Got two citations last night. Good story and advice needed.
01-18-2009, 08:30 AM
#1
Got two citations last night. Good story and advice needed. Check this out guys. Wanted to get some advice on how to handle this. I went to go pick up a friend at a club (the atlantic) since she had been drinking alcohol and do my part in keeping drunk drivers off the road. If anyone knows the Beaches area right there off A1A, you would know there's a **** ton of people walking through the streets at 1am as it's a bar/club district. I, paying a courtesy to the walking pedestrians, turned my headlamps off and and left my fog lamps and DRLs on. Now you can only go about 5 mph in this well lit area due to heavy, if not stopped, traffic of both pedestrians and other vehicles (mostly cabs). This is the same courtesy I, as well as others, pay every morning (still dark) to the ID checkers when approaching the naval base where I work. So I thought nothing of it.
Moving on... like most hot rod enthusiasts, I have a car that is not in it's facory configuration. Mod list is below if interested. To sum it up, it's not standard transportation. Well I'm driving (more like sitting) with both cut-out's open on each collector, and with the big ol' 110 LSA it's choppin' pretty good. I end up having a police officer pull me over right in front of the club. I turn off my car, place both hands on the wheel and roll down my window. Standard stuff you're supposed to do. I remain respectfull throughout this entire ordeal and had all appropriate documentation. He asked why I didn't have my headlamps on. I told him the same thing stated above. He asked why my exhaust is that way. I told him I'm a car enthusiast and that's the way I built the car. Why he bothered asking, I'll never know.
He comes back with two violations for me. "headlamps not illuminated"(moving violation), and "exhaust system defective (disconnected at headers)". Now, I began to explain that I could have the exhaust flow redirected through the rest of the system as it's NOT disconnected at the headers. But before I could say two words he interupts me with "Already wrote the ticket." I try again and got a little more out but still interupted with the same thing. I signed the two violations and started my car again (open cutouts) with a smile on my face.
Yeeeeeeeahhh. He proceeds to come back from his car asking if he heard (through his interuptions) me say it had a switch to close up the exhaust. I said yes sir. He told me if I don't close it he will have my car towed. At this point I'm like WTF? He already wrote me a ticket for it! *******. My drunk friend starts arguing and saying derogitory remarks, I tell her to shut up and ask the cop how that's possible if I just recieved a citation. He said "Cap it up or have it towed!" I hit the switch and now pissed as hell. Drove away wishing he one day realizes that was wrong. Whatever. The end.
What can I do about this? Both deficiencies were corrected on the spot. and the officer was a total douche while I was cooperative AND doing my duties helping a friend who had too much! Just lookin' for advice from here guys. Thanks for reading.
~Austin
Moving on... like most hot rod enthusiasts, I have a car that is not in it's facory configuration. Mod list is below if interested. To sum it up, it's not standard transportation. Well I'm driving (more like sitting) with both cut-out's open on each collector, and with the big ol' 110 LSA it's choppin' pretty good. I end up having a police officer pull me over right in front of the club. I turn off my car, place both hands on the wheel and roll down my window. Standard stuff you're supposed to do. I remain respectfull throughout this entire ordeal and had all appropriate documentation. He asked why I didn't have my headlamps on. I told him the same thing stated above. He asked why my exhaust is that way. I told him I'm a car enthusiast and that's the way I built the car. Why he bothered asking, I'll never know.
He comes back with two violations for me. "headlamps not illuminated"(moving violation), and "exhaust system defective (disconnected at headers)". Now, I began to explain that I could have the exhaust flow redirected through the rest of the system as it's NOT disconnected at the headers. But before I could say two words he interupts me with "Already wrote the ticket." I try again and got a little more out but still interupted with the same thing. I signed the two violations and started my car again (open cutouts) with a smile on my face.
Yeeeeeeeahhh. He proceeds to come back from his car asking if he heard (through his interuptions) me say it had a switch to close up the exhaust. I said yes sir. He told me if I don't close it he will have my car towed. At this point I'm like WTF? He already wrote me a ticket for it! *******. My drunk friend starts arguing and saying derogitory remarks, I tell her to shut up and ask the cop how that's possible if I just recieved a citation. He said "Cap it up or have it towed!" I hit the switch and now pissed as hell. Drove away wishing he one day realizes that was wrong. Whatever. The end. What can I do about this? Both deficiencies were corrected on the spot. and the officer was a total douche while I was cooperative AND doing my duties helping a friend who had too much! Just lookin' for advice from here guys. Thanks for reading.
~Austin
01-18-2009, 08:49 AM
#2
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I, paying a courtesy to the walking pedestrians, turned my headlamps off and and left my fog lamps and DRLs on. Now you can only go about 5 mph in this well lit area due to heavy, if not stopped, traffic of both pedestrians and other vehicles (mostly cabs). This is the same courtesy I, as well as others, pay every morning (still dark) to the ID checkers when approaching the naval base where I work. So I thought nothing of it.
Moving on... I end up having a police officer pull me over right in front of the club. I turn off my car, place both hands on the wheel and roll down my window. Standard stuff you're supposed to do. I remain respectfull throughout this entire ordeal and had all appropriate documentation. He asked why I didn't have my headlamps on. I told him the same thing stated above. He asked why my exhaust is that way. I told him I'm a car enthusiast and that's the way I built the car. Why he bothered asking, I'll never know. p.s. never volunteer any info to the man
He comes back with two violations for me. "headlamps not illuminated"(moving violation), and "exhaust system defective (disconnected at headers)". Now, I began to explain that I could have the exhaust flow redirected through the rest of the system as it's NOT disconnected at the headers. But before I could say two words he interupts me with "Already wrote the ticket." I try again and got a little more out but still interupted with the same thing. I signed the two violations and started my car again (open cutouts) with a smile on my face.Yeeeeeeeahhh. He proceeds to come back from his car asking if he heard (through his interuptions) me say it had a switch to close up the exhaust. I said yes sir. He told me if I don't close it he will have my car towed. At this point I'm like WTF? He already wrote me a ticket for it! *******. My drunk friend starts arguing and saying derogitory remarks, I tell her to shut up and ask the cop how that's possible if I just recieved a citation. He said "Cap it up or have it towed!" I hit the switch and now pissed as hell. Drove away wishing he one day realizes that was wrong. Whatever. The end.
What can I do about this? Both deficiencies were corrected on the spot. and the officer was a total douche while I was cooperative AND doing my duties helping a friend who had too much! Just lookin' for advice from here guys. Thanks for reading.
~Austin
Moving on... I end up having a police officer pull me over right in front of the club. I turn off my car, place both hands on the wheel and roll down my window. Standard stuff you're supposed to do. I remain respectfull throughout this entire ordeal and had all appropriate documentation. He asked why I didn't have my headlamps on. I told him the same thing stated above. He asked why my exhaust is that way. I told him I'm a car enthusiast and that's the way I built the car. Why he bothered asking, I'll never know. p.s. never volunteer any info to the man
He comes back with two violations for me. "headlamps not illuminated"(moving violation), and "exhaust system defective (disconnected at headers)". Now, I began to explain that I could have the exhaust flow redirected through the rest of the system as it's NOT disconnected at the headers. But before I could say two words he interupts me with "Already wrote the ticket." I try again and got a little more out but still interupted with the same thing. I signed the two violations and started my car again (open cutouts) with a smile on my face.
Yeeeeeeeahhh. He proceeds to come back from his car asking if he heard (through his interuptions) me say it had a switch to close up the exhaust. I said yes sir. He told me if I don't close it he will have my car towed. At this point I'm like WTF? He already wrote me a ticket for it! *******. My drunk friend starts arguing and saying derogitory remarks, I tell her to shut up and ask the cop how that's possible if I just recieved a citation. He said "Cap it up or have it towed!" I hit the switch and now pissed as hell. Drove away wishing he one day realizes that was wrong. Whatever. The end. What can I do about this? Both deficiencies were corrected on the spot. and the officer was a total douche while I was cooperative AND doing my duties helping a friend who had too much! Just lookin' for advice from here guys. Thanks for reading.
~Austin
01-18-2009, 08:51 AM
#3
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I'm a cop, but also a gear head so maybe I'm a little biased, hahaha. Even though I hate the loud exhausts on imports, I have duals on my SS which is LOUD as hell so I don't bother the imports or anyone else for their exhaust, obsviously the guy you ran into isn't a car guy. He pretty much has you dead to rights on the headlight thing, despite your explanation which seems reasonable enough. There really isn't anything you can do but contest the citations and go to court. Explain your side to the judge and hopefully he'll cut you some slack. Might not hurt to take a picture of your exhaust system from underneath to prove you're not running open headers which should get rid of the exhaust ticket. Good luck.
01-18-2009, 09:05 AM
#4
You were driving on a public road at night without you're headlights on. You were operating a vehicle on a public road with your cutouts open. There's not much you can do man, both of those are violations. BTW, isn't that the reason for the cutouts, so you can run a legal/quiet exhaust when around cops or normally driving, then open her up when need be? Also, yes he could have given you another ticket/tow/etc if you didn't close them. Think of it this way, you get pulled over for speeding, get your ticket, then drive off speeding again. They way your logic is playing out in your story, you shouldn't be able to get ANOTHER speeding ticket, because you just got one for speeding, although this is a separate speeding incident. You told the guy you could close the cutouts, then proceed to start the car again AFTER getting a ticket for having them open. I bet he thought that was a direct insult to him (and probably was by the way your story tells it), since you said you could close it and then didn't. Good luck to ya, but I really don't think you have a leg to stand on!
Oh yeah, doesn't matter of both "deficiencies" were corrected, your headlights were off and your cutouts were open while on the road. Those ARE the violations, they weren't improper equipment, the act of doing those things on the road is the violation. Driving without headlights on or with brights on are two indicators of a person driving while under the influence, good chance that is why you were stopped in the first place. My suggestion is to learn from the incident, take the class to reduce points, and pay the tickets. You MAY get a break in court, or you may pay court costs of around $500.
Oh yeah, doesn't matter of both "deficiencies" were corrected, your headlights were off and your cutouts were open while on the road. Those ARE the violations, they weren't improper equipment, the act of doing those things on the road is the violation. Driving without headlights on or with brights on are two indicators of a person driving while under the influence, good chance that is why you were stopped in the first place. My suggestion is to learn from the incident, take the class to reduce points, and pay the tickets. You MAY get a break in court, or you may pay court costs of around $500.
Last edited by black00ssFL; 01-18-2009 at 09:12 AM.
01-18-2009, 01:00 PM
#6
LOL, no. I'm quite familiar with the laws in the State of Florida (guess why, lol), and also very familiar with the beaches (wife went to Florida Coastal School of Law and I was in Jax very often). I'm just giving you the reality, there isn't much you're gonna be able to do about those tickets man, I'm sorry.
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01-18-2009, 02:13 PM
#8
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jax beach is the worst a buddy of mine has a bagged tacoma with hid headlights and we were "ridding dirty" with the back end sacked and the front end up and a jax beach police officer pulled in front of us and because the headlights were shinning him in the mirror he pulled us over for malifuctiong headlights "ridding with our high beams on" jax beach police are all douche bags........ my cousin got arrested for getting in a fight at sneakers.........his only charge resisting arrest
01-18-2009, 02:39 PM
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Being from NY and having many friends and family up north on the job, I can say for sure that 99% of Florida cops are tools. I have delt with one or two that were respectful and courtious. But most I have delt with were like 19 year old kids with no clue how to do their job. From what I hear the Beach Patrol "cops" are the biggest tools. I guess the training down here is just not what it should be. I haven't had a ticket in like 10 years. Have no accidents in years either. I'm in my early 30's etc, etc....yet I get cited for 19 in a 15. What a joke. That's a cop with nothing better to do. Okay, end of shitty Florida cops rant.
01-18-2009, 03:52 PM
#11
Sounds cheap, but yeah it's possible. They usually just go to court and represent you. They'll ask for "adjudication withheld" (aka no points) and a smaller fine. Sometimes they get it and make a profit, sometimes they don't and have to eat the extra court costs. Most of the time they make a profit, so they don't worry about the ones they have to eat.
01-18-2009, 05:11 PM
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Can you please PM me the lawyers name and contact info?
Thanks.
