Reckless driving, need advice

[Seryoga]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? PA

Hi, I got a reckless driving ticket earlier today. Here is what happened. Two cars in front of me where pulling out from shopping center, they were making LEFT turn (Northbound), and because of oncoming traffic they couldn't pull out. So i pulled on their right side to make a RIGHT turn (Southbound). At this time my passenger side tire was about one foot onto the side walk. Since there were no cars coming in the Southbound direction i made right turn, and what do i know, the first car was some Lt. or Capt. (Cop in white uniform), of course he pulls me over and calls a squad car to give me a ticket. In tickets comments, the officer that arrived at the scene, wrote that i almost caused and accident, which is no true , because there were no cars coming in the Southbound direction, in which i was turning. He didn't even let me say anything in my defense, just grabbed my license, and walked away. When he came back with a ticket, the only thing he said was "You think you can come here and make your own laws, well you are wrong, not in my district" gave me my license and ticket and walked away. Now, I am a US Citizen, and live in "his" district for over 6 years, I was not born in US (came here in 1996) so i have an accent when i'm talking and consider his remark to be very insulting.

Here is the exact remark from citation: "Def went around all traffic waiting to leave driveway at above loc. Drove onto pavement and exited onto Bustleton Ave almost causing auto accident. Witnessed by CO7."

Also in section 60. of PA TC Citation he checked that vehicle was marked cruiser, but the officer that pulled me over was in UNMARKED Ford Taurus.
In section 25. of PA TC Citation the field "Filed on Information Received" has not been checked. Which in my opinion should be checked since i was given the citation by an officer who was not present at the scene, and wrote ticket on info received from a higher ranking officer/his supervisor.
They never told me to sign the citation either, in section marked "Defendant's Signature" they just wrote "issued".

I don't mind paying the fine, its the points that i'm worried about, i believe that "Reckless driving" is 4-5pts. What should i do to get rid of points?

EDIT: Also the officer that pulled up to give me a ticket, didn't even come up to me. He stopped behind CO's car, spoke with him, took my license, got back in the cruiser, and 30 minutes later came out and gave the ticket to CO, who walked up to me and gave it to me.

[caslerst]

You probably don't have a legitimate defense to use in court. However, you might go to court and see if the officer that pulled you over shows up. Chances are if he's a captain, he'll be too busy to show up in traffic court.

I don't think the officer that was called and actually wrote the ticket would be allowed to testify as to what you did because he didn't actually see anything and he can't testify as to what the superior said because it's hearsay.

[Maestro64]

I guess it comes down to this, was there two lanes to exit the parking lot or just one, if it was one then you have a problem. More likely it was a illegal turn or driving outside marked driving lanes. However, Many time most parking lot exits are big enough to allow one car to turn right while another make a left and they are not mark so it hard to say if you were outside the lane. Thus the reason for reckless driving he knew of no other law you really broke. Reckless driving is subjective and hard to defend against.

So in your situation you have one person who observed you doing something then telling another officer to write a ticket. If you choose to fight this ticket both people must show up. If the person who make the claim does not show up you can get this ticket dismissed. Since anything the officer who wrote the ticket says about the incident would be considered hearsay and you have right to confront your accuser.

Also, just so you in PA the officer in the unmarked car can not initiate a traffic stop unless they meet certain requirements and especially if he is off duty that is why he called someone else since the ticket would have invalid on those grounds in PA.

Also, as far as I know all unmarked cars in PA must be Ford Crown Vic, PA has a law that states the used of all unmarked car must be disclosed publicly and I have not seen a Taurus on that list. So he might have been using an illegal unmarked car. But they could have disclosed this at some point in some obscure place.

On not signing the citation, PA has told all police forces not to do this anymore to keep out of the argument that some people have about thinking this would be an admission of guilt so the just write issue and be done with it.

[Seryoga]

First, thank you guys for responding to my question.

Here is the deal, I live in Philadelphia County, which is pretty big with many police districts. So they have one Philadelphia Traffic Court, and when you get a ticket in any of Philly's Police districts, you go to the same court which is located downtown. Because they have a lot of "violators", they have about 10 court rooms and schedule at least 50 people in each at the same time. In order to keep the cops on the streets instead of in the court all day, they have ONE cop for each court room, which represents ALL Philly cops. So the part about LEO not showing up in court will fail in Phila County Court.

As for the driveway where my unpleasant incident took place, its pretty wide. Basically its made so that vehicles exiting the shopping center can turn left and right at the same time, and there is still a part of that driveway used for vehicles entering the shopping center. In Layman's terms, THREE vehicles can go through the driveway at the same time.

The first vehicle (the CO that pulled me over) was blocking half of the lane meant for RIGHT turn and half that is meant for LEFT turn. So i pulled on his RIGHT side to make a RIGHT hand turn, at which point my passenger tires where about one foot onto the sidewalk.

Attached is a screen shot from Google Maps, showing that particular driveway where i was cited.

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g1.../SatImage1.jpg

[seniorjudge]

Originally Posted by Seryoga

...

The first vehicle (the CO that pulled me over) was blocking half of the lane meant for RIGHT turn and half that is meant for LEFT turn. So i pulled on his RIGHT side to make a RIGHT hand turn, at which point my passenger tires where about one foot onto the sidewalk.

...

That makes you guilty.

[Seryoga]

Originally Posted by seniorjudge

That makes you guilty.

Guilty of disregarding traffic lanes, but not a RECKLESS DRIVING. There was no traffic coming in the direction i was turning, and there was no pedestrians on sidewalk with it the line of sight. Come on, i thought this forum is for HELPING people not bashing them. I didn't ask if i was guilty or not, and as far as i know i'm innocent until proven guilty. Isn't that how it works in US?

How about the CO blocking TWO lanes of traffic? So the cops can do whatever they want and others cant? Is that how it works?

No offense Sr Judge, but the first two people who replied to my thread were more helpful.

[Maestro64]

I hate to say this, but your right your in the Philly court systems and they follow a different set of rules than all the other courts in PA. The officer is not required to show up, so the judge looks at the ticket listens to your story and then decides whether you are guilty or not.

Because of this, you do not get to cross example the officer to get to the facts.

You probably know about this link if not here you go

[url]http://courts.phila.gov/traffic/[/url]

If the Judge finds you guilty you do have an automatic right to appeal and at that time the officer would have to show, but means another day.

Oh driving on the payment the last time I checked is allowed since the payment is considered the road way. He probably meant to say sidewalk, but can't change his words so explain to the judge you drove on the payment to exist the lot an had to go around the first car since it was middle of the exit block flow of traffic.