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[Midnight Rider]

OK...I f'd up...was heading home this evening...there's a long straight, with NO chance of anyone pulling out in front of you, about 300 yards from my street and my driveway.  I have a nice, sporty, new car, so decided to punch it a bit to see how it reacted.  Long story short...I was doing 74mph in a 40mph zone.  Everybody does at leat 50-60 during normal working hours.  This was at 8:00PM...no traffic.  All that is no excuse...I was speeding.  However, to pull in my driveway off the road they clocked me on, is basically a 30' dog leg.  Hoover police are pigs...everything on two sides of my subdivsion is Hoover, AL...about 1/4 th of a mile from Hoover City Limits, then County (I LIVE in the County, and pay taxes accordingly). So, I live in a zone that is appoximately 1/4th of a mile BETWEEN  Hoover, Shelby County, and then Hoover again.  Here's what happened:  I did the 74mph...stupid, but I did it.  I pulled into my basement, after opening the garage door, got out of the car...the cop was pulled up in my driveway with his lights on. Neither me, nor my wife, saw any blue lights until we were stopped inside my basement.  Before I shut the door, he was inside my basement door, ON MY PROPERTY, INSIDE MY HOME, and asked for my license, which I gave him.  He came back with a ticket for speeding.  Honestly, I didn't see the Blue Lights until I got in my basement...would have shut the door, but I saw the lights.  I don't think he has the authority to pull up in my driveway , walk into my garage, and issue a ticket, when I don't LIVE in his jurisdiction.

Am I full of chit, or can I protest this?  He can't prove chit...the ticket says "in the vicinity of their juristiction and not IN their jurisdiction"...he cannot clock me accurately in MY County 1/4th of a mile.  i think he is full of chit, technically.

Thoughts?  Am I f'd, or should I fight it on principle. As I said, they are truely pigs...they beat a guy who was unconcious, for no reason.  They stopped me once for tinted windows on my other car, which were installed by the dealer...I beat that, but had to have the tint removed at my expense...no big deal, it was 25 bucks...this counts points, and I don't want the points, though they won't effect my record, in the long run.  I was not endangering a living soul, other than my own.  I don't think cops should be able to issue tickets when you are on your property, unless you are doing bodily harm to someone.  If I can fight it and have a chance to win, I will, on principle...otherwise, I'll fold my hand and pay it...still got to go to court, either way.

[Mr. Warlock]

First check and see if they have an "extended" jurisdiction area, some areas do have this. If not then I would say fight, fight fight. I don't think you have any ground as far as him being on your property though, except that if he was out of his jurisdiction then he shouldn't have been there anyway. And the words everyone hates - Lawyer up!!

[pkl]

I believe if he says he started pursuit in his jurisdiction and followed you out of it he can still stop you. He said, he said. Maybe he won't show up at your court date.

[Pete7539]

Usually the geographical area of employment is extended into an adjoining county depending on whether it is a violation, your case, or a crime if he was off duty in an adjoining county. As long as he did not lose sight of you at any point he would have the authority to follow you onto your property for committing a violation in his presence. As for the legitimacy of the ticket, the radar/laser instrument is just considered an assisting tool. Any operator of one has to have been certified to do so and be able to calculate speed with their eyes to plus or minus 5 mph. Their vision is what holds up in trial the instrument is just to back it up. Case law has proven the accuracy of plain eyesight. I don't know how your courts work, but if there is an assistant district attorney they may confer with you for a plea of a lesser speed. Or you can plea not guilty and hope that the cop does not show up. Also with tint, ALL tint is illegal, no matter whether dealer installed or not. Standard auto glass has a slight UV protectant in it that reduces its light transmittance by about 15% bringing it down to 85%. Minimum transmittance is 70%, they don't make a film that i'm aware of that will yield that unless its on a pane of glass from a hardware store not in your car. Its a BS ticket, but its a reason to make a lawful stop.

[TN]

as stated earlier, lawyer up. with that kinda ticket it's not just the fine but the insurance companies strong arm you too.


good luck


TN

[spydglide]

Sorry ya got 'busted' TC, but I think you'll lose this one whether he was right or wrong.  He's going to claim that he had the right to follow you on to and in to your property as he was in continuous persuit.  He'll win that one.  Might want to pay an local attorney to play the 'system' and plead the case to a lesser plea.  Cost will be the same for short term but save on long term points/insurance increases.  Good luck.  spyder

[TinSpinner]

Another of life's aggravations, should be able to plead it down if you don't have a history of other lapses of judgement.

I agree that Hoover police are pigs. I have been all over the world and the only place on this planet that I ever spent a night in jail was in Hoover, Alabama due solely to the police making a big deal over an out-of-state license with a couple of staple holes in it and a hidden stop sign. Good luck!

[tompen]

After spending 17 years as a court officer, here is some things I learned. At this point it is unlikely you will beat a speeding ticket on any technicality. They can issue the ticket to you whenever and wherever they want. You can't prove you weren't speeding, because you were. The harder you fight, and the more things you try to use in your defense that are not directly related to this ticket, work against you.
Try to talk with the DA who serves the court and ask to plea to a lesser charge. In New York often the DA will recommend a plea to "failure to obey a traffic control device" which carries fewer points than speeding. However the judge knows what is going on and will fine accordingly. Of course if you have other speeding tickets this will not be as efffective. You should be able to do this without a lawyer.
If you feel you must tell the court how bad the police department is or how frustrated you are, remember the officer is doing what he was hired to do. It is not a defense and make them dig in and not want to make a deal. tell them after the judge makes his decision, but short of contempt.
You are out of your element in the court, and they are clearly in thiers. 
If this puts your license in jeopardy than Lawyer Up, pay your money, and be careful. If somebody else drove by your house 30 miles over the speed limit you would want the police to do thier job.
Just my 2c.
Good luck !!

[Buy early]

Clearly you did the crime & got caught. Man up and pay the fine. Negotiating to a lower penalty is legit. Lawyer up if that helps but stop trying to justify the action. If you want to regurlarly operate outside the law then move somewhere where the law is more loosely applied.

[cvobiker]

The LEO had all right to follow you on your property and enter your home/garage clearly because you committed a crime (speeding) in his jurisdiction. And he 'could have' even contested that he thought you were running from another crime or hiding something that would have given him more authority to slap your rear on the ground in handcuffs or even a taser shot    The way your story is told, i think the LEO treated this situation better in your favor then what he is trained to do.. If this would have happened in a big city like LA or New Jersey, you would have seen more then one blue light, more like a dozen and you would have been in hand cuffs...  I say count your blessings,, you admitted to speeding, forget about fighting this, pay your fine and dont let this episode bother you,,, Just jump on your Harley and ride for a awhile,  you'll forget all about it  

[djkak]

Sounds like you’re in kind of deep.  I wouldn’t mess around with it; call a pro, someone with a lot of experience dealing with this sort of thing. Give HOIST a call, and if he still has a valid DL, ask him for some help. After HOIST is finished with you, you should probably call a lawyer; someone with a lot of experience with this sort of thing.

[Chains]

Sorry to hear about your bad luck, but from a previous similar type of offense not much you can do.  I was running late to meet a customer one day at my shop and was going close to 75 in a 35, saw a cop go by and thought well I am less than a block away and stayed on it.  Called my guys had them open the door to the building and pulled way inside, thought i was clear when around the corner (in the building came a cruiser with lights and siren blaring.)  Needless to say he said he was in pursuit, as far as I new he never turned around but turns out he did.  Nothing I could do even on private property.  My guys all got a good laugh out of it and I paid the fine and slowed down, at least to a reasonable over speed.

If your record is clean go see the DA and plead to a lesser charge if you can.

Good luck

[Keats]

they (the Police) do not need to enter your Property to give you a ticket (it can be mailed).

Here is the rub, If you had a gated home,
They cannot enter the property legally without a warrant unless they believed a crime was being committed (reasonable cause) or they persued you
after committing a crime. 

In theory this is how it is supposed to work, but reasonable cause is the reason to enter.

You can request him to leave your Property, but this would probably buy you more trouble.

Pay the fine and request a hearing, most will knock down the penalty....

Good Luck



 

[110tHunDer]

 
Here you can take a driver education class and get the ticket removed from your record.  Still have to pay the fines (and there may even be a charge fort the class, itself), but you avoid the points and insurance implications.  Maybe they've got something similar there?

[Chains]

Alabama has the same system.