you have got to be kidding

rwlierz · #1 10-20-2005, 11:24 AM

Alright, I recently recieved a ticket for speeding but I'm going to tell you guys the story of how I got trapped and see what your thoughts are about it.
I was on a 4 lane highway and according to the cop the speed limit was 65mph. My cars speedometer is a little off so I never know how fast I'm going for sure. This is how it happened:
I was in the left lane (fast lane) behind a truck so I was just going his speed. After a while he eventually turned into the right lane and as soon as he did it revealed a motorcycle cop directly in front of me. I wasn't worried at all however because I didn't think I was speeding. I then figured that I could just follow the cop and stay at his speed and i figured that would be fine. After following the cop a while he turned into the right lane and motioned me to do the same. When I did he turned on his lights and sirens and pulled me over. He clocked me at 76 in a 65 is what he told me, so I told him how my speedo was off and I figured I could just go the speed he was going. This is where he said he "paced" me he slowly worked his speed up and I did the same, once we were both up to 76 mph he pulled me over. HE SPED ME UP TO THAT SPEED!! He then said how being a cop gives him the right to respond to emergencies, therefore allowing him to speed and the posted speed limit if for people like me.

I just wanted to ask if any of you think this is right. Can he speed and in turn cause me to speed and pull me over for it?? Keep in mind he never turned his lights on before he pulled me over, which i believe is what they are supposed to do when responding to emergencies. Do any of you think I should fight this speeding ticket and if so give me the things i need to know in order to fight this ticket.
I appreciate any replies.

want a supra · #2 10-20-2005, 11:29 AM

Most cops are dicks (in the 90% range)... We all have to live with it.

tcfco2005 · #3 10-20-2005, 11:39 AM

that is messed up but i dont see why he couldnt do that....i have cops ride my ass all the time trying to get me to speed but i dont....

VeeDubb_337 · #4 10-20-2005, 11:53 AM

me n my dad were on way home from ac boat show 2 yrs ago and we were jsut outside of philly when i car got so far up our ass (in a 95 ram 1500) that we couldnt even see headlights. now were up from 80-90 cuz we were bein pushed and were pushin the whole flow of traffic then we see his lights flash so we gget over and he drives by us so we were like ok wtf no more than 10 minutes laater did same cop pull off the side of road and get us for speeding.

Xenostalgia · #5 10-20-2005, 12:42 PM

Lookup entrapment.

97copcar · #6 10-20-2005, 02:22 PM

You guys can say what you want but, I am a cop new to the career. It is true that by law we are allowed to ignore the speed limit in certain circumstances. I am not going to go into all of them but most pertain to getting to emergency calls. In the state I patrol you do have to activate your emergency equipment(lights and siren). With regard to the pacing, that is a commonly used practice and accepted by the courts, although this is the first instance I have heard of were the police vehicle was in front. The problem I have is with your statement “Can he speed and in turn cause me to speed and pull me over for it??” While he may or may not have had the right to speed, no one put a gun to your head and made you speed. The decision to speed, whether conscious or not, was yours. Just because the vehicle in front of yours is speeding does not mean you have to. I would pay the ticket, get my speedo fixed and chalk it up to a lesson learned.

Xenostalgia · #7 10-20-2005, 02:38 PM

Well he obviously wasn't going to an emergency or else he wouldn't have pulled the guy over, why else would he have been speeding but have enough time to write someone a ticket?

97copcar · #8 10-20-2005, 02:49 PM

Xenostalgia:
There are good and bad people in all professions. I would not have made the stop unless I got behind the guy and paced him. I run radar on the side of the road or pace from 2-3 car lengths behind. The other thing that struck me about this traffic stop is that the guy is lucky he did not get a second ticket. If you have something wrong with your car (speedo off)and you know about, you can get a ticket for defective equipemnt. I think it all comes down to the mannor in which he was caught. I believe he did it leagally, don't quote me, but I would not approach it that way. I am willing to bet that people are going to be on both sides of this and there is not going to be a real answer. It all comes down to personal opinion.

SMOKINGZ28 · #9 10-20-2005, 02:58 PM

I've never had a problem with following a cop last night i was following a cop on the right hand lane just right behind him and i was going 85mph and he didnd't give a damn, he must have been cool but there are dicks out there

CamaroRS92 · #10 10-20-2005, 03:11 PM

They way i see it - it is actually your fault that you were speeding, unless the cop was in the car with you with his foot on the accelerator. If the speedometer was broken and you KNEW it as you stated then it was your responsibility to have that fixed so you would know what your actual speed was.

I know several of the state troopers in our state and all of them have front and rear radar. In other words you dont have to pass one to get a ticket just drive up from behind too fast and your caught.

in TN We even have plain jane unmarked cars (just like grandma drives ) driven by plain clothes officers that mingle in with traffic looking for aggressive drivers. Pass one of those too fast or cut them off and your screwed

Xenostalgia · #11 10-20-2005, 03:12 PM

hey copcar what does it mean when you see like 10+ marked vehicles going somewhere fast but without there lights on? (They turned 'em on to go thru an intersection but not as they were going down the street)

Savage Messiah · #12 10-20-2005, 03:25 PM

Get a lawyer. With a lawyer it will get reduced, no doubt about that, whether you're guilty or not - it's not fair, it's not right, but it's way it works. I've benefited from this corruption a few times myself. The lawyer may be able to get you out of it but at the very least you'll get less points/fine

97copcar · #13 10-20-2005, 03:38 PM

Xenostalgia, that usually is a call that is not life or death but could turn into it quickly. I would assume a large fight in progress, something like that. Like I said earlier, not all officers, or law enforcement agencies for that mater, follow the rules for lights and siren. We just recently had a medium size fight in progress that turned into an officer down scenario. A few of the officers patrolling near by headed in that direction incase the fight went south, they might have exceeded the speed limit but no more the 10 or so miles and hour. One of the officers’s from my dept was knocked over and kicked/overcome by multiple people. At that point it became a multi jurisdictional response with lights and sirens. We had 3 or 4 agencies (including mine) respond to that. It could also be that there were fresh doughnuts at the local krispycreme*L*

I would like to state that while I am extremely enthusiastic about my new career, I realize some thing done by law enforcement is wrong. I don’t think we walk on water or are above the law either. I may have been reading into something that was not there, I just wanted to make sure you and I did not start out on the wrong foot.

Savage Messiah · #14 10-20-2005, 03:56 PM

97copcar, sounds like you're down to earth and not all stuck up and cocky, good luck with the carreer

I-ROC KID · #15 10-20-2005, 04:14 PM

u shouldn't of told him about the speedo cuz if u just get it tested and it shows that the speedo is off then the ticket either is voided or reduce or thats how it is in manitoba my bud got out of a 200 ticket doing that or if they screw up on the ticket and write down anything wrong or mispelt u can get out of it for that too

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