Seatbelt ticket / probable cause?

I'm in Tennessee (Memphis), so if anyone could help with any applicable law or point me to a ruling, I'd appreciate it. My story:

I was behind a police officer at a red light. The light turned green, and the officer was attempting to make an illegal left hand turn (which is a major problem at that particular intersection) and his blue lights weren't on, and neither was his siren. I tapped my horn and pointed at the "no left turn" sign. Nothing. I tapped the horn again. The officer immediately leapt out of the car and walked up to my window (his partner stayed in the squad car). I explained that it was a no left turn and I was just trying to make him aware of it. He had some serious attitude going, he was very condescending, and said he was in the middle of responding to a call (which was b.s. and both of us knew it). He also told my passenger to buckle up, or else he would write me a ticket. My passenger immediately complied. The officer then turned to walk back to his squad car. I said there was no reason for him to attempt making a left hand turn when there was a cross street within sight. He turned around, told me to pull over and wrote me a ticket. The whole process lasted about 15 minutes (must not have been an important call that the officer was responding to, huh?).

Now, I complained to his supervisor, who told me that his lights and siren should have been on - call or no call. He also said that the officer's partner verified my story, and told me that he was going to lecture the officer and "get his attitude in check," but unfortunately he couldn't dismiss my ticket. I'm going to go to court rather than pay it.

Now I need some help.
1) prior to getting out of his car, the officer had no reason to believe that anyone in the front seat did not have their seatbelt on.
2) my passenger buckled up when the officer told him to, and the officer was satisfied, and he began to walk back to his car.
3) this whole farce was nothing more than to teach me a lesson about honking my horn at an officer disobeying a traffic law. i mean, how dare i?

so what can i do? any probable cause/justification type of thing here?


[Edited by ThomasJ on 07-25-2001 at 07:12 PM]

[HomeGuru]

Yes there is probable cause that you will not prevail.

[racer72]

IAAL would have a field day with this one. But I can resist giving a probable cause for not wearing a seat belt. Anyone that honks his horn at a cop must have some pretty big 'nads and the seat belt would not fit.

Originally posted by HomeGuru
Yes there is probable cause that you will not prevail.

You know, HomeGuru, I've read a few of your responses and you must either be:

A former Police Officer (we all know they are *never* wrong)
B. former court member (usually *never* wrong)
C. just a plain old condescending bag.

Do you ever read the red type above the reply entry screen?
"When Replying to a message, please be considerate, respectful and polite. Remember, there is a human being on the other side of that computer screen."

Most folks herer are looking for a thread of help and respect, not some "HomeGuru" cracking wise...

It's obvious that this guy ran across on of Memphis' finest - I know, I live there... tapping the horn may *not* have been the brightest of ideas, but these primadonas have laws to obey as well. I have also been the victim of one of these "cops" that almost killed my wife and I running a red-light and almost broadsiding us. He pulled US over and began to give us grief about interfering with his call! The call was so important that he spent 20 minutes harassing us, illegally searching and detaining us... I even asked for a ticket so I could have his name - he would not do that either!

So, the moral is, the are people that have dealt with these "public servants" and have had bad experiences. You do *nothing* to help and add *not a thing* to a constructive discussion. Please refrain...

[racer72]

MarkH, my question to you is, do you think someone with almost 10,000 replies on this board know what they are talking about? The gentleman asked a question and received a valid reply unlike my attempt at below the belt humor. I would suggest that you hold your opinions of those that take the time to answer the questions of those that visit this board. Of course, Homey as us board regulars call him, is probably having a good laugh at your expense.