why me?

[Brett Dikeman]

At 1:44 AM -0500 12/6/01, jason snider wrote:

 Yeah, I could've got away

A VERY wrong idea idea.

a)the cop probably got at least a partial on your plate when he first
passed you if you've got a front plate
b)the cop saw the color and make of your car, and there aren't a whole
boatload of 5000's these days

...which means that now you've got the entire town's police force looking
for you, and you've just fled from an officer(like, really fled, as in,
you knew you were being chased and you left), which means you don't get
home that night(ie, felony-type stop procedures, arrest, booking, etc.)
If you did make it home by some miracle, you might find the cop you took
off from waiting for you, if they ran the plate...along with two very,
very pissed off parents.  As they say in Blues Brothers, "nothing outruns
a motorola."  These days, cops have data terminals in their cruisers and
video cameras.  It's also not going to be a very pretty sight in the
courtroom.

So, now that we've corrected that silly idea...

I would show up in court, be very polite, and explain, honestly, exactly
what happened.  Emphasize that:

-you did not notice the oncoming car was a police car because you were
looking at the dash etc and it was night, but you did see it flip around
and start after you, and further, its lights did not come on immediately,
so it freaked you out

-you did not intend to flee from the officer and never would have done so
had you known it was a policeman

-in fact, you pulled over immediately when you saw the lights, proof of
the previous statement

-in the future you'll have a friend in the seat reading things etc while
you pay attention to the road, speed, and speed limit...and you'll keep
your testing below the speed limit

If it's a small town and a small county court that seems pretty informal
and not very busy, you might try calling and seeing if the judge is
available to speak to(or better yet, have a parent call and set up an
appointment for all of you to meet with the judge.)  Show up dressed very
clean, neat and presentable.  Ie, no jeans, no sneakers, belt, nice
button-down shirt(I'd skip a tie personally, its a little much probably),
recent haircut if you need it, etc.

  If the folks don't meet with the judge and you make the appt, bringing a
parent or both parents along when you do show might help, particularly
because the judge sees there's a family here, he/she now has someone to
defer punishment to if it is felt you're just a goofball that needs some
straightening out...something that's preferable to all this going on your
license since you've an adult legally(you think insurance is high now?)
and the fines.  Your parents can also do the talking, since you'll
probably be so nervous you won't be able to speak a coherent sentence...or
they can be your backup if you're doing the talking and turn into a bowl
of jello.

If you're polite, upfront, honest, and keep a cool head, the worst that
can happen is you'll still be stuck with the same ticket/charges/fines.  A
quickly volunteered, open offer to do anything in exchange for some
leniency((drivers safety class, some community service, etc are all
possible options; be careful how you word this, ie "hey, I'll do anything
to get outta this" is not the right way) could be taken as a sign of good
faith and honest intentions and may improve your standing with the judge.
As stated before, don't act like some weasel trying to get out of the
ticket, because you almost certainly won't, not completely.

In any case, I can't guarantee any of this will help you, and it's just my
thoughts on the subject, not personal experience.  I'm no lawyer, and
besides...free advice should be taken for being worth what it cost.
Discuss the whole thing with your parents and --ask for help and advice in
what to do--.  Parents, believe it or not, care very much about their
kids, even when they do slightly less than bright things(and in the
general scheme of not-so-bright-things-your-kids-can-do, this one's pretty
tame; parents have VERY vivid imaginations, read the paper, etc, so trust
me, they realize this :), and can be good allies for so many reasons.
Further, if you can't work things out with your parents, forget trying to
work things out with a total stranger in a robe.

B