Harassed by the cops

[Mr. Rager!]

I had to work Thanksgiving at 7am.

So, as usual, I take my normal route, I'm about 4 blocks from work and a cop pulls me over. I pull over and he explains to me that I was speeding. With my dad being a truck driver, he always told me cops are on the extra lookout for speeders on holidays. So, I was actually about 2 miles under the speed limit. I asked to see his radar and he said he already cleared it.

He then asks me where I'm heading, I tell him work and he asked me where I worked. I told him and he wanted proof of where I worked. So, I showed him my badge.

He said my window tint was too dark. It's not too dark. It's factor tint, it let's more than 50% of the light shine through. The dealership had it tested and 52% of light could shine through. Minnesota requires at least 50% to shine through. He said since I had a history of illegal tint, I should just give up on it. I told him that was an entirely different car. He wasn't going to have any of it. He never metered my windows to see what they test out at.

He also told me I had a light out, but he couldn't tell me what light was out. At this point, he had me for 15 minutes. So he wanted to go more into my window tint and at this point I was just furious. I told him flat out, "listen, I'm going to be late for work, you've had me for 15 minutes." He goes, "do you just want a ticket?" And I go, "fine, write me the ticket if it'll make you feel better."

He came back with a $270 ticket and a court date on December 30th.

On the ticket he wrote "window tint 50%." Now my time with illegal tint, whenever they tested my tint they wrote what the meter showed. Once it was 32% and another time it was 8%. 50% window tint is legal. So, I don't know what he was trying to prove. And I still can't find the fucking bulb that's out.

Thankfully Dallas won and saved my Thanksgiving a little bit.

[Fufu487]

ouch!! definately sounds like he had it out for you from the get-go ahole

[Greenday]

Should be a pretty easy court case.

[hinakiba777]

I agree with Greenday. You should be able to argue this pretty clearly in court. Your window tint is obviously below the maximum, so you are legal.

But yeah, I was on your side but understanding for the cop until the light part. I mean, how can you FIX your broken light if he won't tell you which one it is.

Then again I'm afraid of cops ever since the first (and only mind you so far) cop to pull me over told me I didn't exist. I forgot my license in my other bag and he copied my birthday wrong. He came back to the car and said, "There is no one licensed that was born my birthday" he pauses "1989"

I was born in 1988. He went back and checked, and came back saying "Well you do exist."

[Dave1982]

That sucks......

I think the cop was trying to trick you into "admitting" to something so he'd have an excuse to give you a ticket. The first (and only) time I was pulled over, the cop tried that on me. He said I was going 40+ in a 30MPH zone, but I said my speedo told me I was going 30 (and it did). Only then did he get around to telling me why he REALLY pulled me over; I'd crossed over the double yellow lines to avoid a very deeply sunk storm drain. He let me off with a verbal warning.

At least you seem to have done nothing wrong.....I can tell you that it sucks even harder when the cops catch you for something and you know you're totally busted (not talking about the above incident), and they know you know.....

[Jester]

As I understand this, he accused you of three things: speeding, a light out, and over tinting. But, correct me if I'm wrong, he only ticketed you for the over tinting. Which means you don't have to worry about the nonexistent speeding or the imaginary light out. Which means all you need to do is document the hell out of your vehicle with pictures and perhaps the original bill of sale from the dealership, if it lists the tinting, etc. And march into court with the documentation.

My guess is that the judge, unless he is a crack whore, will side with you. Hell, with the BS nature of this whole thing, I would not be surprised if Officer Friendly didn't even show up for the court date.

Do not let this stand and pay the ticket. Go to court. Fight the power!

[Broomjockey]

Do not let this stand and pay the ticket. Go to court. Fight the power!

This x1000

That was some bs behaviour from the cop.

[ditchdj]

Sounds like a loudmouth rookie cop.

The best thing to do when being detained is to keep your mouth shut. If you get questioned tell them you want an attorney first. If they write you a book of tickets let them. Just take it court and let them make a complete ass out of themselves in front of the judge.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

The best thing to do when being detained is to keep your mouth shut. If you get questioned tell them you want an attorney first. If they write you a book of tickets let them. Just take it court and let them make a complete ass out of themselves in front of the judge.

This. Quoted for truth. Just say "yes, sir", "no sir," and if it comes to it, "may I go now, sir?"

Anything else you are just asking for trouble.

Read this.

And watch this.

[calulu]

Yeah, what everyone else said plus document the hell out of the fact that your windows are legal. You might consider going to the dealership and having someone there write out a statement that the tinting was factory installed under the legal limit. Document, document, document!

I got a ticket once for running a red light. The light had turned yellow just as I was going under. I fought the ticket because where the cop was sitting there was no way on earth that he could have physically seen what the light was. I went out and measured the intersection, took photos from my position and his of the lights. Took all of this to court and the judge threw out the charges after chewing out the cop for an assumption. He asked the officer why he'd written the ticket and the officer said because he assumed I'd run the red light based upon the timing of the lights on his side.

[jedimaster91]

He asked the officer why he'd written the ticket and the officer said because he assumed I'd run the red light based upon the timing of the lights on his side.

Around here there is a delay of a second or two when one light turns red before the other turns green. Sometimes it's several seconds.

My only cop story was right before Li'l Sis went off to college, I took her out to lunch. We got to ranting about our jobs and how life sucks and next thing I know I see the flashy lights in my rearview. Turns out I was going 74 in a 55, but the state trooper let me off with a warning. He was cute, too.

[csquared]

You have time before your court date. You might be able to resolve this out of court. Send a copy of the ticket and the test results to the DA, Traffic Division. They may decide to drop the charges.

You should also write a letter to the Chief/Sheriff and Internal Affairs documenting the event. The police have the right to stop you to check license, registration & insurance. However, the false accusations are another story. Something funny going on there, and you deserve an explanation.

Also, ask for a copy of the dash cam. I'm betting they did not have one, but it can't hurt to ask.

[blas]

Maybe he was just pissed that Dunkin Donuts was closed on Thanksgiving.

Joking aside, wow....someone really felt the need to go on a power trip, and unfortunately Lad, you were the one who got a good taste of it. I wonder if anyone else got bullshit fines yesterday in your area?

[NightWatch]

A lot of cops are the kids who got bullied in highschool, and they figured out how to be in control by being a cop. So they're douchebags. I work with them, so that's not my opinion, that's a fact.

[blas]

Haha, ask the guy that my cousin picked on in school.....

He's the sheriff now and still hates my family. He made it a point when he was a cop to go after as many of us as possible and nail us with anything he could find.