I think I got SlamDunked today.

[charliebrown]

I was driving down the highway this afternoon to go see my neice and her new kid. I love her and lil Blake. I live in the KC metro area which in its own rite is very RIGHT.

To get there I drive through a little town called Edwardsville which is probably 98% repuke and is also a town that gets all $$$ through highway stops.

I have my Kerry/Edwards bumpersticker proudly displayed and I hear a horn honking. My radio was blasting but I turned it down and see this guy next to me yelling at me from his car. I reached over and rolled down the passenger side window. It would normally be open mid-August in KC but it was only 70 degrees(thats the nicest part of all this). He is yelling som....th...buus... I yell back "What"?

He starts yelling stuff that I can't really make out but I can get the gist of it is anti-kerry. I was so involved with trying to hear him I wasn't watching my rear mirrors. Then he yelled LOUD, Kerry is a F@cking Commie, flipped me off and took off at maybe 80MPH.

As he flys away I see his bumper sticker and of course we all know its Bush/F@cnkny. So I flip him the bird as he drives off and there was a cop behind me. Those F@ckers set me up and I got pulled over. I pulled to the side and started looking for my license, registration, and insurance stuff and I felt a lil bump.

He came up and said my brake light was broken and wrote me a ticket. I know he broke it but I can't prove it and this town is repuke city.

I am pissed and do not have a clue as to what to do. I also have to be back at work in 8 hours and I probably wont sleep at all tonight. I do have to try So thank you DU for giving me a place to vent. Any ideas will be appriciated and thank you all in advance.

Sweet Dreams all...F@CK BUSH.. will be mine if I can sleep.

[lapfog_1]

1. If you have a few hundred extra you want to invest

get your car repaired (completely), put two or three Kerry
stickers on it. Rig a camera out of the trunk with a DC powered
VCR... drive through town repeatedly.

They may do something that stupid again.

Turn the tape over to a lawyer and the local news (and national
news will be there shortly).

Sue them for $250,000.

Should be fun.

[Guaranteed]

8. BEAUTIFUL.

Do it. Seriously.

It would be SO FUCKING WORTH IT.

[Spinzonner]

15. I take it you will be subsidizing it for him

It's always easy to spend other people's money and life.

[Guaranteed]

17. I'll help.

Wouldn't you?

[Spinzonner]

2. You need to decide how muich it is worth to you

in money and hassle to contest it.

In California that would be a fix-it ticket and a $1015 fee to just have it checked by the Sherriff after getting it fixed.

You could perhaps (depends on state law) request a trial instead of whatever the bail forfeiture is there - if it even applies - and require the cop to appear. If he doesnt, and often they dont in such cases - you ought to win. You could also accuse him of the breakage but then its your word against his and I dont think you win that with a judge. Any reason you think you can catch the cop in a perjury ?

But you have to do it in their courts, in their venue ... you see where this is going.

Take it as a learning experience - be meek and quiet when going through enemy territory.

[Guaranteed]

9. This is DEFINITELY worth fighting- on principle.

FUCK the money. FUCK THESE GUYS OVER, no matter the cost.

[adubb]

3. f@ck the power

Dear charlybrown

Sorry to hear what happened to you. It's a sad day in this country when having a sticker on your car get's you in trouble with the law. Unfortunately it's probably not worth it to contest the ticket unless you live in the area. Just comfort yourself with this notion: that cop's life is probably miserable. His only source of pleasure is exerting power over people who aren't politically like him. He probably makes just enough money to cover his family and wonders why it gets harder every year. God forbid if his kids want to go to college, but that probably won't happen.

You see, charly, anyone who doesn't own a coal burning plant, manufacture pharmaceuticals, or make more than $ 500 000 a year has been screwed by George Bush. People like that cop who pulled you over are so ignorant that they don't even know how much their lives suck, let alone realize that it's all due to Bush and CO.

Take heart. You have witnessed the death knell of the repukes. Come November they are going down. Mark my words, my friend.

Peace, love, and happiness; think happy thoughts.

Abraham

[newyawker99]

30. Hi adubb!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[AP]

4. Challenge the ticket and tell your story in court.

Take pictures of your light (including the bumper sticker).

Be very calm and matter-of-fact when you tell your story.

The judge might be repuke too, but the worst that can happen is what would happen if you didn't challenge the ticket. If you challenge the ticket, there's a chance that it could be reduced.

[scoobydoo]

5. That is messed up Charlie.

I have read some of your other posts and it seems that life all around you is BAD. Maybe, and I know it isn't the way you are, Maybe you shouldn't be so activist in your everyday life. We all have to make a living and to react to passing car seems to me almost like road-rage.

I do think that you were set up but it just isn't worth it if you get a ticket and have $$$ gone.

You live in the midwest where we all know its all bible-thumpers and right-wingnuts who have NO Clue and care little about our world image.


Pay the ticket, Move(get outta that conservative belt), and say F U to Edwardsville KS!!!!!

I feel better now...:)

[vetwife]

6. I would challenge the ticket ..........go to court...but only

so the cop will have to show up before the judge who is probably right winged too. Tell the judge nicely but firmly when the police
bumped your car, you feel sure he broke the light, inadverently maybe, and that you do not feel responsible for a tail light because someone wanted to engage you in road rage. The cop will not want to go to court too many times and will have to stop abusing his power.
If you don't want to go that route then write a piece in a large paper about how the road rage bumper stickers are costing opposition opinion and how some
and don't be specific..people in authority are abusing their power.
I warn you, I deal with this kind of junk daily. Everyone on here can't believe the crap I put up with in rural Ga. To a degree it is subsiding because I fight back..BIG TIME ! They know it is polarized with me and them, as they do something and I challenge it. They all know this and its just not as fun to them as it used to be, as I think I am wearing them out. I believe I am proving I have as much tenacity and staying power as they do, but once you start, there is no walking away..Its an ongoing process. I can't give an inch. It has become Tug of war. Its like a game of chess, they make a move and you couter it. Thats just the way things are nowadays in this election. I don't flip off or provoke people first. They have to make the first move which ususally gives me a little leverage and so So does the veterans organization I founded, my activism, my combat VN disabled husband, and my talk show appearances, but where that give me some credibility , it also makes me a prime target too !

[Seldona]

25. I take offense to your midwest assertions.

I do have a clue, and many, many, people around me do as well.

In fact my state is a blue state.

And we are smack dab in the middle of the country.

Perhaps alienating, and insulting, entire geographical regions is not the best way to win over allies.

But then I suppose I am just a hick eh?

Anyway I would start knocking on doors, asking around if there were businesses close by, that someone might have seen it.

You never know.

But I would have my day in court.

Who knows?

Maybe this cop has a history.

But it really cannot hurt to try it.

And he will have to flat out lie on the stand.

And you will both know he is a pos liar.

At the very least you can look him in the eye in court as he lies.

[Blue Gardener]

29. I live in the Midwest

And I am neither a bible thumper nor a wingnut. I live in a very liberal college town that always votes democratic. Be careful what you say about all Midwesterners.

[newyawker99]

31. Hi scoobydoo!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[oasis]

7. Tough call charlie brown. Seek legal advice. ACLU perhaps.

[Outward Bound]

10. Were you asleep or awake when you had this fantasy?

[underseasurveyor]

12. Hmmm

:boring:

[Kanary]

13. Yup, I think that triggered my "sleep" mechanism, too....

:hi:

[underseasurveyor]

16. I don't like to feed the nasties

I would like to put them to sleep though ;-)
:hi:

[Kanary]

19. ewww, to feed 'em, ya gotta get close....

and that's just ooookie, given the trail that's left behind.....

~~gigglesnort~~

Kanary, steppin' *very* carefully...... :hi:

[Guaranteed]

20. You'd think he would have noticed his broken taillight

beforehand.

Yup. Some people just don't pay attention.

[underseasurveyor]

11. Do you know if the cops car had a video camera?

Many of them do now so is there a chance the whole thing is caught on tape? Might be worth finding out. If it's worth it I hope you can nail the bastard!

[AP]

14. Yeah. Ask for the video from the cop car.

[underseasurveyor]

18. What are the rules regarding video on cop cars? If anybody knows.

Do they have to run video for every stop they make? Do they have to keep the tapes for a certain amount of time?

[Guaranteed]

21. It seems like one should be able to request it.

And it should be really clear before the cop car even stops whether or not the taillight is already broken.

[underseasurveyor]

22. Not only that

It would show the other car speeding away from charliebrown's car before he pulled it over. No? :-) So who really deserved a ticket ;-)

[AmyDeLune]

23. My understanding

is that the video is there to protect the officer from false claims ("he dragged me out of the car by my hair and kicked me in the head!" kind of stuff) as well as to leave some record if the stop goes bad and the officer is injured or killed. If the car was equipped for video and the officer can't produce it, he'll have to explain why. Won't that be fun? ;)

[AP]

26. Rules are probably unique for every municipality.

So, ask for a copy of their policy.

It would be incriminating if they were required to have the tape but couldn't produce it.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

24. Excellent suggestion. Report the cop even if no video.

Excellent suggestion to subpoena the tape.

Report the cop even if no video. If you are the first then you will help the person who comes after you. If you aren't the first, then the cop could lose his job.

Contest the ticket and show up in court. Earlier posts have given excellent advice in this regard.

If you are into an extended campaign, then ...

Get a different car (switch with your partner?) and drive through the area with a vid camera taping, as suggested in an earlier post. Memorize the configuration of the cop's car and / or his patrol car number. If you see him or another similar cop car in the vicinity, drive a little below the speed limit, which should be enough to get another driver annoyed.

[uncle ray]

27. what does this mean?

"He came up and said my brake light was broken and wrote me a ticket. I know he broke it but I can't prove it and this town is repuke city."

as in smashed? did you see him do it? do you suspect him of doing something or what? or did the "other" repuke throw a beer bottle at your taillight that you didn't see? was this in town or highway? your story sounds strange. as a pot smoker who drives cars that get attention, i know how easy it is for police to find a reason to pull someone over, or generate revenue, i guarantee if you came across a rogue department that would use such blatant tactics, you would have a big, big story.

if all you got was a fixit ticket for a bad taillight, be happy, pay it and get on with life. he could have thrown a baggie of meth into your car.

[Citizen Daryl]

28. I have anti-Bush stickers AND and a "Policeman's Benevolent Assn" sticker

I live in Middle Tennessee, in a small town that's well-known for being a speed trap. I've got some very incendiary anti-Bush stickers on my car. Earlier in the year, I had my front two tires deflated (but not slashed). Since then, I've had no problems. Nobody's flipped me off (that I've noticed), I've gotten no nasty notes on my windshield, and I haven't been pulled over. I get lots of scowls from other drivers, but so far - knock on wood - it hasn't gone beyond that.