Friday, August 5, 2011

Can I fight a speeding ticket if the officer was trespassing when he clocked me?

I'm 17 and I got a speeding ticket after coming home from work one night. Your not aloud to drive after 9 if you under 18 but i had a note from my employer so he didn't site me for that. when he walked up to my window he asked me "what was the necessity of going 80". He didn't ask me what speed I thought I was going or why I thought I was pulled over. he also shined his light in my eyes to check if I was drinking. i believe this confused me and he somehow convinced me I was speeding. He said he clocked me at a local church down the street which is 1.2 miles away from where he pulled me over. I went to the church to day and asked the reverend if they ever gave the police formal permission to park there so technically he was trespassing. After talking with the reverend a little more I found out that they always knew that they parked there and they actually preferred if they didn't. Any way on the night of my pull over he said i was doing 80 but he sited me for doing 79. I would have preferred if he told me i was doing 79 instead of rounding up to 80 because it sounded better. He also clocked me in a 45 mph zone when he pulled me over in and "end 45 mph zone" which means its the state speed limit a which is 55 mph. the speed limit signs were covered by over grown trees so where the speed limit changes over can be very unclear especially at night. I took pictures of the "end 45 mph" sign and the 45 mph sign before the the other sign that was closer to the church (both are covered by trees). I didn't see his lights until i was about to turn into my driveway (that"s right he pulled me over in front of my own home) and his sirens were only on for a split second and even when I pulled over he was still really far away from me. He didn't site me for reckless driving and according to New York sate DMV laws for the speed he accused me of going he should have so obviously he didn't have a clear sight on me. Also where he was located at the church, there is a sign and bushes so his field of view is obstructed. While talking with another police officer, I found out that officers don't use radar to administer tickets, tickets are administered based on an officers observation. Radar is only hearsay. On the night of my pullover it was very windy. I have weather reports proving this and I read the manual of the radar he was using and it said wind can affect radar accuracy. I also plan on using a court case. The Miami radar trial (State of Florida v. Aquilera) where a news reporter clocked a house doing 28 miles an hour and a palm tree doing 86 miles an hour. I am an honor student and used the excuse that i was under pressure from school, my job and the testing that was coming up in June. he then said i wish you luck on those tests and proceeded to telling me a story about how he would have to scrape my dead body from my car when i hit a tree doing 80. I plan on bringing my report card with me to the meeting with the ADA (which is on July 6th) to show that I'm a good kid. I want to know if I have enough of an argument that the cop was trespassing on the church property when he clocked to get dismissed by the ADA. I had the reverend sign a letter I typed up stating he never gave permission to the police. Please don say I should just plead guilty and move on because I know I wasn't going the speed he accused me of going. I really don't want to have to take this to court and spend money on court fees that i need for my college courses I'll be taking in the senior year of my high school. I would also appreciate your advise and past experiences. Thank You.

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