 Intermediate Drivers License Violation
Missouri. waynesville to be exact
I'm 17 years old, My birthday is 9/12/89. On the night of August 18th at 1:55 I had just got done dropping off a friend of mine at their house, they had to get home.. parents were asleep.. no excuse to be driving i know, I did it anyways. I broke no laws, drove the speed limit, did everything I could to drive safely. I have been pulled over before, I have a recognizable car, I don't have good luck with the police in my town- regardless.. they know me. I was pulled over right before the wPD jurisdiction ran out, the police officer had no opportunity to see me or recognize me in any way besides my car. I asked what I had done wrong and the officer stated he had prior knowledge I was operation under an intermediate drivers license. How did he know it was me? He claimed the car is registered under my name. It is under my fathers name and my name. He ended up giving me a ticket for 'Intermediate Drivers License Violation', told me he was unable to give me a price for the ticket, and told me it was mandatory court appearance.
Okay everyone makes mistakes. I can handle that I thought....
My court date was set to 9/20 on that.
Tonight, on September 2, ten days before my birthday, having been pulled over once for driving past curfew.. I let my friend jon with a graduated license drive my car around. I decided to stay at his house in st. robert, missouri (about 3 miles away). I decided to drive my car from waynesville Mcdonalds to the interstate on-ramp, where waynesville PD jurisdiction ends (keep in mind this is a distance of less than 1/4 mile). Amazingly as i'm pulling up to the stop sign leading out of mcdonalds onto the main road I see a police car driving up the road. I stop at the stop sign fully, then duck down.. afraid he would try to spot me as the driver of the car and pull me over. Once he passed me I pull out and proceed towards the on-ramp. He pulls to the side of the road, waits until I am on the on-ramp and flips his lights on at appx 2:10am. As he gets out of his vehicle I notice it is the same officer as before... As he walks up to the window I say to him, Officer this is nothing like last time. I'm just trying to get home in st. robert, I have been having my friend drive me around this whole time. He states, well that's in violation of your intermediate drivers license isn't it? I said i'm just trying to get home sir, I wasn't breaking any laws. Why did you pull me over? He said, "Well the lucky thing is I have had so much experiance dealing with you that I was able to recognize me as the driver." When I told him I had been afraid of that and had ducked down so he could not recognize me as the driver, what if my friend was driving still? He told me very aggressively that I could just fight that in court then. He came back with a ticket for the same cause as before, 'Intermediate Drivers License Violation', again he told me it was mandatory court appearance, and again he did not inform me of a price. He made me call somene to come get me. He deliberately left my registration and proof of insurance in his vehicle, in what I see as an attempt to aggrivate me, when he handed me the ticket and my license.
Both times I have been pulled over while not breaking any laws besides the curfew. I believe the curfew is there in the first place to keep inexperianced drivers off the road at more dangerous times. Both times I have been driving for almost two years, while that is not an excuse and does not exempt me from the laws, I find myself put in a situation where I am practically harassed by my local police department. Please save any snide comments as I have already had a very long discussion with my parents and I don't need any more reprimands. Please help me in some way.  | 
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