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Got a ticket, but cop wrote wrong section number....do i have to pay?? Okay, I got stopped tonight for having yellow headlights. First of all, I was going to the store, and I pulled in the parking lot, and he followed. Once I parked he turned on his lights and told me he was giving me a ticket for my lights. But the catch is, I dont think that they can give you a ticket in a public parking lot. Plus he was a campus police!! Thing is that he wrote title 32 section 301. This law states that a vehicle has to have its headlights on between sunrise and sun set. I had them on, thats why he pulled me over. The thing is, title 32 section 303 states that the headlamps have to be white. He wrote the wrong number, and wrote my age wrong. I am deffinately appealing, but should I have to pay. These are the links to the laws. This is the one he wrote me for http://www.legis.state.la.us/lss/lss.asp?doc=88240 this is the correct one I should have been written up for http://www.legis.state.la.us/lss/lss.asp?doc=88242 |
never under estimate what campus police or college police can do. as for your situation, i would notify the court immediately and let them know that you were originally cited for yellow headlights and not having your lights on between sunrise and sunset. i would rather have the yellow light ticket because its correctable and you only pay court fees by simplying removing them and having an officer sign it. |
yah my uncle is a cop so i am gonna call him today and find out if they can make me pay for a law that i didnt break, i have a meeting with the cheif of police for the campus on monday |
ANY Police, even Campus Police can pull you over for something they see wrong. In California it doesn't matter. Police are Police. I personally think you should just bite the bullet and take a fix-it ticket rather than trying to fight your way out of it. You were caught doing wrong, stop trying to get out with a technicality, at least admit you were in the wrong and pay $10 for it. |
yah i know that i was wrong, that wasnt the first time i got told something for it. if it would only be 10 dollars i wouldnt have a problem, but the cop said 50+ |
I agree with jttegx - inform the court, or the chief, or both, that you were stopped for having "european" headlights (eg: yellow) and the officer wrote the wrong code etc. The wrong code (not having lights on) would be a ticket whereas the actual offense of yellow lights I think you could probably get them to go with a 'defective equipment' corrective action notice instead, meaning you throw some white bulbs in and have the police inspect and sign-off on it. I don't know about where you are but where I am I don't believe those even go on your record, whereas a ticket definitely would. |
i got stopped at like 1 am or so, and as soon as i came home i put my white ones back in and went ride to find the cop but couldnt find him. i have a meeting with the cheif of police tom. morning. i dont think that the campus police ticket will go on my record cuz i asked my unlce and he said no that it wouldnt so i guess we'll see tom |
^you could call your local department and request an officer to come to your home for the specific matter. of course, if the department isnt on a tight schedule. try calling at the right time (obviously NOT 9am, 12noon, or 5pm) |
Originally Posted by dp_yz713 Okay, I got stopped tonight for having yellow headlights. First of all, I was going to the store, and I pulled in the parking lot, and he followed. Once I parked he turned on his lights and told me he was giving me a ticket for my lights. But the catch is, I dont think that they can give you a ticket in a public parking lot. Plus he was a campus police!! Thing is that he wrote title 32 section 301. This law states that a vehicle has to have its headlights on between sunrise and sun set. I had them on, thats why he pulled me over. The thing is, title 32 section 303 states that the headlamps have to be white. He wrote the wrong number, and wrote my age wrong. I am deffinately appealing, but should I have to pay. These are the links to the laws. This is the one he wrote me for http://www.legis.state.la.us/lss/lss.asp?doc=88240 this is the correct one I should have been written up for http://www.legis.state.la.us/lss/lss.asp?doc=88242 You will win in court, cops have to be exact and errors serious question their credability. I used to be in an ambulance and we had to write everything correctly and I do mean everything because if it's wrong then it's a felony. |
Originally Posted by dp_yz713 Okay, I got stopped tonight for having yellow headlights. First of all, I was going to the store, and I pulled in the parking lot, and he followed. Once I parked he turned on his lights and told me he was giving me a ticket for my lights. But the catch is, I dont think that they can give you a ticket in a public parking lot. Plus he was a campus police!! Thing is that he wrote title 32 section 301. This law states that a vehicle has to have its headlights on between sunrise and sun set. I had them on, thats why he pulled me over. The thing is, title 32 section 303 states that the headlamps have to be white. He wrote the wrong number, and wrote my age wrong. I am deffinately appealing, but should I have to pay. These are the links to the laws. This is the one he wrote me for http://www.legis.state.la.us/lss/lss.asp?doc=88240 this is the correct one I should have been written up for http://www.legis.state.la.us/lss/lss.asp?doc=88242 You will win in court, cops have to be exact and errors seriously question their credability as a public official. I used to be in an ambulance and we had to write everything correctly and I do mean everything because if it's wrong then it's a felony and they will be fined so the judge would rather excuse your ticket and slap the cop on the wrist. |
Originally Posted by starstryke You will win in court, cops have to be exact and errors seriously question their credability as a public official. I used to be in an ambulance and we had to write everything correctly and I do mean everything because if it's wrong then it's a felony and they will be fined so the judge would rather excuse your ticket and slap the cop on the wrist. |
Yeah if you did go to court it would just get thrown out, but you might as well remove them, gonna take the same amount of time and prevent further tickets. |
You would go to court state that the officer pulled you over for your yellow head lights being on and the judge would see that the offense was driving with out them on. He would see that it was the cops error and you are not guilty. If you left the lights in the cop could then go out of the court house and right you a ticket. I think you are doing the right thing, take the lights out and meet with the chief of police. |
lol! i told you to double check before you bought those bulbs! i sold them to you because i got a ticket for them as well! ahahah. |
Originally Posted by speedracersong lol! i told you to double check before you bought those bulbs! i sold them to you because i got a ticket for them as well! ahahah. |
okay heres what i was told. the only person i can talk to about it is the assistant district attorney and not until the court date can i do so. i called to see how much the ticket would be and for the law that i broke (color of lights) it is $164.50, and the one that i was cited for (not having them on) is $144.50. I am not sure what to do cuz i talked to the cheif of police and he said its out of his hands now, and that the section number he wrote doesnt matter, cuz on the side he wrote "headlamps to be white" he told me that what he wrote matters, and not the section number. am i jsut getting the run-a-round here because they hope that i just give in and pay, or is this true what they are telling me?? |
its a fix it ticket. well the color of your lights. go to the judge and say. how could he have given me a ticket when he knew my lights were yellow? it should cost only 10 bucks for court fees. |
I did not know he wrote that, the chief is prob right. I would just pay the ticket, you broke the law, just suckit up. |
yah i am in the process of getting it fixed. some relatives know a few ppl and they will do what they can. i have no problem paying a few bucks, just as long as it doesnt make my insurence go up. i talked to someone at the station and they said it could go on cuz its a moving violation, but i am trying to get it put to non-moving and pay only like half of it. its only 10 bucks for court fees?? i mean if they cant fix it, then i will at least try my luck in court and if it dont work then pay it cuz i think they are just giving me the runaround cuz i never got a definate answer from anyone in the law yet |
If you leave it up to luck in court, you are probably going to get screwed! If they are telling you that you must go to court over it, AND there is a potential expensive and "on the record" ticket involved, stop talking to any of them about it and GET A LAWYER - IMMEDIATELY! That's my two cents! Lawyer could probably get the whole thing thrown out based on what you've described. If you go in and try to defend yourself though they are not likely to ever throw it out, they would just probably give you a reduction in fine but it would still go on your record. Calling a lawyer in for something like this might seem like overkill, and it would be if you could have worked it out with the cop or the chief, but they are not interested in cutting you a break or hearing about their errors (which DO matter, no matter what they told you). Now you have to go to court, so look at it this way, a DAMN GOOD traffic lawyer will probably charge you around $150 flat fee to represent you in the case, that is less than the face value of the ticket, and getting it thrown out or otherwise deferred will keep it off your driving record & insurance rates. It's money well spent. More about why I swear by a good lawyer (when the chips are down) and how to locate one, here: http://www.7thgencivic.com/forums/sh...5325&page=2#22 |
how are you guys tickets, on the bottom of louisiana's they always put a court date for you to go if you want to appeal, just so everyone knows i didnt schedule one just for this lol. anyways i dont really feel like getting a lawyer too much so i will either wait to hear from my connections to see if they can get it fixed and then i will try to make the court appearence. thanks for all the opinions and help so far guys |
I didn't read any of the posts in this thread but I thought you might find this relevant. I went down to the Parking Authority to take care of a few tickets yesterday and had the following conversation with the guy.... me - I'd like to take care of this ticket him - Ah, this ticket's been cancelled. me - Huh? What do you mean? I don't have to pay it? him - No, the officer made a mistake, looks like he forgot to write in the province on the ticket. So I got away scott free, didn't have to pay for it. The full address was on there, he just forgot to put in AB for the province and it voided it. He asked if I wanted to keep it, I said yes, I'm going to hang it up on the wall. And I walked away. |
Campus Police did all this to u? Thats sucks man, i remember when campus police tried to give me a ticket for not having my front license plate on. I told the guy that if he gives me a ticket i won't pay it and i'll just rip it up cause they are a joke and don't even carry guns. Guy kinda looked at me and was kinda confused. I just laughed at him, through it in reverse and pulled out and left. Not one word said, Campus police are a joke. Should have just got in your car and left. |
hahahaha thats awsome. yah i was a smartazz to him once he pulled out his book and started writing. i asked him if he actually had the authorty to follow me, not pull me over, into a Wallgreens parking lot and then wtire me up. i mean, i parked, got out, then he put his lights on. plus totally screwed up the ticket, and my age, and well he was very large lol |
Originally Posted by dp_yz713 anyways i dont really feel like getting a lawyer too much I mean, it's your call, of course, and sure it's possible you could go to court and argue it yourself and get it tossed, but not half as likely as if your attorney argues the same points. Courts are biased that way, or at least, most of them are. You had mentioned you just did not want this to go on your record or effect your insurance rates. Well if it does, it's almost certain to end up costing more in the long run in raised rates than an attorney would cost up front, not to mention having one more strike on the record in the event you get more tickets in the future. Why risk all that? Just like the cop & the chief had no motivation to deal with you, the DA or Prosecutor has no real motivation to cut you slack either, especially when they have you standing there minutes before your court appearance trying to talk to them about it. Without a lawyer, all you can do is just hope like hell the judge is in a seriously good mood that day, you're basically putting yourself at their whim. Best of luck either way, and let us know what happens... |
By the way, about campus police, whether or not you can just blow them off that way depends on what kind of accreditation they have as a law enforcement agency. Some campus police have no real law enforcement accreditation and are really no more powerful than your average mall security guard, all they can do is write you a college campus ticket, which you can pretty much blow off unless you intend to go to (or are going to) that school, in which case they can hold up your course credits if you don't comply. OTHER campus cops have accreditations with REAL law enforcement agencies and do have the authority to deal with you as an actual cop can. If you try to blow one of them off, you will be in for the same sort of surprise as if you tried to blow off an actual cop. Considering this cop is issuing actual tickets that lead to an actual courtroom, I am guessing they are the accredited sort you would not want to laugh off... |
are you a lawyer, or maybe a relative or something?? lol well heres the thing. i only go to school where i got the ticket, and know absolutely know one or any lawyers out there. i dont want to just hire any ol lawyer that will go and screw this up. i just dont want it to messs with my insurence. cuz my dad pays that and said i have to get a job and pay the difference if it does go up. and i over heard the cop when he was writing the ticket talking to someone on his radio asking for the permission/authority to give me a ticket. i am pretty confident that it will get handle outside the courtroom without it going on my record. i am gonna call my uncle who is a cop right now and ask his what happens when the cop screws up the ticket |
No I am not a lawyer at all, not even close, and not related to any, I just advocate using them when the risk of losing a court case becomes such that it is smarter/cheaper to bank on a lawyer than to take a shot at defending myself (it just works out that it's almost always smarter/cheaper to get a lawyer than the long term costs of having a judge's whim go against you, having your record marked, your insurance increased, etc). If you read the 'Traffic Stop 101' thread I linked to upstream there's more background there as to my past experiences getting tickets, fighting my own cases, winning some, losing some, and eventually having it all catch up with me before I finally tried (years later) having a lawyer represent me instead. I have just developed a 'no nonsense' approach anymore where I will try to handle something on my own only up to a point where if it becomes obvious I am not going to get it worked out without having to go to court (and that is your situation too here, it seems), in comes the lawer. Ever since then I have never lost a single case. The results speak for themselves as far as my personal opinion goes. I never liked lawyers, until I saw what they can do when they are working FOR ME! ;) If you think you can get it fixed out of court, through your friends/relatives/connections, *BEFORE* your court date, then by all means go for it, but be looking for your lawyer at the same time - just in case - because they already told you you can not do anything except talk to the DA on your court date! If that turns out to be true, hire that lawyer IMMEDIATELY so he has time to prep for your case! When you go in on court day to "talk to the DA" what that usually means is you get about 30 seconds with him while he is ignoring you, shuffling through his stack of file folders, AT the plaintiff desk INSIDE the courtroom, moments before the judge walks in, and is usually surrounded with several other people who are just like you, trying to get a deal cut before you have to face the judge. Unless you get an incredibly cool prosecutor, and there are not many - they are just not going to care that much or really be that interested in you, they are thinking about their caseload, what they're doing after work, the hot court reporter in the short dress, not you. If that happens most of the time the "DA chat" will be worthless and you'll turn around and "ALL RISE!" there's the judge and then it is too late to do anything about it and your only hope left is the judge is nice to you. Nice judges exist, but do you really want to rely on the judge's good mood as opposed to the actual letter of the law? If a lawyer is standing there with you on court day when you get your 30 seconds with the DA, that forces the entire procedure to go by the law as opposed to just doing whatever they feel like doing to you, and more often than any cop or prosecutor or judge would ever tell you, the law can work against them as much as it can work against you The bottom line is, when you defend yourself, it is entirely up to THEM how they will interpret the law. When you have an attorney, it is not that easy for them to just do whatever they wish with you. Think of your lawyer as YOUR "law enforcement", because that is exactly what a good one is. |
PS if you're not sure how to find a good traffic lawyer, here's the best trick - start calling all the taxi cab companies and limousine rental places in your area - ASK WHO THEY USE to defend all their drivers! Limo drivers and cabbies get pulled over so often it's insane, and they are driving every day. No good cab or limo shop is without a good traffic lawyer who probably works flat rate. Call a few different places and when you start hearing the same lawyers' name over and over, THAT'S YOUR GUY! |
okay man thanks, i will consider trying to find one as soon as i hear from my uncle who is lafayette right now. he is coming back tommorow night i think. i will see how much they are gonna charge me + court fees, and see if its more than the ticket then go from there |
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