Failed to dim lights- Out of officer sight.

What is the name of your state? NY

I am planning on defending myself later this week on a citation of "failed to dim lights"

My defense is, the officer was coming from opposite direction, then he lost sight of me, made a U TURN, and after a half mile or so stopped me.

He told me he had to do 70 in a 35 zone to catch up with me, i.e. I was speeding too. But he didnt ticket me for that.

Can anyone point me to case law where it says the officer can not loose sight of me.

When I asked him when he ticketed me, how do you know it was me?

He said:
There is not alot of silver minivans in this town...;-)

Rivkele said:

...
My defense is, the officer was coming from opposite direction, then he lost sight of me, made a U TURN, and after a half mile or so stopped me.
....

Click to expand...

How is this a defense?

Another entry in the lame excuse Hall Of Fame.

Rivkele said:

What is the name of your state? NY

I am planning on defending myself later this week on a citation of "failed to dim lights"

My defense is, the officer was coming from opposite direction, then he lost sight of me, made a U TURN, and after a half mile or so stopped me.

He told me he had to do 70 in a 35 zone to catch up with me, i.e. I was speeding too. But he didnt ticket me for that.

Can anyone point me to case law where it says the officer can not loose sight of me.

When I asked him when he ticketed me, how do you know it was me?

He said:
There is not alot of silver minivans in this town...;-)

Click to expand...

It would be related to criminal law and permitted witness testimony. Failure to provide complete tracking and at night is a serious negative to the witness credibility, however most LEO's are very skillful at lying and stick to a very basic script, so a good lawyer is needed most of the time to cross them up successfully.


How many cars were around will also factor in... Might be worth your while to try and get an equipment violation on that one and work it from that angle... for instance perhaps the bulb in your dash wasn't working and you had to put in a new one...

I dont know why some of you think it's not a good excuse. We were apart a half a mile before he caught up with me. It was not a highway, it was a city with streets, I could have been turning in from 10 streets since he saw that Silver MiniVan first.

I dont think equipment can work, as he says the high beems were on.

Rivkele said:

I dont know why some of you think it's not a good excuse. We were apart a half a mile before he caught up with me. It was not a highway, it was a city with streets, I could have been turning in from 10 streets since he saw that Silver MiniVan first.

I dont think equipment can work, as he says the high beems were on.

Click to expand...

I mean the little blue indicator light in the dash that tells you if high beams are on or not...

I agree that you do have a defense with a shot at working.. there is most definetly reasonable doubt due to the disconnect in tracking... but that is if you get an open minded judge... they usually like to be "high and mighty" and above the "peasants" who come in...therefore due process and proper procedure by the trier of fact is somethimes elusive... and a better approach may be a humble and sorry admition along with paid receipt showing the equipment problem was fixed.

What is the name of your state? NY
I am planning on defending myself later this week on a citation of "failed to dim lights"
My defense is, the officer was coming from opposite direction, then he lost sight of me, made a U TURN, and after a half mile or so stopped me.
He told me he had to do 70 in a 35 zone to catch up with me, i.e. I was speeding too. But he didnt ticket me for that.
Can anyone point me to case law where it says the officer can not loose sight of me.
When I asked him when he ticketed me, how do you know it was me?
He said:
There is not alot of silver minivans in this town...;-)

Click to expand...

Everyone has a right to their day in court. You missed a great opportunity however when the law enforcement officer (LEO) said, "There is not a lot of silver minivans in this town." At that moment you should have said, "You mean like the one that just passed me flying up the road with its high beam lights on."

The fact that he had to go 70 in a 35 to catch up has no bearing on the case as the LEO obviously would have to travel much faster than you if he had to turn around to track back in your direction to catch your vehicle. Just because he had to travel that fast does not mean you were speeding.

I was stopped years ago for the same reason (no ticket). The first thing the LEO did was a set of sobriety tests. Once I passed the tests I asked him why he pulled me over. He stated that I did not dim my high beams when he passed me going the opposite direction. Later I told my LEO buddy about it. Apparently that's a sign of drivers under the influence. Therefore it's a good reason for the LEO to make a stop. After that little episode I certainly became more vigilant about dimming my lights to oncoming traffic.

You could attempt to come up with a razzel dazzel defense, but for a citation like this I agree with cepe10 that a better approach may be a humble and sorry admission along with paid receipt showing the equipment problem was fixed. There's a chance, with the right judge, they'll toss the ticket. . . The LEO gets paid for his time at court, and that's the only thing you'll lose by going. I'd take the shot.

KTL

Seems quite common for an equipment violation to be given out when they lost track of the original vehicle.

True story:

Back in 1996, I owned a black 1973 Chevrolet stepside pickup. On a Sunday afternoon, while watching an NFL playoff game, I got a knock at my door in the barracks... The MPs were there. They asked me to step outside, and identified my truck as one their desk sergeant had seen peeling out from the stop light in front of the MP station less than 15 minutes prior.

Problem was, I didn't drive that truck... All I did was start it every Sunday, let it warm up, and shut it down. It was my Drag truck, and I raced the brackets at RIR in the summertime. I had warmed it up during halftime, so they claimed the heat from the hood meant it was me. Ever drive a dragster in the winter?

Of course... How many Black Chevrolet pickups of that body style (73-87) were on base?

I debated with them for a while, and one got called away as backup on another traffic issue. The PV2 was ordered to write me a ticket. He felt it was unjust, so he wrote me a $55 equipment ticket for my cracked windshield.

I paid the ticket, and never fixed the crack... It passed state inspection 2 months later with the crack on the passenger side, and it was small enough to pass the safety tech inspection at the track. I just didn't feel it was worth my time to go to FEDERAL COURT over $55 (that's where tickets written on-base go).