lmichaels63
Junior Member
What is the name of your state? New Jersey
Recently I was involved in an incident in a mall (supermarket) parking lot in New Jersey.
I pulled in to the parking lot and was driving along the front of the supermarket.
Just before the “marked crosswalk” there was a woman with her shopping cart stopped
and talking to a person who was parked in the fire lane. She was standing in the middle
of the road talking to this person with her shopping cart. Her child who is 2 years old was in the basket of the cart. As I approached this woman with my vehicle I decided to turn left before reaching her into the one of the lanes of the parking lot. As I was making the left, the woman (who was not paying attention) decided to finish her conversation and start wheeling her cart across the road. When she finally turned her head to see where she was going, she noticed my vehicle turning before her.
I was probably 10 feet away from her. She looked at me and saw me shake my head gesturing that she should be paying more attention.
After I parked and got out of my vehicle, she came over and gave me sh*t about how
careless I was driving and that her son was in the cart.. I got a bit angry and told her that
she should have been paying more attention especially with her son in the cart. I also
added that it is not safe to be wheeling a shopping cart thru the parking lot with a child
in the basket. I went into the store to have lunch (20 minutes). When I came out of the store she was parked by my vehicle yelling that the police were on the way. I told her
that nothing happened and that she wasn’t paying attention and I drove off.
When I got home that night I had a voice mail from the police saying that I was
going to be issued a careless driving ticket.
I picked up the police report to find out that this woman claimed I hit her shopping
cart with my vehicle in the marked crosswalk and that she had a witness who worked for the store. The report said the witness concurred with her story.
I called the store security to see if they might have this incident on film.
They checked the tapes for me but could not find the incident.
I called the witness, who is a young guy who collects the carts outside the store.
I asked him what he saw. He said he saw me hit the cart with the front of my vehicle. I asked him how the cart reacted to the hit. He said I hit it so slightly that it didn’t move. I would think no matter how slight a car hit a shopping cart it’s gonna do something. I did however get him to admit that this did NOT happen in the marked crosswalk as this woman stated on the police report (one point for me).
Sorry to be a bit long winded but I wanted to state all the facts.
Anyway, I was wondering what you guys thought about this case?
Is the simple fact that she was untruthful about where this all happened
(she said it was in the marked crosswalk and the witness says it didn’t)
enough to prove she’s a liar.
Is this a done deal because she has a witness?
Do I need a lawyer?
Isn’t there some law about moving violations on private property?
Any help here would be appreciated.
Thanks Again!
Recently I was involved in an incident in a mall (supermarket) parking lot in New Jersey.
I pulled in to the parking lot and was driving along the front of the supermarket.
Just before the “marked crosswalk” there was a woman with her shopping cart stopped
and talking to a person who was parked in the fire lane. She was standing in the middle
of the road talking to this person with her shopping cart. Her child who is 2 years old was in the basket of the cart. As I approached this woman with my vehicle I decided to turn left before reaching her into the one of the lanes of the parking lot. As I was making the left, the woman (who was not paying attention) decided to finish her conversation and start wheeling her cart across the road. When she finally turned her head to see where she was going, she noticed my vehicle turning before her.
I was probably 10 feet away from her. She looked at me and saw me shake my head gesturing that she should be paying more attention.
After I parked and got out of my vehicle, she came over and gave me sh*t about how
careless I was driving and that her son was in the cart.. I got a bit angry and told her that
she should have been paying more attention especially with her son in the cart. I also
added that it is not safe to be wheeling a shopping cart thru the parking lot with a child
in the basket. I went into the store to have lunch (20 minutes). When I came out of the store she was parked by my vehicle yelling that the police were on the way. I told her
that nothing happened and that she wasn’t paying attention and I drove off.
When I got home that night I had a voice mail from the police saying that I was
going to be issued a careless driving ticket.
I picked up the police report to find out that this woman claimed I hit her shopping
cart with my vehicle in the marked crosswalk and that she had a witness who worked for the store. The report said the witness concurred with her story.
I called the store security to see if they might have this incident on film.
They checked the tapes for me but could not find the incident.
I called the witness, who is a young guy who collects the carts outside the store.
I asked him what he saw. He said he saw me hit the cart with the front of my vehicle. I asked him how the cart reacted to the hit. He said I hit it so slightly that it didn’t move. I would think no matter how slight a car hit a shopping cart it’s gonna do something. I did however get him to admit that this did NOT happen in the marked crosswalk as this woman stated on the police report (one point for me).
Sorry to be a bit long winded but I wanted to state all the facts.
Anyway, I was wondering what you guys thought about this case?
Is the simple fact that she was untruthful about where this all happened
(she said it was in the marked crosswalk and the witness says it didn’t)
enough to prove she’s a liar.
Is this a done deal because she has a witness?
Do I need a lawyer?
Isn’t there some law about moving violations on private property?
Any help here would be appreciated.
Thanks Again!