and its not good. I got a ticket for tailgating. So here’s how it all went down:
cliff notes at the end
5 friends and myself decided to make a 1AM run to White Castle from our school to Union. We had to take 2 cars, and it ended up me getting in front of my friends car on the road and he had the directions. He cuts me off to make an exit so that I know where to turn. Apparently, a cop saw that, and started to follow us. We get on the highway and my friend in the lead, both of us doing 65-70mph in the right lane. We come up to a group of 2 cars doing about 60mph so my friend pulls into the left lane to pass and I look over my shoulder to see if all is clear, and I see a car come flying up out of nowhere, and I wait and then pull into the left lane to pass the people. I had to speed up to pass them as I was doing the 60mph they were, and the car in front of me was flying anyhow. So I put it up to about 68-70 and the car in front of me slows down before it pass’s my friend, who is now in the right lane. I see that it is a Charger and immediatly I look at the license plate to see if it is a State vehicle. It is not, so I breathe a sigh of relief. The guy then slows down even more and this puts me right on his ass, and then I see four square bumps in the back window and then instantly the cops lights go on. Unmarked cop car. Completely unmarked. Aren’t state vehicles (including unmarked cop cars) supposed to have state license plates? So, I back off, and the cop pulls behind my friend and pulls him over. I keep driving, and have my passenger text my friends girlfriend to let her know that we are pulling over at the next exit. So I pull off the exit and pull into a parking lot and sit there lights off waiting. My passenger then gets a call from my friends girlfriend asking where we were so they could come find us and we could continue on to white castle. I found this odd that the cop had finished so quickly (like in 10-15minutes), but think nothing off it. Then, in about 5 minutes, 3 cops show up and then my friend does as well. Then the cop comes up to my window gets my papers and then hands me a ticket for tailgating. turns out, the cop told my friends girlfriend to call my car to find out where we were so they could come find me and give me a ticket. Isn’t that illegal? Otherwise they wouldn’t have known where I was. I’m not disputing the fact that I was tailgating (although the cop car DID have the impression on me and my friend that he was going to pass him, and NOT slow down to under the speed limit), I’m just disputing how they used my friend to find me. I’m running this by one of the guys at my weightlifting club as he is a local cop, and by one of the coachs who is a Judge in the area. Something doesn’t sound right to me here.
Also, afterwords, I found my radiator that I just had put in 2 months ago was leaking again and had to have my car towed back home at 3AM… cost over 300 bucks to replace…
cliff notes:
-friends and I make 1AM run to white castle
-friend cuts me off and gets cop to follow us
-cop waits 3-4 miles before coming close to us
-cop has unmarked charger w/ no state license plate
-cop made like he was going to pass my friends car, and then slowed down causing me to be right on his tail
-cop pulls my friend over and gives him a careless driving ticket
-cop has my friends girlfriend call my passenger to find out where my car was
-3 cops show up where my car was sitting and give me a ticket for tailgating
-my cars radiator breaks and has to be towed
I’m pretty darn sure you can get out of this ticket without much of a problem. All you have to say is that the cop executed a swoop and scoop. Basically since he pulled in front of you and hit his brakes he forced you to tailgate which is entrapment.
I had a similar incident where a cop revved his engine at my friend (an under cover cop) so my friend and I take off at the light, while he did the same. As soon as we were speeding the lights came on and we got a ticket for street racing.
We told the Judge what happened and the Judge let us off and yelled at the cop.
I�??m not a lawyer but I�??m sure the cops are allowed to have a friend lead them to you as that�??s how they make just about every drug bust.
the cop didn’t hit his brakes when he was in front of me, but instead just coasted down. Since he was already speeding, I expected him to just keep on going, not slow down at all.
I’m hoping my judge friend can lend some insight into this and such. I really can’t afford 5 points on my license.
I’m pretty sure all is legal in regards to the cop having your friend’s gf call you. It’d only be illegal if he held a gun to her head and threatened her some way if she didn’t make the call.
She did this at her own will. She could’ve said she didn’t have your number. Oh well, sucks for you.
[quote]analog_kid wrote:
They hit you with 5 points for fucking tailgating? What was the fine? I think the cop had a bit of a hard on that night.[/quote]
in NJ its 5 points for tailgating, same as street racing… personally I think thats a little steep.
fine is only 85 bucks, but if I can find a way to get out of the entire ticket or at least not get the points, I’ll gladly pay more and go to court on it.
[quote]phox wrote:
I’m pretty sure all is legal in regards to the cop having your friend’s gf call you. It’d only be illegal if he held a gun to her head and threatened her some way if she didn’t make the call.
She did this at her own will. She could’ve said she didn’t have your number. Oh well, sucks for you.[/quote]
Tell your friend to keep her mouth shut next time. License, registration, and proof of insurance are the only information they needed to give out.
First off, tell your friend she sucks. Seriously a horrible friend.
Secondly, the city you got the ticket in will not benefit if you get points on your license. That being said, plead not guilty and put yourself at the mercy of the court. State it like that, it sounds good. Ask that the court finds you not guilty on that ticket if you plead guilty to another offense, one that doesn’t result in points.
My friend has gotten pulled over probably 30 times, has over 20 MOVING violations but has never had a single point on his license. Just ask that they lower the charges to something that does not result in points on the license. They get your money for the fine, you don’t get points. Everyone wins!
PS. My friend (as well as I) live in Philly, so hopefully around you it’s the same thing.
[quote]LankyMofo wrote:
First off, tell your friend she sucks. Seriously a horrible friend.
Secondly, the city you got the ticket in will not benefit if you get points on your license. That being said, plead not guilty and put yourself at the mercy of the court. State it like that, it sounds good. Ask that the court finds you not guilty on that ticket if you plead guilty to another offense, one that doesn’t result in points.
My friend has gotten pulled over probably 30 times, has over 20 MOVING violations but has never had a single point on his license. Just ask that they lower the charges to something that does not result in points on the license. They get your money for the fine, you don’t get points. Everyone wins!
PS. My friend (as well as I) live in Philly, so hopefully around you it’s the same thing.[/quote]
Everyone wins except all the other commuters on the road, and possibly in danger, at the same time as this guy. If you’ve had 20 moving violations it is time to lose your license.
yeah I’ve already bitched her out on account of telling the cop where I was.
my friend got careless driving.
my friend sped up from behind me and cut me off, like maybe 15 feet in front of me. Thats what he got his ticket for.
I still have 19 days to figure out what I’m going to do. I would like to try and get it knocked down to careless driving or something else w/ less points/no points.
[quote]tedro wrote:
LankyMofo wrote:
First off, tell your friend she sucks. Seriously a horrible friend.
Secondly, the city you got the ticket in will not benefit if you get points on your license. That being said, plead not guilty and put yourself at the mercy of the court. State it like that, it sounds good. Ask that the court finds you not guilty on that ticket if you plead guilty to another offense, one that doesn’t result in points.
My friend has gotten pulled over probably 30 times, has over 20 MOVING violations but has never had a single point on his license. Just ask that they lower the charges to something that does not result in points on the license. They get your money for the fine, you don’t get points. Everyone wins!
PS. My friend (as well as I) live in Philly, so hopefully around you it’s the same thing.
Everyone wins except all the other commuters on the road, and possibly in danger, at the same time as this guy. If you’ve had 20 moving violations it is time to lose your license.[/quote]
[quote]LankyMofo wrote:
First off, tell your friend she sucks. Seriously a horrible friend.
Secondly, the city you got the ticket in will not benefit if you get points on your license. That being said, plead not guilty and put yourself at the mercy of the court. State it like that, it sounds good. Ask that the court finds you not guilty on that ticket if you plead guilty to another offense, one that doesn’t result in points.
My friend has gotten pulled over probably 30 times, has over 20 MOVING violations but has never had a single point on his license. Just ask that they lower the charges to something that does not result in points on the license. They get your money for the fine, you don’t get points. Everyone wins!
PS. My friend (as well as I) live in Philly, so hopefully around you it’s the same thing.[/quote]
This does work. It is one of the ways you get out of a ticket I learned in my Criminal Law class. Ask to plead to an offense that does not put points on your record. The fine will most likely be higher but no points. Also double check your ticket make sure the information is correct on it such as the location of where it was issued. Also get the police report to make sure the information is correct in there. I believe if any of it is wrong such as time/location/date you can get off.
Also whats the point of having an unmarked police car if it had police/state tabs on it. No they don’t have to be marked in any way.
The charge is probably “Following to closely”. All courts are different from circuit to circuit State to Sate. I have personally seen Cops win cases just showing up in court. If the officer has a good standing in the court, he always wins. The judge has really no reason to believe you over the officer. Pay the fine and request withhold of ajudication.
The first ticket I ever got was for going 64 in the 55. I thought, this is ridiculous, I’ll go to court and get it thrown out. As the judge saw it, the speed limit is 55 so I had to pay the fine and court fees.
If I were you I would plan on paying the fine, and like the others said do what you can to avoid the points.
Although I don’t know the specific laws in New Jersey, apparently the police CAN drive unmarked vehicles without government plates there. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be pulling you over, now would they? Most states have gotten away from the government plate thing.
Your “friend” is obviously easily intimidated. What were they gonna do…arrest her if she didn’t tell them where you were? That being said, there is absolutely NOTHING wrong with the officer asking her to do it. She could have declined / refused.
The officer witnessed you commit what he perceived to be a traffic violation. Here in Texas, I’ve got up to 2 years to write you the ticket if I witness a violation. If I have to do some investigation to find you or the car, then that’s fine. That’s called police work.
Don’t know who it was earlier talking about getting a copy of “the police report”. We don’t write reports for most tickets. All of the information is written on the ticket, and that’s all that’s required in most states for court. There is quite a bit of urban legend regarding what will make the ticket invalid. Time / location / date errors rarely invalidate a ticket. You can try it, but I’ve never seen it work.
Best advice…try to plead to something lower, or try to get deferred adjudication, if your state offers it. Just don’t go in there and try to throw blame on everyone but you. Judges hate that. Also, whether you want to admit it or not, you and your friend probably really WERE driving like morons. We have all done it at one point or another in our lives…not a slam on you.
I have to agree with somebody earlier though. I sure wouldn’t have gone to all that effort just to write you a ticket. It was either a slow night, or you have an agency in your area that is trying to hammer “road rage” type incidents. Given that three other officers showed up, I’m thinking that might be the case. Ask around and see if it was some kind of road rage detail. If it was, just plea it down. You won’t win it if you try to fight it. Just sayin.