Need help with a speeding ticket!

Jeff:

Sorry you were not able to do better on the ticket. I recently came out on the good side of a trial by declaration. Last year I was on an FCA Drive up to Vadenberg AFB as part of a group drive of about 40 cars. I happened to be in the front of the group and going with the flow of traffic. The CHP officer passed behind two other cars going faster than me (An SUV and a Prius) to specifically pull only me over. At the side of the road, he wrote me a ticket for going 79 in a 65 zone. My passenger asked him why he pulled me over when clearly there were several other cars right next to us that were going noticeably faster. His comment to her "We knew you were coming and we were waiting for you". I'm sure he had a big day back at the station by giving a Ferrari a ticket.

I used this as the basis for my case. Clearly by his statement, he was discriminatory in his application of the law by singling me out for the car that I was driving and not for what was happening on the road. In my statement to the court, I never stated what speed I was going, only that I was with the flow of traffic (which is not a defense) with some cars passing me. I asserted that the CHP officer was discriminatory in his application of the law. I had a statement from my witness as to what the officer said regarding "waiting for us" and to the fact that other non-Ferraris were speeding by us and I let the court know that I have a front facing camera in my car with a voice recorder.

Surprisingly, even with statements from the officer and his partner, who was no where in the vicinity of the scene, the court ruled in my favor and dismissed the ticket and returned the fee to me.

 

The same applies if you chose to go to court. According to some LEOs I know, they say it is better for them to go to court because they get paid overtime whereas writing a declaration often times they do not get overtime. You have to roll the dice they do not show. Did you annotate that the officer was following you which is essentially targeting you?

 

No, in my case I contested the failure to yield only. I took pictures of the intersection, noted the position of the pedestrians, when I crossed, the cop's position, the lights, other cars, etc. I saw him turn his head after I passed him because of the engine noise (and driving an Aston in Panorama City) and I knew what was coming. I called him out on it when he wrote me the ticket, you can guess how that went over.

 

And they still sided with the LEO? That is just sad and it is exactly how the law enforcement system takes advantage of its citizens. It is just another way to tax its citizens. Stories like this really irritate me cause so many people have been falsely accused of a crime they have not committed. I bet that discussion went over really well lol. I bet his badge complex kicked in full force lol!

 

well, I started out by saying "you know this is a b__l s___t ticket, right?"