TX: How do I fight this dumb ticket?

[tangman]

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

I was driving along the highway and I spotted a parked police car, with lights on, in the shoulder. The officer was in the car not outside.

So I slowed down gradually to about 48-50 mph.. and passed him. He starts following me. So I drive to the next exit on the highway, which happened to be about 1/3 mi down the road, take it and park in an empty parking lot. I thought it would be safer for us off the highway.

The officer flips out and pulls me from my car to the ground at gunpoint, and cuffs me. Then he and some backup cops start search my car. After I explained that I wanted to pull over in a safe spot. They said they thought I was evading. (I drove under the speed limit the whole time).

After some more macho words he decides to write me a ticket for: "failure to signal lane change" and "passing authorized emergency vehicle". Thing is, I didn't even change lanes, and I slowed down before passing him. There's also no alleged speed on the ticket.

So my questions are:
Will they dismiss the signal-lane-change because I didn't change lanes?
Can I argue that I slowed down before passing him, can I request to check the police video?
Can they dismiss the whole ticket because the charges are contradictory (either I changed lanes.. or I passed him..)

Any other advice is greatly appreciated.. I've never gone to court before.

 

[FlyingRon]

Will they dismiss the signal-lane-change because I didn't change lanes?

If you took the exit you changed langes.

Can I argue that I slowed down before passing him, can I request to check the police video?

You can usually make a request for discovery, but there are procedures that apply to the particular court you're appearing in (and that needs to be done before your court date typically).

Can they dismiss the whole ticket because the charges are contradictory (either I changed lanes.. or I passed him..)

What makes you think these are contradictory?

 

[tangman]

When I exited the highway, I indeed signaled.

The officer cited me for "failure to signal lane change" because he says I should have changed lanes when I saw him. He's obviously upset and embarrassed for overreacting and not being able to arrest me, having called 3 other officers to the scene. He just wanted to ticket me for anything possible at that point.

In any case, I didn't make a lane change without signaling.

 

[Dougthegreat]

In any case, I didn't make a lane change without signaling.

If the officer agreed with you, he wouldn't have cited you, and precedent shows that the judge will agree with him.

 

[The Occultist]

What was the speed limit? Texas law requires that you change lanes, or if that's not possible to slow down to 20mph or more below the posted limit. If the court believes you when you say it wasn't possible for you to change lanes away from the emergency vehicle, you'll still need to worry about your speed. If the speed limit was 70 or less, then you'll likely be found guilty of that charge.

 

[tangman]

The speed limit was 65.

The ticket itself has no alleged speed for how fast I was going. It's a totally subjective call on the officer's part that I was going too fast. He probably wasn't even looking when I passed him.

I am 100% sure that I slowed down to less than 50mph before passing. If I say I slowed down to 45mph, how can he refute that?

As for not changing lanes, maybe I could've, but it was at night, I couldn't see too well, I was already slowing down as soon as I saw him, I didn't want to take my eyes off the road, I just decided the safest thing to do was slow down and pass him. He was not outside his car. Any idea how this explanation would hold up in court?

 

[The Occultist]

Things are not looking very well for you. By your own posts, you admitted to breaking both of the either/or requirements for passing an emergency vehicle. It's possible that for the charge to stick the officer must give a speed, but I'm not actually sure how the Texas courts will view this. Do keep in mind that the officer will be offering his expert, unbiased testimony that you were driving too fast, while your testimony will most certainly be viewed as a tad biased in your favor.