curl112003
Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? CT
Specific State Police Officer Targeting possible Harassment.
Hello, I am a 39 year old male professional (engineer) who rides a motorcycle to work on occasion. ( I am also a Chief in the Navy Reserves and the Chief of the Law enforcement detachment at my base). The motorcycle I ride is red and has a red windshield which makes it highly visible, and very recognizable. This is a racing style motorcycle which can accelerate and decelerate very quickly, but I my dominant riding speed is always just slightly above that of surrounding highway traffic. I was taught in my Motorcycle Safety class that it is safest to drive slightly faster than prevailing traffic, so you are in most cases approaching, so as to keep most of the traffic threats in your forward field of vision.
About 3 months ago while riding home from work, I was in the HOV lane, and the car in front of me was going below the posted speed limit. As there is no passing lane, I waited until an on ramp for the HOV came up (on the Left) and I moved into the onramp and passed on the left. To pass I accelerated quickly but slowed down to around 70 as soon as I got back into the HOV lane ahead of the other vehicle. The police officer who pulled me over, was nasty from the get go. He gave me a ticket for 99 MPH (which I can't agree or deny, the time period was so brief) which counts as reckless driving. I understood the ticket, but was upset with the obvious pleasure the officer was getting form giving me the ticket. It started with the simple comment of "Hello sir how are you", with a response from him " A whole lot better than you are, with a big smile". The rest of the experience was with similar attitude on his part. I expressed my displeasure with his nastiness after he issued me the ticket. I told him he was very unprofessional and I did not appreciate it. To this he replied with a snide remark and rolled up his window. I dealt with this ticket by the accelerated rehabilitation program to avoid losing my license which has a probation period of 6 months (still under).
SO NOW MY QUESTION - This morning an the way to work, I am commuting on the highway, and traveling slightly faster than prevailing traffic.
I will give some info for time line.
I was behind a small black Toyota (Tercel or similar) and trying to adjust the sneakers bungeed to the seat behind me. The Toyota shifted to the middle lane and accelerated to possibly 95 MPH. I did not accelerate commensurately, but maintained my lane position and accelerated a small amount. I have nothing to prove, I don’t race, and I would not race on public roads. The Tercel pulled away from me and continued to exceed my speed by a fair amount until he had to slow for the traffic ahead.
I maintained my speed and eventually caught up to and passed the Tercel. After this I approached a traffic cluster with 3 large tractor Trailers and a tight traffic pattern. I am very wary of riding in traffic clusters on the highway, especially those with Trucks as my visibility is lower, and with the congestion it is easy to be missed and accidentally cut off, by distracted cars, or the trailers. While trying to get through the cluster I got a little close to the car in front of me while pulling into the middle lane. I was now driving at the same speed as the surrounding traffic. I pulled to the right of the trailer ahead of me to discover there was another trailer just ahead of him in the far right lane. I maintained my lane position and was waiting for the truck to my left to pass me so I could get behind him again.
While in the right lane awaiting the truck to pass, a Police officer pulled up behind me without his lights on, then turned on his lights and pulled me over.
It was the same Officer as 3 months ago, He said he “did not need to see my Registration as he already had it, he just wanted my license. “. He would not answer any questions till after he ticketed me, and he ticketed me for 87 MPH in a 65 which is 2 MPH over the limit to allow it to count as reckless. I asked him if he was targeting me, to which he denied. I asked him about the Toyota, and he said he did not see any Toyota, but he described all of my driving actions completely starting with Me adjusting my sneakers. The Toyota was exceeding my speed by 10 to 15 MPH yet he pulled me over, he also must have followed me for several miles to have pulled me over after having seen me adjust my sneakers. If I was doing 87 as he claimed, how did he follow me at that speed without his lights on? For the several miles in between the adjustment and the pull over, and why did he not pull over the Toyota?
He maintained a primarily professional demeanor this time without any nasty smirks or comments, but I believe he has targeted me to pull over since I made the comment to him during our previous stop.
I am on Probation for traffic violations as a repercussion of the previous stop, and I can possibly lose my license. I have a 100 mile round trip to either my normal day job, or to the Navy Base for Duty, do I have any recourse?
Specific State Police Officer Targeting possible Harassment.
Hello, I am a 39 year old male professional (engineer) who rides a motorcycle to work on occasion. ( I am also a Chief in the Navy Reserves and the Chief of the Law enforcement detachment at my base). The motorcycle I ride is red and has a red windshield which makes it highly visible, and very recognizable. This is a racing style motorcycle which can accelerate and decelerate very quickly, but I my dominant riding speed is always just slightly above that of surrounding highway traffic. I was taught in my Motorcycle Safety class that it is safest to drive slightly faster than prevailing traffic, so you are in most cases approaching, so as to keep most of the traffic threats in your forward field of vision.
About 3 months ago while riding home from work, I was in the HOV lane, and the car in front of me was going below the posted speed limit. As there is no passing lane, I waited until an on ramp for the HOV came up (on the Left) and I moved into the onramp and passed on the left. To pass I accelerated quickly but slowed down to around 70 as soon as I got back into the HOV lane ahead of the other vehicle. The police officer who pulled me over, was nasty from the get go. He gave me a ticket for 99 MPH (which I can't agree or deny, the time period was so brief) which counts as reckless driving. I understood the ticket, but was upset with the obvious pleasure the officer was getting form giving me the ticket. It started with the simple comment of "Hello sir how are you", with a response from him " A whole lot better than you are, with a big smile". The rest of the experience was with similar attitude on his part. I expressed my displeasure with his nastiness after he issued me the ticket. I told him he was very unprofessional and I did not appreciate it. To this he replied with a snide remark and rolled up his window. I dealt with this ticket by the accelerated rehabilitation program to avoid losing my license which has a probation period of 6 months (still under).
SO NOW MY QUESTION - This morning an the way to work, I am commuting on the highway, and traveling slightly faster than prevailing traffic.
I will give some info for time line.
I was behind a small black Toyota (Tercel or similar) and trying to adjust the sneakers bungeed to the seat behind me. The Toyota shifted to the middle lane and accelerated to possibly 95 MPH. I did not accelerate commensurately, but maintained my lane position and accelerated a small amount. I have nothing to prove, I don’t race, and I would not race on public roads. The Tercel pulled away from me and continued to exceed my speed by a fair amount until he had to slow for the traffic ahead.
I maintained my speed and eventually caught up to and passed the Tercel. After this I approached a traffic cluster with 3 large tractor Trailers and a tight traffic pattern. I am very wary of riding in traffic clusters on the highway, especially those with Trucks as my visibility is lower, and with the congestion it is easy to be missed and accidentally cut off, by distracted cars, or the trailers. While trying to get through the cluster I got a little close to the car in front of me while pulling into the middle lane. I was now driving at the same speed as the surrounding traffic. I pulled to the right of the trailer ahead of me to discover there was another trailer just ahead of him in the far right lane. I maintained my lane position and was waiting for the truck to my left to pass me so I could get behind him again.
While in the right lane awaiting the truck to pass, a Police officer pulled up behind me without his lights on, then turned on his lights and pulled me over.
It was the same Officer as 3 months ago, He said he “did not need to see my Registration as he already had it, he just wanted my license. “. He would not answer any questions till after he ticketed me, and he ticketed me for 87 MPH in a 65 which is 2 MPH over the limit to allow it to count as reckless. I asked him if he was targeting me, to which he denied. I asked him about the Toyota, and he said he did not see any Toyota, but he described all of my driving actions completely starting with Me adjusting my sneakers. The Toyota was exceeding my speed by 10 to 15 MPH yet he pulled me over, he also must have followed me for several miles to have pulled me over after having seen me adjust my sneakers. If I was doing 87 as he claimed, how did he follow me at that speed without his lights on? For the several miles in between the adjustment and the pull over, and why did he not pull over the Toyota?
He maintained a primarily professional demeanor this time without any nasty smirks or comments, but I believe he has targeted me to pull over since I made the comment to him during our previous stop.
I am on Probation for traffic violations as a repercussion of the previous stop, and I can possibly lose my license. I have a 100 mile round trip to either my normal day job, or to the Navy Base for Duty, do I have any recourse?
