reckless driving - age 17 - how do i handle it, what to expect?

[jnhall]

What is the name of your state?4th of july me and 2 friends, we'll call them carson and garret decide to go get some hardees to eat and shoot off several small bottle rockets a friend got, who we'll call carson. i'm 17, as are both of my friends.

i live in kentucky, on the edge of town right where it turns into hillbilly country.

we went to my church's back parking lot (it's a large church, this back lot is about the size of two soccer fields), because it's a wide open area, fairly well lit (street lights), and right next to a pond. i park my car right next to a gate on the inner side (away from the street) but we see a car approaching before we can shoot more than 3 rockets off. we fool around a little, letting the car chase us some.. we never go too fast, as i'm extremely scared of hurting my car. (my mom loves it)

we leave, and here is where our judgement really gets bad.. we decide to come back, see if they left or what. they have not, they are parked where i was parked. we fire a few rockets into the air out of my car window, quite a distance from the security car. it rolls toward us so we decide it's time to go.

we're on one side of the lot, and another car appears and drives across the lot, trying to cut us off. we speed up a little, and all of the sudden ....

blue lights. oh crap.

so i'm staring at the lights and thinking oh i don't want to hit this car, and while i'm braking my car goes up on the curb and blows the front passenger side tire.

so we stop, and park. the cop yells for me to get out of the car.

for one, this isn't a huge deal but he kept saying i was trying to flee from him.. which i obviously wasn't, because i hit the brakes as soon as i saw his lights, but he says i was trying to escape but i blew a tire. i didn't know i blew the tire until i stopped and got out of the car, all i knew is i saw a cop and stopped.

either way, he was in front of me, so i couldn't have gotten around him.

okay-- so here's the layout.

i'm 17, i have no previous offenses, i am a legal driver with car insurance. the same goes for all of my friends, and we also have never used drugs or alcohol.

he gave me a ticket citing reckless driving with a court date in a couple of weeks.

what should i expect in terms of insurance hikes, fines, court, and the like?

here is my plan so far.
- call up the security gaurd and apologize for harassing them and trespassing (she will be a witness at my trial, but we never met her during this ordeal.. the policeman just referred to her as a 'she')

- call up and apologize to the two boys' parents whom i got arrested (they aren't being charged)

- take a drivers class to get the points back on my license.

- write a statement to give to the judge, saying in so many words that i'm sorry for my actions and i've apologized, and that my parents are already punishing me for my actions, and that i've never done anything like this and ask for a reduced punishment.

if i left anything important out, sorry, and i'm also sorry this is very long... but if you made it this far, thank you very very much. i'm very worried and i would appreciate any knowledgable help !

[Robbie0723]

Looks you are taking steps in the right direction accepting responsibility for your actions and trying to make things right. No way to predict what this might do for you in court but a 4pt conviction is not the end of the world.

The officer cut you a break since he probably could have written you up for evading. [URL=http://transportation.ky.gov/drlic/point.htm]See Knetucky points,[/URL]

Check with you insurance company how much you insurance could go up. A lawyer would have a better chance of negotiating a reduction and could save you money in the long run.