| Re: Follow up on I received a traffic citation tonight.
dlakey wrote:
:: Just thought I would give everyone an update on what I have found
:: out since my initial post. First of all many thanks to everyone who
:: has helped by pointing out the appropriate Arkansas law concerning
:: my case, and all the positive reinforcements I have received.
::
::
::
:: As far as information I have received so far, I have talked to my
:: cousin, who is a Probate lawyer here in town, and just so happens to
:: belong to the same bike club as me. He pretty much tells me I have
:: two different directions to go with this case. He said he can more
:: than likely get the ticket taken care of on the QT if I want to, but
:: he would kind of like to play it out to the end just to make a
:: point. But then he also advised like many others have, that I have
:: to live in this town and I probably don't want to be making too many
:: enemies in high places.
::
::
::
:: I also emailed a district judge who is in our riding club at the
:: advice of the head of our bike club. I did receive a reply from him
:: that was somewhat restrained, but could be interpreted as very
:: positive. It seems that if this case were to go on appeal, it would
:: most likely come before HIM. I didn't realize this when I sent the
:: email. Therefore he said he couldn't really give any advice on how
:: to handle my particular case, but he did advise me to look up the
:: law concerning bicycles in Arkansas, and to plead not guilty when I
:: come to court and present my case. Then he sent me a second email,
:: which quoted the same law 27-49-111, which everyone else has cited.
:: It certainly couldn't hurt to have a case like this to go before a
:: bicycling judge on appeal LOL.
::
::
::
:: I have also been in contact via email with the Arkansas Bicycle
:: club. The president of that club replied and told me he was going
:: to forward me email to a couple of lawyers they have in their club
:: and get their take on things. I have not heard back from him since
:: then.
::
::
::
:: I also emailed the head of our local parks and recreation department
:: here in town that is also in our bike club. He expressed a lot of
:: interest and wanted all the pertinent information on the ticket. He
:: implied he was going to make some contacts of his own downtown.
::
::
::
:: My court date is currently set for 10 December 2003 so I have some
:: time to do some wiggling before things have to come to a head. As
:: things stand now, I believe my approach is going to be something
:: like this. I am going to approach the Chief of Police here in
:: Jonesboro, probably with my cousin, or some other legal
:: representation at my side. Present him with my story, and ask him
:: to clean this entire mess up. Part of the agreement to clean it up
:: would have to be the young officer properly educated on what
:: Arkansas Law has to say about bicycle rights and responsibilities.
::
::
::
:: If the Chief is unwilling to make things right, then I suppose we
:: are going to go to court and rock and roll. The main point being,
:: if humanly possible I don't intend to have to pay any kind of fine
:: related to this citation.
::
::
::
:: Really the only question would be the actual citation itself.
:: Disobeyed a police officer.
::
::
::
:: "27-49-107. Obedience to police officers required.
:: No person shall willfully fail or refuse to comply with any lawful
:: order or direction of any police officer invested by law with
:: authority to direct, control, or regulate traffic."
::
::
::
:: Now in reality this is also a false charge in and of itself. I
:: did not willfully fail or refuse to comply with his order or
:: direction. As a matter of fact as soon as he ordered me only the
:: sidewalk, and I realized he was an officer ordering me there I got
:: on the sidewalk. And when he was speaking over the PA, he never did
:: say how long he expected me to stay there. Then you are going to
:: have a great big question about whether or not it was a lawful
:: order. And I am going to argue to the best of my ability that it
:: was not a lawful order.
::
::
::
:: You know, here I am on the eve of being Forty years old, and all of
:: my life I have done my best to be a law abiding citizen, who gave
:: the utmost of respect to those charged with enforcing the law. In
:: my life of driving, in at least half of the states in the Union, I
:: have received only ONE traffic citation in my life and that was for
:: speeding, and that was honestly caused by a malfunction of my
:: speedometer which I had repaired after I received the ticket.
:: Really not a bad record for someone driving over twenty years, but I
:: digress. Incidents like this cause a law-abiding citizen like
:: myself really question where they put their trust. Would I really
:: want to have to trust that little pimply pip-squeak cop with my
:: life? As someone who served six years in the US Navy, I found it
:: was usually the Johnny Bad Asses who were the first to turn tail and
:: run when the **** hit the FAN. I just really have to ask myself,
:: how my of "our boys in blue" are like the young officer I ran into
:: that night? I honestly don't know, but I sure do hope It isn't
:: many.
::
As a newbie cyclist myself, I'm here to say that I'm with you 100%. Please
keep us informed on how this all plays out.
Also, please don't let this one incident spoil things for you. There is
always a bad apple in every bunch -- not all cops are bad. Sure, this is a
silly thing -- but keep in mind the source and where you are! Hence, your
mission, as you already stated, is to get the fine removed and that
policeman PROPERLY educated. Hopefully, those around him will also learn
something and your community will be better off than it was previously.
Bicyclist in your community will hopefully be better off due to your
efforts. Every citizen should play a part in the well being of community.
::
::
:: Dan
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