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This is very long, but should be entertaining. Cops can kiss my ass. Went to court this morning, my witness did NOT show up as he said he would (damn sorry bastard) which made my case more difficult to prove. Fortunately I was the very last case to be heard so I could care the F*** less about holding things up. Got up there, cop gave his version of the situation as I expected he would, like a motherf***ing liar. Cop: "I observed a burgandy 1991 300ZX leave the intersection with wheels spinning and accellerating at a high rate of speed. I proceeded to get into my vehicle and follow the vehicle. I caught up to the vehicle at which time I paced it from reference to my speedometer. I paced the vehicle going 55MPH at that time and proceeded to pull him over and issue a citation for failing to obey a traffic control device. " At this point the judge asked me if I had any questions for the officer and I said that I did, but that unfortunately I also have a witness that has not shown up yet. I asked for a continuance so that I could subpoena my witness but the judge declined. Piss me off. So then I started from the top, at the intersection where the officer said my wheels were spinning from the start and stated that was incorrect and that he heard a noise at the other side of the intersection which was my blow off valves. I started into the officer with the questions at that point and it kinda pissed me off how the asshole answered them with a "yeah, so what's your point" kind of attitude and he even snickered at a few of the questions. I commented openly to the court that I do not find the questions funny. I was interrupted by the judge in my questioning by her asking what my questions had to do with the citation and she stated that she did not understand where I was going with my argument. I told her pretty much that I have to cover my bases and that I am working to a conclusion. It was pissing me off to no end because everytime I led up to a point based on the officer's testimony she would interrupt me with some bullshit contra and the officer pretty much stood there and didn't have to say anything. I told the judge that in order for me to prove my case that I really needed my witness and I again asked for a continuance on the case. She denied me once again. You gotta keep in mind that this woman is f*in ruthless. I saw her throw the book at one person after the next for the whole course of the morning and I myself have a few scars from previous encounters with her... :-/ So I came back around to the pacing issue, directly to the issue at hand. I asked the officer to state (again) where he caught up to me. He stated that his vehicle did not catch up to me until NW 23rd and we pulled into 24th, but that he was able to pace me from 'some distance' behind. When he said this I asked him to explain how he could pace my vehicle from an unknown distance but yet conclude an accurate speed. The judge jumped in at that point and stated that she did not see how it was possible for him to have paced me from an unknown distance, but apparently trying to conclude the case, she pulled up my record. She mentioned a couple of rather serious citations (reckless and racing) and said that it looks like I have a history of bad driving. I told her the facts on the reckless and that it was not a DUI deferrral(which is common cause for having a reckless on your record apparently), but that it was passing in a no passing zone with two passengers in my two seater. Although it sounds serious, the pass was on a straight away and I actually passed while driving in a turning lane while being able to see clearly any oncoming cars (of which there weren't any at the time). Then I told her that the racing ticket was with a friend of mine, Eric Coxe. I knew it would grab her attention because she knows him. Eric is ~friend~ with her son and he has worked on her son's car several times to get himself out of a speeding ticket some time ago. I told her that she knows him, that he "worked on your sons CRX a little while back.." She asked if I had taken the advanced driving school and I told her (verbatim) :) "Yeah, I've taken it. When you threw the book and Eric and I for racing you made us both take that 12 wasteful hours with a crackhead teacher." I shit you not, I said it. It is on record and I will be getting a copy of the tape. :) It must have struck a funny bone because everyone laughed... Well..., there was only the judge, the officer, the secretery, the bailiff and myself left at that point so it was rather laid back. I then continued on about that ticket and some of the details and that we weren't racing and I was following him to a friend's house that I didn't know the location of.. She said that she had words with him about that incident and that my version didn't match his.. I just said, "Well, I know I wasn't racing, Eric may have been.." She said "Well, I tell you what I'll do in this case. I want to see you half way on this because by the looks of your driving record you haven't gotten a ticket in over a year and it looked as though you had learned from that 12 hour course you took back then," I nodded, "So what I'm going to do is this; I will withold adjudication, no points, but the fine will be doubled to a total of $200." Does that sound fair to you? I told her that would be ok. She closed the case and I took a seat off to the side while everything winded down and the secretery finished the papers. While waiting, the judge looked over and started somewhat casual conversation about her son and his CRX and Eric Coxe and blah blah blah and that she wouldn't have witheld the points had I not mentioned him. She then proceeded to lecture me about how a 300ZX will accelerate and that its a fast car and blah blah and I told her that I actually got pulled over three times that weekend and was harassed and lectured about the screens in my car... I told her that its a computer and that officers have been using it as P.C. to pull me over. Just then, a group of officers walk into the courtroom and one of them shouts out, "Hey Mr. AshsZ!, what are YOU doing here?" I turned and looked and it was that same officer that owns a pearl white Z who pulled me over that same weekend and lectured me. He looked at the judge with a big smile on his face and said, "He's guilty of it all... I've seen him out there."... in a joking sort-of way.. He then carried on to say, "He's got these TV screens in his car, but they aren't TV's, they're part of a computer and..." The judge cut him off and said, "He was just telling me about it.." The judge started back with her lecture and carried on about "your car begs for attention, blah blah blah... ."" I just nodded and told her I'd be more careful and keep my camera rolling so as to capture everything on video. She had this suprised look on her face and I told her thankyou and to have a nice week.. Then I just rolled out of there, making eye contact with those few officers behind me as I turned and the look on their faces was priceless. It was a good day, $200 fine: drop in the bucket - thank god no points and no schools cuz she's a book throwing kind of judge. My case lasted about 20 minutes which is about 20 times longer than most of the cases. She gets them in, takes them for a ride, and gets them the hell out. I'm not sure if she was just entertaining my defense for sake that there was no one else left, but something worked. I also left there knowing that the officers are fully aware that I have a camera running in the car and they will most likely tell their buddies. Hopefully it will serve as a deterrent for harassment.. It probably will as their faces had a particular look of suprise when I mentioned the camera bit..
[ ashleypowers.com ]
[ agpowers@bellsouth.net ] When pigs dance, you better get it on video...
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