My Wheelie ticket and the Outcome
11-23-2003, 04:15 AM
#1
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Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: Milwaukee/Tosa
Age: 43
Posts: 1,722
My Wheelie ticket and the Outcome
Well, about a month ago I got a ticket for doing a wheelie. It was kind of bogus because the cop only saw the guy behind me doing one but I got in trouble anyway. I posted about it on SBN and got a bit of flack for it so I figured I would post the outcome here. Here was my post on SBN to get you guys up to speed...
The spot we were at was about a half mile or a bit longer in length. Where we had the camera was about three quarters of the way down the road. The road is flat and nice except for a hill at the end, which is where the cop came from. I started my run on the long portion of the road going away from where the cop was coming. The camera shows rolling by the the camera panned to the other direction to film Andy behind me. When he turned that way you can see the top of the hill. A minivan crests the top and then he sees the cop behind it and puts down the camera. The cop passes the minivan at the bottom of the hill where another road intersects and proceeds to go after Andy. I was riding the shoulder at about 5mph waiting to turn around when I looked in my mirror and saw Andy and the cop (couldn't tell it was a copper at the time) behind him in the distance. When Andy realized what was going on he was close to me and pulled up right behind me. I didn't know what the hell was going on so I just stayed put...big mistake. The cop asked us for our licenses and the whole time I'm thinking Andy will get a ticket and I'll get a "I know what you were doing but can't prove it" warning. So the cop goes to his car and after a long wait comes back with two tickets. I'm like what the hell but its already too late to argue etc. In my past experience once the ticket is written its a done deal until court so I figured I would argue it there.
(No need to respond to this portion) Anyway, my question is, how should I go about taking care of this. Should I go at it myself, confident that I have good evidence and witnesses or should I get a lawyer (kind of strapped for cash). Also, how can I go about getting the evidence against me. I think he had a camera in his car but I don't know if it was on. I am extremely confident that even with the camera in his car, there is no way he could of seen or filmed me doing anything wrong. Another question I have is about the ticket. The dumbass cop was so observant that he wrote the bikes down wrong. He said I was on my friends bike and I'm assuming that he wrote that my friend was on mine. It would be nice if an error on the ticket could get it dropped but I doubt it.
So any thoughts or advice would be appreciated. I'd really like to get out of this because its 6 points and $360. To top it off, an 'Endangering Safety and Wreckless Driving' ticket does not look good on my record. I photoshopped up a pic of the scene...
Here is a key for the picture.
Black Dot-me
Red Dot-Guys filming
White Dot-Andy
Yellow Dot-Anonymous Rider
Green Dot-The minvan at the top of the hill.
Blue Dot-Of course, good old smokey.
The spot we were at was about a half mile or a bit longer in length. Where we had the camera was about three quarters of the way down the road. The road is flat and nice except for a hill at the end, which is where the cop came from. I started my run on the long portion of the road going away from where the cop was coming. The camera shows rolling by the the camera panned to the other direction to film Andy behind me. When he turned that way you can see the top of the hill. A minivan crests the top and then he sees the cop behind it and puts down the camera. The cop passes the minivan at the bottom of the hill where another road intersects and proceeds to go after Andy. I was riding the shoulder at about 5mph waiting to turn around when I looked in my mirror and saw Andy and the cop (couldn't tell it was a copper at the time) behind him in the distance. When Andy realized what was going on he was close to me and pulled up right behind me. I didn't know what the hell was going on so I just stayed put...big mistake. The cop asked us for our licenses and the whole time I'm thinking Andy will get a ticket and I'll get a "I know what you were doing but can't prove it" warning. So the cop goes to his car and after a long wait comes back with two tickets. I'm like what the hell but its already too late to argue etc. In my past experience once the ticket is written its a done deal until court so I figured I would argue it there.
(No need to respond to this portion) Anyway, my question is, how should I go about taking care of this. Should I go at it myself, confident that I have good evidence and witnesses or should I get a lawyer (kind of strapped for cash). Also, how can I go about getting the evidence against me. I think he had a camera in his car but I don't know if it was on. I am extremely confident that even with the camera in his car, there is no way he could of seen or filmed me doing anything wrong. Another question I have is about the ticket. The dumbass cop was so observant that he wrote the bikes down wrong. He said I was on my friends bike and I'm assuming that he wrote that my friend was on mine. It would be nice if an error on the ticket could get it dropped but I doubt it.
So any thoughts or advice would be appreciated. I'd really like to get out of this because its 6 points and $360. To top it off, an 'Endangering Safety and Wreckless Driving' ticket does not look good on my record. I photoshopped up a pic of the scene...
Here is a key for the picture.
Black Dot-me
Red Dot-Guys filming
White Dot-Andy
Yellow Dot-Anonymous Rider
Green Dot-The minvan at the top of the hill.
Blue Dot-Of course, good old smokey.
11-23-2003, 04:33 AM
#2
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Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: Milwaukee/Tosa
Age: 43
Posts: 1,722
So I got a lawyer because I didn't want to take this one up the azz. He requested the evidence against me and what we received was a joke. The ticket was almost illegible and the cop's notes said that I was the one who did the quarter mile wheelie in front of him and that the other guy with me was from Illinois. There were plenty of inaccuracies but I found out later that inaccuracies don't always matter.
So my lawyer went to court for me and tried getting me no points. Andy was at court for his ticket that day and the DA decided to handle both cases together. Andy admitted to doing a wheelie and said that I didn't (thanks for looking out bro). For his honesty and because of the lame *** evidence he gave Andy a sweet deal for the circumstances, 2 points and $180. The DA was not ready to offer on my case at that time so he kept it open for a week and I hoped for the best but the system does not like to just let anyone go. My lawyer tried to argue the crappy evidence but the DA just said that he would have the Cop come in and say oops, here is the right info, effectively calling my lawyers bluff since they both knew I could not afford to take the case to trial. So, after a week of waiting I found out that I got the same exact ticket as Andy, 2 point "Driving with obstructed view" ticket that carries a $50 fine and $130 in court costs.
I'm happy I guess. It sucks that it didn't get dropped, everyone at court new they didn't have **** on me but like I said, the system won't let you out that easy. As my lawyer explained, it falls under an equal guilt law. If you are with someone who commits a crime, you commited it too. But, at any rate, this ticket won't affect my insurance which is most important to me.
So my lawyer went to court for me and tried getting me no points. Andy was at court for his ticket that day and the DA decided to handle both cases together. Andy admitted to doing a wheelie and said that I didn't (thanks for looking out bro). For his honesty and because of the lame *** evidence he gave Andy a sweet deal for the circumstances, 2 points and $180. The DA was not ready to offer on my case at that time so he kept it open for a week and I hoped for the best but the system does not like to just let anyone go. My lawyer tried to argue the crappy evidence but the DA just said that he would have the Cop come in and say oops, here is the right info, effectively calling my lawyers bluff since they both knew I could not afford to take the case to trial. So, after a week of waiting I found out that I got the same exact ticket as Andy, 2 point "Driving with obstructed view" ticket that carries a $50 fine and $130 in court costs.
I'm happy I guess. It sucks that it didn't get dropped, everyone at court new they didn't have **** on me but like I said, the system won't let you out that easy. As my lawyer explained, it falls under an equal guilt law. If you are with someone who commits a crime, you commited it too. But, at any rate, this ticket won't affect my insurance which is most important to me.
11-25-2003, 01:56 AM
#3
I Enjoy Posting At StuntLife!
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: tijauana, Mexico
Age: 46
Posts: 2,517
Man I got a wheelie ticket about 5 weeks ago, I received two tickets. I just put a wheelie light on my 900 and I was trying it out. anyways me and the guy with the r6 were going down this 2 mile long straight away and I lifted it up, I was so hyped over beeing able to see in front of me that I didntsee the po po coming from the right on an intersecting road. He seen me pass by right in front of him and keep going, He turned out to follow me and must have stayed behind john, so he said, until he could see my tail light in the distance. When I set it down he hauled *** up to pull me over. I received 2 tickets 1 for reckless and 1 for OAR with two different court dates.the reckless got sent to criminal court since it was my second offense, The first is another story, Iwent to that date and sat in court for about an hour and a half and the judge never called me. I raised my hand, Asked him if I was in the right place, He said he had no record of me having to be there and told me to see the court clerk. I went up to ask them what was going on and they told me it had been thrown out of court but they had no reason on file, Now I should have left it at that but I didn't want this to bite me in the *** later so I went to the D/A's office and they told me the same thing and the reason for throwing it out was they didnt have the evidence to convict me. Maybe you should fight it, you might win, If he don't have any evidence
11-26-2003, 12:52 AM
#6
I Enjoy Posting At StuntLife!
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: tijauana, Mexico
Age: 46
Posts: 2,517
Originally posted by Jokertlr
How did you make that wheelie light, I've been thinking about making one for a little while now. Did you just use a fog light from Walmart or did you get a nicer one.
How did you make that wheelie light, I've been thinking about making one for a little while now. Did you just use a fog light from Walmart or did you get a nicer one.
BTW, Stop by and check out the video I hooked up from this summer, Its
, FTP
11-28-2003, 06:07 PM
#9
Registered User
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Tosa , WI
Age: 44
Posts: 509
Friggin COPS and thier small genitles. Always after the stunters. Dosent dunkin doughnuts have a new flavor out or something that they should be worried about ?
On the better side of things i got busted twice this year for wheelies and got let off with verbal warnings both times. The lesson of the day is....... If your gonna get pulled over for doing wheelies , get pulled over in milwaukee
On the better side of things i got busted twice this year for wheelies and got let off with verbal warnings both times. The lesson of the day is....... If your gonna get pulled over for doing wheelies , get pulled over in milwaukee
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