Kolek planning to go pro
I know this wasn't the advice you are looking for, but pro-tip on the insurance...Just take a screen shot of your card and store it in your photos. It won't matter if you have service or not.
Take a video of the two block stretch. Necessity defense. I am not sure what your sentence about the private drivers school meant, but can you get some type of statement from them about what exactly they teach drivers to do?
Hi guys,Today as I was driving home with a very heavy load in my truck I was sitting at an intersection waiting for the green light. I noticed in my tow mirrors that a cop was on his radio and looking at my truck.I figured he would be pulling me over to inspect the safety of my load. No problem as I easily secured everything down with 3000lb straps.He turned on his lights after we crossed the intersection, I signaled into the right lane and he followed. Definitely being pulled over for load inspection now I thought. We were in a 2 lane road on the main road in the town, no shoulder on the road. I have a 9 foot plow in front and a 1000lb load in the back, obviously not being able to stop anywhere on this road. I threw on my hazards, dropped to 15mph, signaled to the cop that I knew I was being pulled over and continued about 2 blocks to the nearest side road with a shoulder.The police officer came to my window in a steam. Asked why I didn't stop right away. I responded with "Because of it being the busiest part of town and there being no shoulder". He then said that "he was the one who determined where safety resided" and asked why he was pulling me over. While I understand to never answer that question I told him that it was probably for a load inspection and that the cargo was going absolutely no where.He ended up pulling me over for an improper display of license plate. (My real license plates were stolen two weeks prior and I received temporary paper plates instead) There was a storm a couple of days ago and apparently the temporary plate got ripped up pretty bad. The officer said he was unable to read it, when I looked it was ripped and curled from the rain, however it was still perfectly readable.In the end the officer gave me three citations:Improper display of License $80 fine 0 points on license(this one should be easily explainable and thrown away)No insurance $120 fine 0 points (Insurance policy was on phone and I had no service at the time, when I go to court the officer assured me this would be legally thrown out when I can show proof of insurance dating back to today)Failure to stop for an emergency vehicle. $250 fine, 4 pointsNow I'm not overly concerned about 1 & 2. But #3 is something that does concern me. In my private drivers license they really hit on pulling over in a SAFE location. The location the officer wanted me to pull over was clearly very unsafe. I have taken pictures of my license plate, the intersection, where the officer wanted me to pull over and where I eventually pulled over. Does anyone have any advice on how to proceed?
Yeah go to court, that cop is a bastard. Judge will toss all of those.
"We'll waive the points, but just cant do anything about those fines."
You already know the answer. Get a lawyer preferably one that does a lot of volume with the city/village and knows how the attorneys and judge work. This is a lawyer's bread and butter. They take a stack of different minor client cases and negotiate them rapidly. This screams like a small municipality that only cares about the money, so the attorneys/judge will decide you pay X amount for the municipal violation of pamphlet bombing. This takes your attorney literally about 5 minutes, costs you a couple hundred for the attorney, the final fine, and turns it from a driving offense to a municipal violation that typically does not even show up in CCAP.Be careful with anyone that tells you to fight it out in court because it is going to cost you a couple hundred dollars in court fees plus the officer's hourly rate win or lose. Small municipalities often hire local attorneys as prosecutors that are paid on a percentage they bring in. If you are going to make them prosecute it, then you will pay. In Wisconsin, municipal judges do not even need a law degree and this is a civil matter, so you have to prove you are 100% innocent. You have your version and the cop has his.Also, the cop was probably upset because you ruined his quota for the day by not pulling over where he wanted. His partner was probably setting up to pull over anyone that did not slow or yield to an emergency vehicle, which would would have been way more lucrative than your tickets.
I don't know about having to pay fees in traffic court. When I was young I drove too fast too often and got many speeding tickets. I always showed up for the court date and received probation or dismissal every time and never paid any fees above the fine and never had to pay for the officer's time, more often than not the officer didn't appear in court.
I would definitely agree that a local lawyer is much better than one who doesn’t practice there.
Vincent Gambino would disagree...
Brother Buzzed is right on. A few years back, I was stopped for speeding in Racine County on Interstate 94. I was going to go to court and throw myself on the mercy of the court when lawyers started mailbombing me with offers to handle my case.After telling my wife why (she was amused), I called one. They went to court on my behalf and did exactly what Brother Buzzed described. My charge was reduced to illegal parking on Interstate 94. No points. No moving violation. Just a parking ticket.