I dont know if this is the right place to post this if not can a mod please move it.

I have a question if anyone on here has had experiance with "speed contest tickets". My buddy and I go out on friday nights to meet up with some people from the local boards (norcal-ls1 and sacstangs). Well some of the people who couldnt keep there mouths shut end up going out to race. My buddy went out with 3 other people ( 00 Z , 04 Cobra , 01 SS , 05 GTO). My buddy(00Z) and another guy (04 Cobra) raced up highway 50 north, the other two followed, not racing. On the way back down south on 50 the Cobra and the GTO raced and, while the 00Z and the SS followed. This is where it gets wierd, on the way back down while the GTO and Cobra raced, they passed a CHP who proceeded to pull over not the 2 racing but the 00Z and the SS. Well the CHP claims he saw them racing up the other side (about 10 - 15 min prior) which is why he didnt go after the other guys. Both my buddy and the SS got speed contest tickets, arrested and cars impounded.

Now the SS didnt race anyone, he shouldnt have be sited for anything as they were both driving the speed limit on the way down. While my friend did infact race earlier he wasnt when he was pulled over. Around the Rocklin Roseville area there is so much going on on fridays that I find it hard to believe that the officer could 100% say that he knew they raced. Especially since he sited the SS who didnt do anything but watch.

My question is would it be worth it for my friend to get a lawyer to contest this since he wasnt doing anything?

There is more to the story which when he is off work today I'll have him post anything else about this that needs to be told to help understand the whole story. I think since there are a lot of people out on fridays and saturdays and he has no prior moving violations other than a U turn during the wrong time if that is a moving violation, and the fact that they werent racing that with a lawyer he cant get it knocked down to something else.

Please dont flame he is willing to just pay since he raced earlier but as anyone who would be in this position he wants to do anything to help his case out, and not rase his insurance.

 

Sounds like the guy in the SS should be sure to get a lawyer and fight like hell to get off, considering he wasn't racing at all.

Not sure what the other guys' chances are though.

 

Dude that ******* blows. I had a f`n 6 Cylinder 93-97 Camaro pass me in the emergency lane on a highway and I got pulled over but luckly I just got a warning because I think the trooper actually belived me.

 

these laws are different from state to state but, as far as im concerned, the guy who was racing....did it and can be charged at any time for it. look at it as if the cop is the eyewitness to a murder (only the murder is the two cars racing) but he didn't report it till 15 minutes after it happened, there are still going to be charges filed.

if the other guy truly didn't race, then fight it. there should be dashboard cams and all that jazz, but if thats not accesible, then he could kind of take the position of the rat and explain everything that happened that night (but be careful how he says stuff) and explain how everyone was racing but he was a spectator. Then again, a lot of this ahs to to with the judge you get...if nothing else, you will hopefully get a lesser charge. Good luck!

 

Cops are scumbags, they will dick you over any way they can. You start to realize that after sharing the roads with them and hearing the things that people get pulled over for.

First off, the cop should not be able to write tickets for something that he claims to have seen 15 minutes before. Unless he followed you and had you in his sight the whole time, there is no way to prove it was actually you. That alone should help you beat him in court.

Good luck, wreck that bastard in court.

 

Definatly a BS ticket. Go to court and demand to see the dashboard video of him ''witnessing'' you racing. Also I wouldn't say that you were watching people race, because I'm pretty sure you can get hefty spectator tickets and other small bs tickets.

A friend of mine was supposedly speeding but never got pulled over. The next day in the school parking lot he was questioned and given a ticket. The cop never reported it the day before, just said that he had seen him speeding and gave him a ticket the next day. Took it to court and said it was a bullshit charge, got out of it, and said that if he was harassed by cops because he got out of it then **** will hit the fan.

Worked for him, I'm sure asking to see the camera and asking the cop specific detailsa bout your car will get you out of it, just don't admit to watching races just say you were just cruising along.

 

So most or all of the police cars have the dashboard camera's?

Also I was talking to my buddy and unbeknownced to me he actually had a passanger in the car with him. Now since he has a witness and the camera will show he wasnt infact racing (if they all have cameras) this should help his case emensly.

Any other input?

Thanks for all the responses

 

looks good to me...you should definitely be able to get out of it. as far as the comment about cops writing bs tickets....about 80% of the cops out there are decent and will work with you unless you are being a complete idiot or a jackass whenever they pull you over. The problem is that so many people have their head up their *** when they get pulled over and don't watch what they say and let their instincts take over.

Good luck again blue TA! And idk about there but here at our Houston PD, 90% of the cars have cams, and that being cali, im sure they have the money for every car to have them.

 

It really depends how he talked to the officer too, if he was nice but persistant then he should get out of it. As far as I know there is no chance it will hold up in court. If they were racing they were probably doing in excess of 100, and at night time details of a vehicle are very hard to see, therefore determining it was the same vehicle would be impossible.

 

Its kind of funny, hes being solicited by lawyers about the case. Which im sure is from some data base but they are saying flat fees of like 2000 dollars for misd which seems kinda high to me.

Well I have a good feeling that he should be able to get out of it, the biggest thing hes hoping for is the cop car having a camera. If it does then that should be enough. When he was talking to the cops he said one was pretty cool, one was a jerk. They asked a bunch of questions about the parts on the car, actually drove around with the 2 in the back of the car and believe it or not pulled over a car for a possible DUI.

It looks like theres a lot in his favor. I'll be sure to let you guys know what comes of it.

I wonder though if they do find him not guilty if he still has to pay the impound fines? Any ideas on this ? If the car stays in impound for the full 30 days he's looking at upwards of 1500 dollars just in impound fees.

LS1Aggie09 : You mean the cop cars have cams? or most of the civilians cars have cams?

 

Thanks for all the info guys, because this story is about me. I am not sure if the cop had a dash cam or not but if he did it will not only show that we were not raceing but also not speeding. But the only thing I am worried about is if he was parked at an angle facing the center divide than he might have filmed us racing down the other side. The center divide is only a three foot tall wall and would have given a nice view of me and the others on the other side. Not to mention when they searched my car they found my N2O system and yes it was on.

 

moving to street racing forum, since it involves street racing.

 

May be worth it to get a lawyer even if he is going to be convicted. I still had to pay the fatty fine, but he got it put down as a simple speeding infraction on my dmv record and got the community service dropped. Still put me over the point total allowed per year with my DUI/accident 11 months prior though.

 

+1

I hate cops. They make great clerks and fill out paper-work nicely, other than that. They are useless. I have never seen or read about a single one preventing a crime. At last count, 134 people die annually in these 48 lower states from street racing or contests of speed. More children drown in 5 gallon buckets than that. Cant we find a better use for cops?

 

Oh, and get a lawyer...its worth it.

 

Some of you guys.... I just wonder about. Yes, cops may be a nuissance if you like to get involved in illegal activities.

Anyway, I am not sure of Cali's laws, even though I know they are strict. The law says unless he can pick out a feature and pick your car out, he has to keep the car in sight or get a license. Hard to say he saw you 15 minutes earlier when this could be a different car. Now the part to prove this... Were you nice to the officer? What all did you tell him? He did not actually catch you in the act, so he would have a harder time proving it, ESPECIALLY since 15 minutes went by. Remember, you are innocent until proven quilty. Friends aren't going to help as witnesses. A judge won't recognize them as a true witness.

BTW, get a lawyer. He should help either way.

 

That right there might be the one thing that f#@ks you, no matter what you tell the judge that open bottle says "i just got thru racing" or "i'm about to go race". And the fact that you were there, you can go to jail/get fined for just being at a street race in some states. I use to street race alot but now i don't, its too damn risky. I dont wanna lose my DL or car over 12sec of fun. Dont get me wrong i hope you get out of it, it might be a hard fight to win though

 

I didn't read that part.^^^ You chances just dropped a lot.

 

Take that sh*t to court.... the officers story will not hold up in front of the judge... Heck, in most cases the officer never shows up for court anyway.

 

this is why the new PCMs Record everything. new hightech pcm will record your MPH+ time and date or some crap like black boxes in plains.

im sure the insruance companies will love them