The Po Po
Here is a story of a win and loss between me and men in blue. Now, I am sure some of my members are police and before I get emails, I value all that the men in blue do for the community and the country. The questions I have are for basic traffic laws and their interpretation. I feel like the police have to meet some quota and they start giving tickets when there was no violation being made. Here are two stories that will make you cheer and then make you curse.
In college I drove a 1967 Ford Fairlane 500. I was driving home one day and noticed a police cruiser behind me. Checked my speed and everything looks good. It was real late at night and I didn’t want the police to think I was drinking so I was worried about my crappy drums and the way they pull to the left when I brake. I approached a traffic light and it turned yellow. I didn’t want to speed up, because then I would be speeding, so I maintained my speed. Sure enough, I entered as a yellow and then changed red. The lights come on and she pulls me over. The most interesting part is that there was another cruiser coming in the opposite direction about to make a left in front of me. As the light turned red, the other cruiser made nothing of it. He did make a u-turn after the cruiser that was following me and they both pulled me over.
I took the ticket to court and pleaded not responsible, after all the light was yellow. So, now it starts. I built my case, which was…if I ran the light, then why didn’t the other officer pull me over?
Before I showed up to court, I laid out my questions. They had to be in a specific order. First, who turned their lights on first? How far behind me were you? Was I speeding? And many others. As she answered the question ‘how far behind’, I had calculated all the different possible answers. What I mean is, if she answered 100 yards and I was going 35mph, then that would create a 14 second gap between us or whatever the time was. So, before I could continue, the judge had this puzzled look on his face and he was wondering the same thing. Why didn’t the other officer pull me over? He had the better angle, enough time to turn but no action? So needless to say, he decided in my favor and I won. Now, on to the other story.
The time was 5:45 am (I work east coast hours) and I was the only one on the road. Speed limit was 45 mph, and I have the best radar detector in the country. As I came over a bridge and approached the intersection I saw the motorcycle officer on my right. Nothing from the detector and looked down to see my speed was 53. Not to fast but no reason to be pulled over. Once again, Mr. 5.0 pulls me over and here it goes:
Officer: Do you know why I pulled you over?
Me: No idea.
Officer: You were doing 62.
Me: That can’t be. How do you know?
Officer: I clocked you.
Me: No you didn’t or my radar would have gone off.
Officer: Those things never work.
Me: This is the best radar in the country. May I see the gun?
Officer: No.
Me: No? (And as he walked back to his car with my license) I yelled, see you in court.
Officer: (He came back with the gun and it showed 58) What does that say?
Me: 58, you said I was doing 62?
Officer: You were slowing down.
So off to the courts we were. I want to tell everyone, if I was speeding, no problem, I will pay and move on. But in this case I was not speeding; at least I wasn’t doing the speed he claimed. While in court I presented my case. Again, the order of the questions was important. I took pictures and drew out the intersection. I asked; did you have your cycle running? No. Do you remember where you were? Yes. Did you have to put your radar gun away? Yes. And I was doing 62? Yes. So if I was doing 62 and you pulled me over 1 short block away, it would take me 1 second to get to that street where you pulled me over. That means you clocked me, put the radar gun away, start your bike, pull out and pull me over IN ONE SECOND? He had nothing. Then I questioned how he could have clocked me through these trees (showed picture) and up the hill? He flat out lied and said there was a hole in the trees and bushes. After all is done, the judge looked at me with this apologetic look on his face and said, “He said you were doing 62.” And he favored for him.
So, why am I writing about this? I want all to know, to not be afraid to question authority. I understand that it can be intimidating, but if you were innocent then have a go at it. Make sure that the police uphold the law, and are not above it. Again, I want to reiterate that I highly respect the police and thank them every time I see them for what a great job they do to protect and serve. It’s those rotten apples that ruin the bunch. Thanks for reading and let me know what you think?
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We at Classic Car Community believe that the most important part of a community is its members. We ask that you join us in our quest to provide a state-of-the-art community for classic car enthusiasts
Sincerely,
Joseph Montenegrino
President
Classic Car Community
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