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Supposedly Ran Red light in NC

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Snorky27

Junior Member
What is the name of your state? North Carolina

Allow me to go through the full situation so that it's best understood...

Driving into work, there is a + shaped intersection I cross. Three sides of the + are regular highway, with the 4th being the entrance to my work parking lot. Cruising right along, I went through the traffic light (admittedly yellow) without speeding, or to the best of my knowledge, the light being red.

Being a cold morning at work (and needing to wait on the bus) I opted to wait in my car for several minutes for warmth. After approximately 4-5 minutes of sitting in my car, a member of the Cherokee PD (in Jackson Co.) approached my car, said I sped through the intersection, and wrote me a citation for going through a red light. He mentioned that he was across the street; I'm not even sure he was in his car. I believe he just eyeballed it. (The specific citation was GS 20-158(b)(2).)


Now, rumor has it, there's a law that if a cop cannot keep a visual on you then they cannot cite you (and there were several minutes which went by presumably as the cop was trying to find my car in the parking lot.)

Is this a valid defense? Simply saying "I didn't run a red light" is pretty poor if it becomes my word against his. Any other advice? Thank you!!
 


Sabor

Member
You need to have passed the limit line while the light was red(IN CA AT LEAST, dont see why it would change, basic structure). He has no evidence to show you were speeding. He did not say he used radar, if he had he would have pulled you over immediatly as he was ready to pull someone over. By written declaration, insist you do not disagree with the fact the officer thinks you may have ran the red light, however, because he was not driving behind you, he did not have a view of your actual light status, therefore he had no clear view of the violation he states. Note that if he used another lights status as indication of your light, it is invalid, as the lights may have been timed wrong and state he will need a engineer log for that day to prove it was not. To ASSUME the lights were working in perfect harmony is hearsay and lack of evidence. Similiar to not using pitch fork before using a radar gun. That is assumtion the radar unit is working properly. Finally, state as the officer may have been confused as to the law of limit lines he may have also been confused as to pulling over the wrong car some 4 minutes later elapsed, and is assuming you were the driver and that is your vehicle.

Side Note: The fact this officer got into his car and tracked your arse down indicates to me you must have blantantly ran that red light. Why would he chase you down for a questionable light offense, they usually also NEVER do that. Now maybe if your black or hispanic and he might be racist or something, but i really doubt it. So my advice, dont run red lights anymore you might kill someone, but if you didnt, the above paragraph will help you state your defense. The steps here are.
Written Declaration.
Look up red light law, and limit line of red light(you wil find out wh at that means)
State the situation of the incident in question, where he was, where you were, state he was not in clear view. And if you are black or mexican, try throwing in a race card, he singled you out. But best bet here is juts to state it so when the officer reads the written declaration he really does question the reason he pulled you over. If is quesitonable about it, he probably wont write back, if you really ran it he will remember why he got in his car in the first place. Good luck.
 

Snorky27

Junior Member
Hrmmmm...

Firstly, Sabor, thank you for your thought-out response.

As for whether I ran the light or not, I'm going to have to say no, I didn't. I know this based primarily on my knowledge that the light was yellow... I was not speeding, but since I have a small, sporty car I think he saw me go through the light, heard me, and assumed I was speeding. Since he didn't have any way to gauge my speed, I think he went for the red light violation (as that apprarently requires little or no proof.) Wish I could play the race card but I'm as white as they make em.
 

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