Traffic Tickets, how long to issue/write them?

[carguy3j 0]

If a citizen wishes to sign a complaint, for traffic violations, what is the time limit, from the date the incident occurred? I've been told its 30 days? Is this true? If so, how is it counted? All days, or only business days? Is day 1 the day of the incident or the following day? If day 30 falls on a Sunday, is the next day (Monday) still "good"?

 

What is the process? Do I need to go the PD,or the municipal court? If I have to do it by Sunday, I guess that means the PD?

 

Do I need to know the statutes, or can they help with that, as long as I say what action I want to "charge". For example, if I say that I believe the other guy changed lanes without signalling, several times. Will they then be able to say "oh ok, then you want to alledge 3 counts of NJ XXXX:39xxx"

 

Here's the kicker..... I don't have a name, plate number of the vehicle, but the douchebag just sent me a pile of tickets, for what I thought was water under the bridge. If 30 days is the limit, he clearly tried to just squeak them in, leaving me only a couple days to file my own complaints. So, I'm assuming they can just get his info based on the tickets? Oh also, apparently he is a cop,in the town, and he signed the tickets himself, as a cop, not Joe Citizen. This all happened while he was in a personal vehicle, in street clothes, and gave no indication of being anything but a crazed erratic nut job. I was never pulled over, and didn't even know he was one of "them". Should I just go straight to the chief for all this, or what? I can't imagine his "brothers" will be too helpful in assisting me in piling on all of this wacko's deserved tickets.

 

Advice?

[mickeyduck 0]

Get yourself a traffic lawyer.

[High Exposure 5,664]

You have 30 days. Go to the local PD with the date, time, location and plate. They will help you pick the statute. If you truly feel that he was acting wrong, ask to speak to a supervisor regarding a citizen complaint and associated internal investigation.

 

For the record, it is proper for the Cop to sign the complaint as a Cop even off duty and especially in the jurisdiction he works in.

[Maksim 1,504]

If a citizen wishes to sign a complaint, for traffic violations, what is the time limit, from the date the incident occurred? I've been told its 30 days? Is this true? If so, how is it counted? All days, or only business days? Is day 1 the day of the incident or the following day? If day 30 falls on a Sunday, is the next day (Monday) still "good"?

 

What is the process? Do I need to go the PD,or the municipal court? If I have to do it by Sunday, I guess that means the PD?

 

Do I need to know the statutes, or can they help with that, as long as I say what action I want to "charge". For example, if I say that I believe the other guy changed lanes without signalling, several times. Will they then be able to say "oh ok, then you want to alledge 3 counts of NJ XXXX:39xxx"

 

Here's the kicker..... I don't have a name, plate number of the vehicle, but the douchebag just sent me a pile of tickets, for what I thought was water under the bridge. If 30 days is the limit, he clearly tried to just squeak them in, leaving me only a couple days to file my own complaints. So, I'm assuming they can just get his info based on the tickets? Oh also, apparently he is a cop,in the town, and he signed the tickets himself, as a cop, not Joe Citizen. This all happened while he was in a personal vehicle, in street clothes, and gave no indication of being anything but a crazed erratic nut job. I was never pulled over, and didn't even know he was one of "them". Should I just go straight to the chief for all this, or what? I can't imagine his "brothers" will be too helpful in assisting me in piling on all of this wacko's deserved tickets.

 

Advice?

 

Someone sent you tickets? So you want to send him tickets?

 

I am sure there are two sides to this story, whatever it is.

 

for the LE on the forum, from what I gather... citizen complaints don't typically hold up anyway, right?  

[High Exposure 5,664]

Sure they do. It is up to the judge to decide.

[djg0770 481]

Get yourself a traffic lawyer.

 

+1  You need representation.  Your word against the establishment means you're gonna fry.  A lawyer will even the playing field.  In fact I would contact the lawyer before attempting to counter complaint.

[carguy3j 0]

Get yourself a traffic lawyer.

Can't afford it. I'm barely scraping by, literally, with dollars to spare at the end of the month. Unless I get a public defender, no lawyer. Nor can pay any fines; I just can't. So, this is either going to have to go away, or it is going be very bad.

 

 

You have 30 days. Go to the local PD with the date, time, location and plate. They will help you pick the statute. If you truly feel that he was acting wrong, ask to speak to a supervisor regarding a citizen complaint and associated internal investigation.

 

For the record, it is proper for the Cop to sign the complaint as a Cop even off duty and especially in the jurisdiction he works in.

Thanks for the reply. I'm still a little confused though. Is it 30 calendar days, period? Or are there days that don't count, such as weekends or holidays? Again, when is day 1? The day of the incident, or the following day?

As I said, I don't have a plate. I have a general description of the vehicle, and since he signed/sent me tickets, his badge number. Will they help me work back from that?

 

In regards to the "official misconduct" thing. I don't know. I'm SURE he broke numerous traffic laws. However, again, it was all in a "personal" context. Does his status as a LEO mean he should ALWAYS be held to a higher standard? Does ANY misconduct by  him, whether off-duty or not equal "official"? I don't know. I'm not so much interested in that aspect of it, in regards to the incident itself. Its the fact that he is obviously using his status after the fact to bully me. If this were a private citizen, as I assumed at the time I was dealing with, that would have been the end of it. Because that "citizen" would have KNOWN he was in the wrong, and wouldn't have risked his own legal consequences. Not so with this LEO. I also think he used/abused his status/knowledge about that time limit, to intentionally squeeze in the charges just under the wire, making it difficult for me to get in my own. I feel like he is using his status to to satisfy a personal dispute/vendetta. Again, if he wasn't a cop, this wouldn't be happening. I don't know if that holds any water or not?

 

 

Someone sent you tickets? So you want to send him tickets?

 

I am sure there are two sides to this story, whatever it is.

 

for the LE on the forum, from what I gather... citizen complaints don't typically hold up anyway, right?  

 I assumed I was dealing with a "private" nutjob. I was afraid for my safety, and I didn't want to risk filing complaints, as it would mean exposing my personal info/identity to someone who might do me harm. This guy was BANGING his fist on my window, while still moving down the road. I just wanted it to be done and over with, and to never see him again. Obviously that's not the case now. He already has my information anyway. So, if he is going to falsely accuse me of some serious traffic violations, which have the very real possibility of making my continued survival nearly impossible, then yes. I will make sure that he has to answer for his actions. Or at least use it as leverage to save myself. I'm guessing he is not expecting much of a fight. Perhaps a giant pile of tickets of his very own will bring him back to reality, and we can all just walk away and call it a wash.

[carguy3j 0]

+1  You need representation.  Your word against the establishment means you're gonna fry.  A lawyer will even the playing field.  In fact I would contact the lawyer before attempting to counter complaint.

A.) No money B.) No time. 30 day clock is up tomorrow, assuming I'm counting right. Like I said, he appears to have timed this just right, to discourage and impede my ability to counter.

 

How far away would someone, hypothetically, need to be, for NJ to decline extradition on traffic/bench warrants? I can't imagine they would pay the costs of bringing someone back , from halfway across the country, on unpaid traffic tickets? Would they?

[pjd832 146]

Wow.... Sounds like there's a hell of a back story to this..lol

[SgtToadette 59]

I'm confused about what actually happened and what you're trying to accomplish. What I have come to understand is that someone sent you some complaints, and you want to get even with them by sending them some despite the fact that you have no information besides a name?

 

I agree with Maks, there sounds like there's more going on here...

[pjd832 146]

My guess is road rage incident based on the comment about banging on window ... But turned out to be a Leo in the other vehicle.....

[fireanicz 0]

It would be cheaper if you paid the tickets instead of moving. Once a warant is issued if you are stoped your going to jail. You can't run away from this, unless you want to live in Mexico.

 

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 4

 

 

[carguy3j 0]

I'm confused about what actually happened and what you're trying to accomplish. What I have come to understand is that someone sent you some complaints, and you want to get even with them by sending them some despite the fact that you have no information besides a name?

 

I agree with Maks, there sounds like there's more going on here...

A.) Douchebag on motorcycle is driving erratically in front of me, down the road, weaving all over the place, changing speed rapidly and erratically. Rider frequently looking at his crotch, first one hand then the other, back to the crotch, all while occasionally leaving the designated travel lane, and crossing the white line onto the shoulder, and back. No turn signals ever used. Once he even briefly put a tire over the double yellow. I was behind him for a couple miles. Traffic was "moderate", going about 30-35mph.

 

B.) Approached a red light.  There is a "straight through" lane, and a right turn lane at this light. Bike guy stops, 6-7 car lengths behind car in front of him, while straddling straight lane and turn lane, but being more in the turn lane then (if only slightly) He just sits there. Given the prior erratic driving, I go slowly go around him, on his left, and stop behind another car, as the light is still red.

 

C.) Light turns green, and I proceed normally. I assumed the bike ended up making his turn. Whatever. As far as I was concerned, he was gone and out of the picture. Moving on with my day.........

 

D.) Except not.... Bike comes flying up next to me, on the shoulder, expecting to cut in front of me. No dice. We go back forth He cuts in and out between the travel lane and the shoulder multiple times. No turn signals that I ever saw. Multiple times he sped up past my door, but didn't have enough room to get in. He would then fall back, and make another "run" at it. So, I'm counting each of those "runs" as a separate "improper passing", each move on/off the shoulder as "failure to keep right", "failure to maintain lane", (2) counts of "failure to signal" (in/out  movement of the lane should EACH be signaled), and lets throw in some "reckless" and "careless" as well. So, we go back and forth for a bit, exchanging "fingers". At one point, he gets close enough to my passenger window, and reaches over with his left hand (Hmm, maybe another "careless"- riding a bike one handed) and starts punching/banging my window. I roll it down slightly, we exchange words. I roll up the window. As we approach another light, he falls in behind me. Stays there for a while, then, when the road becomes 2 lanes, he passes me a roars off; only to cut back across my front bumper, slam on his brakes, and pull into a parking lot. I kept going, and assumed that was the end of it. Now, nearly 30 days later,on the button, I get a stack of bogus tickets.

 

Granted, I may have "inched" over in his direction to "discourage" his passing. BUT, a.) I never broke the speed limit, b.) I never left my lane and never crossed the white line onto the shoulder. HE was attempting to pass me  ON THE SHOULDER. (and a "dirty" one at that. He could have lost control at any moment)

 

As I said, I assumed that I had escaped a further encounter with a random road raging biker; only to find out a month later that it was a cop, hell bent on revenge.

[67gtonut 847]

Some way..... Some how..... get a lawyer

[medic2264 11]

Going to traffic court doesn't cost you anything until you loose.  

 

In my experience there are always three sides to the story:  His version of the incident, your version of the incident, and then what really happened.  However, for an off duty officer take the time to remember your plate and description, go into work and research who you were, then pen out multiple summons, and mail them out, something had to go down.

[Night Prowler 0]

Approaching the chief will probably will get you know where. At that point you would be admitting to aggressive driving. Go to court and chance a plea bargain with the prosecutor or retain a traffic lawyer. If you can't afford one you may be able to get one from legal services at a reduced coat or even free

[Tack Tickle 0]

Rider looking at his crotch??? What the eff???

 

When you are coming up to a light or in a lane on a motorcycle, you do not park in the middle of the lane, you stay to the side. That is so your tires are sitting in motor oil that has dripped... He may have taken you encroaching on him in a bad way...

 

Not letting someone in when they are on a 400 lb bike while you are in a 3,500 lb car could have been taken in a bad way as well...

 

Just saying.

 

A.) Douchebag on motorcycle is driving erratically in front of me, down the road, weaving all over the place, changing speed rapidly and erratically. Rider frequently looking at his crotch, first one hand then the other, back to the crotch, all while occasionally leaving the designated travel lane, and crossing the white line onto the shoulder, and back. No turn signals ever used. Once he even briefly put a tire over the double yellow. I was behind him for a couple miles. Traffic was "moderate", going about 30-35mph.

 

B.) Approached a red light.  There is a "straight through" lane, and a right turn lane at this light. Bike guy stops, 6-7 car lengths behind car in front of him, while straddling straight lane and turn lane, but being more in the turn lane then (if only slightly) He just sits there. Given the prior erratic driving, I go slowly go around him, on his left, and stop behind another car, as the light is still red.

 

C.) Light turns green, and I proceed normally. I assumed the bike ended up making his turn. Whatever. As far as I was concerned, he was gone and out of the picture. Moving on with my day.........

 

D.) Except not.... Bike comes flying up next to me, on the shoulder, expecting to cut in front of me. No dice. We go back forth He cuts in and out between the travel lane and the shoulder multiple times. No turn signals that I ever saw. Multiple times he sped up past my door, but didn't have enough room to get in. He would then fall back, and make another "run" at it. So, I'm counting each of those "runs" as a separate "improper passing", each move on/off the shoulder as "failure to keep right", "failure to maintain lane", (2) counts of "failure to signal" (in/out  movement of the lane should EACH be signaled), and lets throw in some "reckless" and "careless" as well. So, we go back and forth for a bit, exchanging "fingers". At one point, he gets close enough to my passenger window, and reaches over with his left hand (Hmm, maybe another "careless"- riding a bike one handed) and starts punching/banging my window. I roll it down slightly, we exchange words. I roll up the window. As we approach another light, he falls in behind me. Stays there for a while, then, when the road becomes 2 lanes, he passes me a roars off; only to cut back across my front bumper, slam on his brakes, and pull into a parking lot. I kept going, and assumed that was the end of it. Now, nearly 30 days later,on the button, I get a stack of bogus tickets.

 

Granted, I may have "inched" over in his direction to "discourage" his passing. BUT, a.) I never broke the speed limit, b.) I never left my lane and never crossed the white line onto the shoulder. HE was attempting to pass me  ON THE SHOULDER. (and a "dirty" one at that. He could have lost control at any moment)

 

As I said, I assumed that I had escaped a further encounter with a random road raging biker; only to find out a month later that it was a cop, hell bent on revenge.

[carguy3j 0]

Some way..... Some how..... get a lawyer

Does "Reckless" or "careless" qualify for a public defender? I think its either jail time or 1yr loss of license, for a public defender.

[carguy3j 0]

Rider looking at his crotch??? What the eff???

 

...........

Yes, we were going slow enough. I could clearly see that he was tilting his head down far more then would serve any other purpose other then to look down in the area of his crotch. Considering he also reached down more then once, and "re-arranged" himself, I stand by my assessment of his intended visual field. I don't know, or care why. I just know he wasn't watching the road at all times, he was driving erratically.

.........

When you are coming up to a light or in a lane on a motorcycle, you do not park in the middle of the lane, you stay to the side.......

Fair enough. If that was all it was, then perhaps that's all it would have been, and none of this would have happened. Given his erratic driving prior to this, it appeared differently to me, and I felt it would be safer for me to no longer be behind him.

..... He may have taken you encroaching on him in a bad way...

 

 

.......

Obviously. Its still no excuse for his actions. I passed him exactly once, while at a crawl, with more then enough room to go around him without crossing the double yellow. That should tell you how far over he was. It looked like he intended to turn. My "pass" put absolutely no one in any danger. His actions endangered everyone on the road. Whatever "slight" he perceived, its no excuse for multiple attempts to pass on the shoulder, at somewhat "normal" speed.

 

 

Not letting someone in when they are on a 400 lb bike while you are in a 3,500 lb car could have been taken in a bad way as well...

 

Just saying.

 

  This isn't a case of bad merging manners. I see no obligation to yield to a nutjob making multiple dangerous attempts to pass me on the SHOULDER! He had absolutely no right or claim to any sort of right-of-way there. If I mis-understood his intent at the light, well then perhaps I made a mistake going around him . But it doesn't justify anything that followed. I did nothing "aggressive" towards him, in terms of how I maneuvered my vehicle. I merely held my lane and spot. All he had to do, to remain safe, was to cease his unlawful and aggressive actions. As I said, if he wasn't hiding behind a badge, he wouldn't dare to bring any of this to light, because it would be clear that he would be the one in deep trouble.

[Tack Tickle 0]

This is all I really saw when I read your post. Again, just playing devil's advocate...

 

450 lb cycle vs 3,500 lb car. That is exactly what he is going to say.

 

Granted, I may have "inched" over in his direction to "discourage" his passing

[carguy3j 0]

This is all I really saw when I read your post. Again, just playing devil's advocate...

 

450 lb cycle vs 3,500 lb car. That is exactly what he is going to say.

Just to be clear, again, I never left my lane, nor crossed over onto the shoulder he was illegally using as his personal travel lane.

 

Yes, I see what you're saying. But, I guess my counter would be that if he was so afraid, and so conscious of the danger that my monstrous evil car posed to his sweet innocent little lightweight bike, then why would he continue to willingly, intentionally, blatantly, and unlawfully CHOOSE to continue putting himself in that dangerous scenario, by way of his multiple attempts to illegally pass me on a "dirty" "marble" filled shoulder? If he was so concerned for his safety, all he had to was stop. He isn't coming into this with "clean hands", not at all. Could I have done things different? Sure. But, much like drag racing, "first or worse". Even if you want to discount his earlier erratic operation, prior to the light, and characterize my super-low speed pass of him, at the light, as the "first" infraction, everything he did after is infinitely "worse". 

 

Maybe I should have reported this, and filed charges right away, but I just wanted to forget about it and get on with my miserable existence, such as it may be. Now this clown gets to come along, and essentially turn my life upside down, because he's butt-hurt over what should of have been a minor traffic dispute? I don' t think I can express just how much of a threat this is to me. I really can't "just get a lawyer". I can't. Not if I want to pay the rent, and eat. For the same reason, I would not, and could not pay any fines; so a plea "deal" is out of the question.

Not to mention, the whole concept of "fines" is fundamentally flawed. Restitution for actual damages?. OK. Makes sense. But armed robbery/extortion by the government for so-called "violations"? No. Bull. Why does some town deserve my hard earned money more then me? Why should I lose the roof over my head, or starve so they can line their pockets and buy more "toys".

[carguy3j 0]

Anyway, on a different "tack":

 

1.) Does him actually reaching over and HITTING my car with his fist amount to criminal actions? Assault? Terroristic Threats? Reckless Endangerment? (considering we were both in moving vehicles, surrounded by other motorists) I'm not looking to just "make things up", but I am looking to pile on anything that is legitimate under the circumstances. In this case, the best defense is going to be a very strong offense.

 

2.) I'm thinking my first statement to the judge will be to request a change of venue, to a neutral court. Given that this guy is a cop, and likely appears before this judge on a regular basis, and is probably on a first name basis with the prosecutor and all the court clerks,etc...., it hardly seems fair, or in the interest of justice for this case to be heard by this court. Surely, it would be prejudicial, and biased against me, as well as giving his testimony undue weight vs an impartial judge who has never net him before (and certainly one who doesn't "work with him" on the "same side" on weekly basis). I base all this on the fact that this is a PERSONAL dispute, occurring on/with his personal vehicle, and while he never identified himself as LE ; therefor he should enjoy no special privilege or weight to his testimony due to the nature of his employment. Again, if this was anyone but a cop, this would be a non issue. We would go to court (if he even had the balls to file the complaints to begin with). It would be my word against his, Maybe we get sent to some community dispute resolution,etc...., and ultimately it would go away. Again, he should get no special consideration because of his employment, as this did not involve his "official" capacity in any way.

 

So, any thoughts on the likely hood of success on this motion?

[Maksim 1,504]

I am going to send you a pm with an attorney.

[pjd832 146]

Im not inferring you are/are not telling the truth exactly as it happened and the Leo was/wasn't acting like a crazed maniac.....but beyond all that...I believe what it will boil down to is...in any "venue" home field or not is a sworn Leo's word is going to carry more weight with the judge/court/state.....UNLESS as mentioned the officer in question has a history/file full of misconduct I think you are hosed ....

 

perhaps the prosecutor/rep will discuss the situation with you prior to trial and offer a deal......while it sucks it may be your best shot aside from actually seeking paid legal counsel (I can't imagine the public defenders really are going to buck the system that feeds them) .....not knowing the charges/penalties you are facing...only you can weigh the financial damages and perhaps the lawyer is the cheapest....but good luck in any event

[Maksim 1,504]

Im not inferring you are/are not telling the truth exactly as it happened and the Leo was/wasn't acting like a crazed maniac.....but beyond all that...I believe what it will boil down to is...in any "venue" home field or not is a sworn Leo's word is going to carry more weight with the judge/court/state.....UNLESS as mentioned the officer in question has a history/file full of misconduct I think you are hosed ....

perhaps the prosecutor/rep will discuss the situation with you prior to trial and offer a deal......while it sucks it may be your best shot aside from actually seeking paid legal counsel (I can't imagine the public defenders really are going to buck the system that feeds them) .....not knowing the charges/penalties you are facing...only you can weigh the financial damages and perhaps the lawyer is the cheapest....but good luck in any event

And this is why in Russia, every driver with a brain will have a video camera recording at all time.

 

If this was at a traffic light, wouldn't there be video?

[pjd832 146]

And this is why in Russia, every driver with a brain will have a video camera recording at all time.

If this was at a traffic light, wouldn't there be video?

It's a sad state of affairs but you're right now and days you almost need a dash/interior cam/audio rolling 24/7......although I've had friends that have gone to traffic court and tried to show/have photos/video entered as evidence ...only to be told no and found guilty when they were clearly in the right....because they said the judges reasoning was he has to side with the most credible witness which is the officer...not sure if that's always the case...and never having received tickets or gone to traffic court I have no personal exp.

[carguy3j 0]

And this is why in Russia, every driver with a brain will have a video camera recording at all time.

If this was at a traffic light, wouldn't there be video?

I don't think so. It wasn't downtown Newark or anything.

In any case, that would only show the "start" of the situation. It continued for a while, through 2 more intersections/lights.

 

Now, if he had a chest cam or go-pro or something on the bike, that would be helpful. It would probably hurt me on ONE of the charges, but it would prove his insanity as well. I think I would take that trade. So, if it existed, I'm sure it will never see the light of day.......

[bry@n 195]

I understand your position but without a lawyer, you're screwed. I would borrow the cash or put it on a CC.

 

Having the attitude that you just pay for the lawyer or the fines seems an awful like setting yourself up for failure to me.

[djg0770 481]

I understand your position but without a lawyer, you're screwed. I would borrow the cash or put it on a CC.

 

Having the attitude that you just pay for the lawyer or the fines seems an awful like setting yourself up for failure to me.

 

+1

[Respect2A 0]

Lawyer up. Period.