damn cops

[1KAOTIK240]

I went and washed my car about a week ago! I was being my usual self and when i pulled out i light up the tires because i wanted to dry them off so my friends went nuts because they both have fwd cars and the noise on my burnout was cool. we were all about to leave and my friend in his 99 eclipse spyder didnt know where i was going so i left like i normaly do and my friend followed behind. there was a cop going up to the carwash and we were leaving inline and not doing anything stupid. going the speed limit non the less. so he got a call about me and my friends reving our engines and didnt make it there in time so he pulled a u turn and pulled me and my friends over in line when he was about 400 feet behind me and said we were drag racing! i had to turn my car off to get the insurance out of the glove box! he came back told me to turn my car on and rev my engine! i got a loud exhaust ticket on a pacesetter system i am so pist

[dickie]

something is missing here he cannot write you a ticket for racing if you were in a single line and driving the speed limit... even if he got a call, he could only write you a ticket for what he witnessed, or if the people who called made a statement and acted as witnesses.

its your word against his and i think you know what will come of this... hope you learn a lesson.

and shouldnt this be in another board?

[1991S13]

Yes, should be in Gen Chat.

The only ticket he got was for loud exhaust, and the cop had reason to give him that.

[dickie]

well good for him he didnt get the racing, thats a hefty fine and a bad mark on the record.

[1KAOTIK240]

well the court date isnt till the 3rd of october! im going to plead not guilty for the drag racing should i plead not guilty to the exhaust too?

[SOHCSE]

Did he take any pictures of your exahust at all?

If not, throw on something quiet before your court date and plead innoocent to them all.

[Kaikias]

I would contest it because the burden of proof is on them not you. Did the cop have a db meter? If not then all he can say is that it sounded loud. I got a ticked for “noise pollution” for my radio and I fought it. Usually if talk to the District Attorney and tell them that you are going to contest it they will drop it. I don’t know how the courts work where you live, here (Austin, TX), they give you 3 choices you can talk to the DA, Take it to court by judge, or court by Jury. Either way unless it is a small town, they have bigger fish to fry and will drop it.

[dickie]

youre contesting the racing charge... dumb.

you should have plead guilty and tried to reason them to a reduced fine and defensive driving etc... i know thats not available everywhere on racing ticks but its worth a shot. youre going to get shot down in court. its a cop's word against yours, there were insurance claims to prove at least wreckless driving was involved, he will look at the types of the cars involved and your age etc... they will throw the book at you now for sure.

[1991S13]

One of my friends took a drag racing ticket to court and got a huge fine, 6 points, and his license suspended for 6 months.

Like someone else said about the modified exhaust ticket, just put the stock parts back on and plead not guilty.

[Kaikias]

So you got a ticket for drag racing too. Didn't see that part. You could keep delaying the trial by asking for and extention then hope the cop dosen't show. Has got a couple people I know out of trafic tickets.

[1KAOTIK240]

thanks for all the input i know its the cops against me but when i looked over the law and he shouldnt even have gave me a ticket for drag racing. in the law it states 2 cars side by side attempting to beat the other! in time or speed! we werent even speeding and i cant afford a fine or points like that!

[1KAOTIK240]

i dont have the old exhaust the place where i got my first exhaust threw it out! Il take the fine its only like 100bucks and if i plead guilty to one and the other not mabey the judge will see that i am honest!

[dickie]

how do you plan to prove it? you have absolutely no evidence... thats why its your word vs. the cop.

dont count on the cop not showing up. usually they love the part of their job where they get to nail some boy-racer to the wall for this kind of thing. the cop and the judge are on the same side of the law, and technicalities like the one you found will not matter. if i were in your shoes id see about changing my plea.

[Riley2.4L]

how do you plan to prove it? you have absolutely no evidence... thats why its your word vs. the cop.

dont count on the cop not showing up. usually they love the part of their job where they get to nail some boy-racer to the wall for this kind of thing. the cop and the judge are on the same side of the law, and technicalities like the one you found will not matter. if i were in your shoes id see about changing my plea.

Well if the cars pulled out lined up single file on a two lane street it's obvious that they were'nt drag racing. The burden of proof is actually on the cop to prove that the cars were racing. He should pay the exhaust fine and fight the drag racing ticket.

P.S. Cops normally don't show to courts dates such as this. I've had plenty of friends get out of speeding and racing tickets this way

[dickie]

speeding ticket does not equal racing ticket.

the burden may be on the police but the system is biased against our friend here. ive been in front of judges before, ive watched friends go to court for this specific charge. the judges always get pissed off at the defendant for contesting this type of thing, im sure he will get some lecture about endangering the public etc... dude is not going to win if he takes it to court. preparing for the worst is truly the only way to deal with it.

[matt4pl]

you said your friends were there, can't you use them as witnesses?

[dickie]

yeah but its not like he is going in front of a jury here. do you honestly think the judge is going to take his friends (who were involved in the incident) seriously? doubt it.

[N053B133D]

Make sure you read the entire law about racing. Here in oregon, racing is defined by "a competition between two or more cars" which can even mean that two cars reving at eachother would be counted as racing. If your law isn't like that, just go fight it, if you weren't actually racing, go tell them the truth, and bring your friends and have them do the same.

[yellow_jacket]

Cops have video in their cars so changing the exhaust out will be a bad idea. Not to mention if you plead not guilty to both and then they find out that you lied on the exhaust your credibility will be shot and then you will be convicted on both accounts and probably get the stiffest punishment they can give you.

As far as the other ticket for racing goes, get the actual infraction code (the numbers/letters for the law violated and look up that section in the states laws. If it appears that you have a chance or that it might not apply, then consult with a lawyer. You have almost no chance of fighting this on your own. Unfortunately the courts will take you much more seriously if you have a lawyer. Like others have said, it will be your word against an officers. the courts almost always side with the officers. Especially since all he will probably have to articulate is that he heard two cars going down the street with engines that sounded like they were reved up and thus were racing. If your witnesses were ticketed as well their word will not hold much weight in court. If you did get a racing ticket your best option is to really get a lawyer.