some kind of huge rights-violating conspiracy in the writing of speeding tickets. You may have experience with this argument being successfully made in one instance and in one specific place. But I can tell you from the experience of myself and every other LEO out there that your situation is most definitely the exception and not the rule.

[Beenaroundabit]

Maybe if more of you would stop covering up for the bad apples you KNOW are in your ranks, the citizens YOU SERVE wouldn't have that opinion of you and your colleagues who are supposed to behave as PROFESSIONAL public servants.

So we're all either "bad apples" or are "bad" because we cover up for them? Really? That's funny: in all of the agencies I've worked for (and with) during my entire career, I can count the number of "bad apples" I've come across on the fingers of one hand. They don't last very long, mainly because agencies don't tolerate them. I suggest you turn off the TV, because law enforcement, today, is not like Hollywood says it is.

Officers these days know the trouble they can get in for even seeming to be unprofessional, especially to a public that seizes upon every incident where an officer is behaving inappropriately, yet conveniently ignores the positive things that millions of LEO's do day in and day out, 24-7 and 365. So if you want to keep your job, you tend to have to go out of your way to do it right.

If officers helping people, "protecting and serving," or injured and killed in the line of duty got nearly as much press as the officer who was rude, who tased someone he shouldn't have, etc., we'd never have asinine comments from ignorant people like "pigs will be pigs." Nor would we have agreement with a statement like that from people who obviously don't know any better.

I suggest, before you agree with a comment which paints all LEO's as "pigs," taking a ride-along with your local police department and getting a first-hand look at what these officers are dealing with.