FuriousGeorge
New Member
Essex County, NJ
I came upon an intersection that was almost being closed off for a festival. A large stage was being erected in the middle of the intersection. In my lane a rookie officer has parked her car perpendicular to traffic, effectively blocking off passage.
She stands in the other lane, very effectively creating the impression, all things considered, that the road is closed, while she attempts to direct a 5-way intersection, and some early foot traffic for the fair.
As I approach she comes to me, makes a series of gestures and says something which I couldnt quite hear, but I interpreted to mean stop and turn around.
So, naturally I begin to slowly make a k-turn but stop into the first point of the turn because while I was sure the road was closed, the officer looked so frantic I thought that there might be some emergency... perhaps an accident erecting the stage.
Suddenly, she sees me, looking at her, and looking at the stage into the first point of my turn, and she looks even more frantic. She starts off with "What are you stupid or something, I'm writing you up."
I respond with "I'm not stupid, but you must be new. Is this your first day?" I try to convey, that it was an honest misunderstanding which she caused, she writes me an illegal u-turn ticket for three points.
I'm sure in court they will offer me no points and a larger fine, but I think I can get myself off the hook here, so I'm thinking of rejecting the deal. What is the opinion of the forum? Here's my plan?
First of all I plan to argue a mistake of fact.
You can argue mistake of fact if a stop sign is put where there was none before, and as a result you ran it. Why is an ambiguous signal on the day when they erect a massive stage in the middle of the street any different than a sign obscured by bushes?
I believe I will have a chance to question the officer first. I have a diagram, and I want to set up my defense by asking questions like
-"is it possible that your position, and the position of the car may have created the impression the road was closed? (if she says no) "is it unreasonable that someone would think that."
-if she still wants to be difficult about that I can ask "How often in your career has the first car in a queue made an illegal uturn in plain site. (what is it about you that makes people want to commit crime around you?)
-I also plan to ask a lot of question about specifics hoping to get a lot of "I dont remembers"
After questioning ill argue that i have a perfect driving record, so it is not reasonable that I would make an illegal uturn in front of a traffic cop. when first in line, unless she had conveyed that as her wish.
Similarly, if my intention was to make an illegal uturn, it is not reasonable to think I would have (being first in line) driven all the way down the street, just to turn around in front of the cop.
Therefore, i committed a reasonable error under the extraordinary circumstances. It must be a mistake of fact.
If that doesnt seem to be working ill ratchet it up a notch, and argue that I never made a uturn, but instead I made one point of a kturn, which is "crossing the double yellow", or perhaps could have been "disregarding the traffic officer", but not a three point illegal uturn. (my diagram will reflect, and perhaps i should bring this up first).
Finally, if necessary i will publicly question the young officers competence to direct traffic, explaining that I didnt want to go there, but they forced me.
A final thing I have going for me (i think) is that my licence still says i dont live in the city where i got the ticket. Shouldnt it be easier to argue mistake of fact if (on top of rookie cop, stage, and yearly festival) im not from the neighborhood?
Otherwise I can prove that I actually have lived here the majority of my life
Thanks to everyone who took the time to read this dissertation.
So, does the forum think I have a solid plan?
I came upon an intersection that was almost being closed off for a festival. A large stage was being erected in the middle of the intersection. In my lane a rookie officer has parked her car perpendicular to traffic, effectively blocking off passage.
She stands in the other lane, very effectively creating the impression, all things considered, that the road is closed, while she attempts to direct a 5-way intersection, and some early foot traffic for the fair.
As I approach she comes to me, makes a series of gestures and says something which I couldnt quite hear, but I interpreted to mean stop and turn around.
So, naturally I begin to slowly make a k-turn but stop into the first point of the turn because while I was sure the road was closed, the officer looked so frantic I thought that there might be some emergency... perhaps an accident erecting the stage.
Suddenly, she sees me, looking at her, and looking at the stage into the first point of my turn, and she looks even more frantic. She starts off with "What are you stupid or something, I'm writing you up."
I respond with "I'm not stupid, but you must be new. Is this your first day?" I try to convey, that it was an honest misunderstanding which she caused, she writes me an illegal u-turn ticket for three points.
I'm sure in court they will offer me no points and a larger fine, but I think I can get myself off the hook here, so I'm thinking of rejecting the deal. What is the opinion of the forum? Here's my plan?
First of all I plan to argue a mistake of fact.
You can argue mistake of fact if a stop sign is put where there was none before, and as a result you ran it. Why is an ambiguous signal on the day when they erect a massive stage in the middle of the street any different than a sign obscured by bushes?
I believe I will have a chance to question the officer first. I have a diagram, and I want to set up my defense by asking questions like
-"is it possible that your position, and the position of the car may have created the impression the road was closed? (if she says no) "is it unreasonable that someone would think that."
-if she still wants to be difficult about that I can ask "How often in your career has the first car in a queue made an illegal uturn in plain site. (what is it about you that makes people want to commit crime around you?)
-I also plan to ask a lot of question about specifics hoping to get a lot of "I dont remembers"
After questioning ill argue that i have a perfect driving record, so it is not reasonable that I would make an illegal uturn in front of a traffic cop. when first in line, unless she had conveyed that as her wish.
Similarly, if my intention was to make an illegal uturn, it is not reasonable to think I would have (being first in line) driven all the way down the street, just to turn around in front of the cop.
Therefore, i committed a reasonable error under the extraordinary circumstances. It must be a mistake of fact.
If that doesnt seem to be working ill ratchet it up a notch, and argue that I never made a uturn, but instead I made one point of a kturn, which is "crossing the double yellow", or perhaps could have been "disregarding the traffic officer", but not a three point illegal uturn. (my diagram will reflect, and perhaps i should bring this up first).
Finally, if necessary i will publicly question the young officers competence to direct traffic, explaining that I didnt want to go there, but they forced me.
A final thing I have going for me (i think) is that my licence still says i dont live in the city where i got the ticket. Shouldnt it be easier to argue mistake of fact if (on top of rookie cop, stage, and yearly festival) im not from the neighborhood?
Otherwise I can prove that I actually have lived here the majority of my life
Thanks to everyone who took the time to read this dissertation.
So, does the forum think I have a solid plan?
