Home     Law Advice     Insurance Advice     Community    
Go Back   FreeAdvice Legal Forum > TRAFFIC LAW > Speeding and Other Moving Violations

Powered by Attorney Pages


  Find An Attorney In Your Area    
 

Reply
 
LinkBack Thread Tools Rate Thread Display Modes
  #1  
Old 01-14-2003, 03:53 PM
Giamilton
Guest
 
Posts: n/a

Speeding ticket VBR (long)


What is the name of your state? Oregon
On the morning of Friday, the 16th of August, I was heading eastbound on Burnside at approximately 1 AM heading to I-84 to return to my home in SE Portland.
I made a left turn at 6th and Burnside and approached Couch Street. There is a stop sign at that corner with a group of men congregated on the SE corner of Couch and Sixth, It was a warm night and I had all my windows down in my 2002 Subaru. As I came to a complete stop, the men on the corner (a group of 3-5 young men 18-25) watched me as I came to a stop, there was a car parked at the corner with 1 man on the street at the drivers window and the rest on the curb. The men made several comments of which two caused me great alarm. The man on the street turned so he was at my passenger window, leaned on my car and said “ let me driver your car man”, at the same time a voice from the curb also said, “take us for a ride” when the man had leaned on my car all I could think of was that my windows were down and that my doors were unlocked. I quickly decided that this was not a good situation and proceeded to turn left on couch heading west. I looked in my rear window and the men were yelling something I couldn’t hear and gesturing wildly, the car parked on the corner lights came on and he honked at least once. The light was green at couch and MLK so I quickly turned right and accelerated for the freeway on- ramp about 2 blocks away. I turned onto the freeway at approximately 45-50 miles an hour and quickly accelerated onto the freeway, checking my rearview mirror as I drove, as I merged onto the freeway it was at this time I noticed a car very rapidly accelerating down the on-ramp 500-1000 feet behind me. I was at this point doing, and I’m not sure exactly but from my gearing maybe 65-70 MPH, when I saw that car behind me I was sure it was those men and I proceeded to accelerate fully. I was not aware of my exact speed at this time as I was concentrating on the road ahead, I checked my mirror and the car was still accelerating with me, still maybe 500-1000 feet behind me, I was aware that I was moving pretty good and was not comfortable so when I got a little space between myself and the pursuing young gang members, I slowed to search for my cell phone and call the Police, it was at this point the pursuing car caught up with me and I realized it was in fact a Portland Police vehicle with no roof lights. At once relieved it was not the young men who verbally accosted me, I was now dealing with a whole new situation. I had just recently received my license reinstatement and was extremely worried I was going to be arrested. The police car tailed me for about ¼ mile or more, while I’m sure he ran my plates. Then he turned on his lights to pull me over, I waved to the car and motioned that I was pulling over, I then moved into the right lane and looked for a suitable area to pull over. When I pulled off to the shoulder, I turned my car off and waited for the officer to approach. The first thing I hear is “ Damn, these WRX’s are fast!”
I replied, “You guys scared the hell out of me! I thought you were these guys back there!”
I don’t recall ever word exchanged between Officer Adrian and myself, but he asked for my keys “so there won’t be a problem” and asked me if I had been drinking, to which I replied that earlier that evening I had in fact had a few drinks, I also said that I would be happy to perform any field sobriety tests he would like me to, to which he responded, “that won’t be necessary, I don’t believe you are inebriated.” He also commented that he saw I had just gotten my license back, and told me that he had paced me at 100 mph, I responded that I was in fear from some young men, and, he commented that he saw me get on the freeway “really moving” He then said, he couldn’t catch me and that he even had the police cruiser floored. I again tried to explain about the situation before he saw me and Officer Adrian said something to the effect “we will see in court” He then asked me later how many horse power my car had, to which I replied “227” He then said to his partner “can you believe 227 hp in this little thing?” Then he cited me and returned to his patrol car, it was at this time I had to ask for my keys back, Officer Adrian laughed and handed my keys back commenting it’s good thing we didn’t forget those. Officer Adrian was most courteous and in a very good mood.

I believe I am innocent as I was under duress and was acting in self-preservation of my health and safety. I believe that Officer Adrian commented he saw me “really moving” his probably cause to pull me over had already been established before he pursued me with NO flashing lights on.
If I was indeed pulling away from his patrol car, I am concerned that he should have attempted to pull me over at once, instead of allowing me to potentially get away. I have never in my life resisted, berated, confronted or ran from the police. I have however had a gun pulled on me by gang members in Texas and have been accosted on another occasion in the Parks block North of Burnside. I am upset that Officer Adrian allowed me to reach such a high rate of speed and never once attempted to make a traffic stop until I had slowed down to call the Police.

I already plead not-guilty and plan on telling exactly as described above, do I even have a chance? Is there any one part of what happened that "might" get me off the hook? I go to court next week. I also asked the officer if he thought I was driving dangerously or erratic and he said "no" The ticket is on an Interstate and was written as a VBR.

Last edited by Giamilton; 01-14-2003 at 04:59 PM.
    Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 01-14-2003, 10:25 PM
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: california
Posts: 7,789
your story is interesting but not enough to get the speeding ticket set aside. nothing in your post indicates you saw the car with the mean guys following you. you had to go 2 blocks to reach the freeway. Did you ever notice if anyone was following you?

Once you got on the freeway you continued speeding but there was no one following you. Just because you were scared at one point on the street corner doesnt justify you speeding the rest of the evening.
    Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 01-15-2003, 02:56 AM
Giamilton
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
Well I see your point. Maybe I will get lucky. I just can't wait to get it over with. Thanks for your input.
    Reply With Quote
Reply



Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools
Display Modes Rate This Thread
Rate This Thread:

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On
Forum Jump

All times are GMT -5. The time now is 11:53 AM.



IMPORTANT NOTICE
THE VIEWS EXPRESSED ON THIS PAGE WERE NOT REVIEWED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OR ATTORNEYS AT FREEADVICE.COM. Thousands of professionally prepared and reviewed questions and answers in 130 legal categories are to be found at the Question and Answer pages at FreeAdvice.com.

F
reeAdvice Forums are intended to enable consumers to benefit from the experience of other consumers who have faced similar legal issues. FreeAdvice does NOT vouch for or warrant the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any posting or the qualifications of any person responding. Use of the Forums is subject to our Terms and Conditions which prohibit advertisements, solicitations or other commercial messages, or false, defamatory, abusive, vulgar, or harassing messages, and subject violators to a fee for each improper posting. All postings reflect the views of the author but become the property of FreeAdvice. Information on FreeAdvice or a Forum should not be relied upon and is not a substitute for advice from an attorney licensed in your jurisdiction who you have retained to represent you. To locate an attorney visit AttorneyPages.com. Copyright since 1995 by Advice Company. All Rights Reserved.