After working out tonight I went to Walgreens to rent a movie from the redbox. It was pouring down rain, so i parked right up front in the handicapped parking spot. I ran up to the red box, and within 3 minutes of being out of my car, a police officer pulled up behind me. He called me over to his car and asked if I was handicapped. I replied and said "no sir." He asked for my license, so i gave it to him. I then asked if he wanted me to move my car, and explained to him why i parked there. At that time I could see he wasn't happy. He told me to go back to the redbox (where it was covered from the rain) and wait for him. He handed me a citation and ran back to his car. I looked at the citation and it had a lot of false charges on it. Not only that, it has the price next to the charges and he marked them out and beside it and wrote his own fee. The false charges and fees are the following: expired parking meter 3 dollars is marked out and he wrote 10 dollars beside it, extended parking beyond limit 5 dollars is marked out and he wrote 15 dollars beside it, loading zone 25 dollars is marked out and he wrote 50 dollars beside it, fire lane 50 dollars is marked out and he wrote 100 dollars beside it, handicapped zone 200 dollars. As i was pulling away i was sitting at the red light in front of Walgreens and saw these charges, so i turned back around and took a picture of where i was parked. I attached the photo so you all can see. When did they start putting fire lanes in handicapped parking? when did they start putting loading zones in handicapped parking? when did they start putting parking meters in handicapped parking in front of walgreens? as you can see in the picture there is none of the above. Can i fight this and get the whole thing thrown out? I know he was harassing me. Otherwise, why would a police officer write so many false charges? I know he had an attitude from the beginning with me. How should i handle this? I'm obviously going to fight this. I just don't know if there is a law or something against this. Please help me out, I'm in college and i am struggling with money issues. Could this be a racial issue? By the way, I do have a witness.
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false charges on citations
- Thread Starter igotups20
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It may be that the fines have recently increased, and he may be required to write in the new fines. But from your picture you havn't been charged with anything other than parking in a handicapped spot. That is the only thing checked off.
What you need to do is go to the courthouse where you pay traffic tickets and have them look and see what you were actually cited for. If they do show other items, then fight it. But I'm willing to bet they only show you cited for handicapped parking. They can also verify the dollar amounts for the fines. You can then decide if you want to go ahead and pay or fight it in court. But if the fines he wrote in are in fact new fine amounts, you will not be able to use that to fight your case, especailly if you were not actually cited for them in the first place.
What you need to do is go to the courthouse where you pay traffic tickets and have them look and see what you were actually cited for. If they do show other items, then fight it. But I'm willing to bet they only show you cited for handicapped parking. They can also verify the dollar amounts for the fines. You can then decide if you want to go ahead and pay or fight it in court. But if the fines he wrote in are in fact new fine amounts, you will not be able to use that to fight your case, especailly if you were not actually cited for them in the first place.
mightymoose
Moderator
I bet you could get this tossed if you appear in court and tell that same story. It looks like there is more than one disabled space so you weren't preventing anyone from parking. This ticket makes the police officer look bad. Make him come into court and explain while he felt you needed to be cited.
The ONLY reason I can think of why he cited you is if you shot your mouth off at him. If you didn't, then he is just a jerk.
The ONLY reason I can think of why he cited you is if you shot your mouth off at him. If you didn't, then he is just a jerk.
jharris352
New Member
I too am from GA, I may even be your neighbor. If after this post you want to contact me privately post on my wall and I'll help you further.
First, I know you realize this but rain doesn't change the fact you parked in a handicap spot. One space further over wouldn't have killed you.
That said, the cop is doing something quite odd. First, that isn't a normal Georgia ticket form it looks like it is Athens, my guess is he is a campus cop. They drive even regular cops crazy.
You can be fined as much as $500 for parking in a handicap parking spot but the police officer doesn't decide that. The other "accusations" are just odd. The police officer could get in serious trouble for this sort of "joke."
If it was a campus cop he must be within 500 yards of the nearest college property to have jurisdiction. You will be fine on all but the handicap ticket. Though I think it is possibly a joke of some sort. Tell me more.
First, I know you realize this but rain doesn't change the fact you parked in a handicap spot. One space further over wouldn't have killed you.
That said, the cop is doing something quite odd. First, that isn't a normal Georgia ticket form it looks like it is Athens, my guess is he is a campus cop. They drive even regular cops crazy.
You can be fined as much as $500 for parking in a handicap parking spot but the police officer doesn't decide that. The other "accusations" are just odd. The police officer could get in serious trouble for this sort of "joke."
If it was a campus cop he must be within 500 yards of the nearest college property to have jurisdiction. You will be fine on all but the handicap ticket. Though I think it is possibly a joke of some sort. Tell me more.
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