shelbykayy
Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?
Alabama (Enterprise, AL)
I was driving down the road today to the grocery store and noticed a large police vehicle following really closely behind me. I traveled about 2 miles with the car behind me, and they never put on their lights. I checked my speedometer and it read "50". The set speed limit for the road was 45. I looked at my friend and said "they aren't pulling me over, are they? I'm not speeding, what could I be doing wrong?". I turned into the grocery store parking lot and they followed behind me, still never putting on their lights. I parked my car and proceeded to get out (didn't think they were pulling me over) and saw the vehicle blocking my car with the lights sitting on. There were two cops, a female and a male. The female harshly said: "get back in the car and roll down your window." At this point, I was extremely confused and rushed to do what she said.
The cops were SO rude. I have never been treated so ridiculously in my life. I'm a 19 year old female, but I'm in no way, shape or form am I a disrespectful or immature child. I have so much respect for those that defend our lives, my dad's in the military and I have multiple family members that are police officers (outside of Alabama). With that being said, these cops were the meanest people I think I've ever came into contact with.
I rolled down my window, with my best friend sitting by my side, and proceeded to talk to the cops. I asked "what did I do wrong?" and they said "WHAT DIDNT YOU DO WRONG? We've been following you all the way from Hickory Bend (a road in my neighborhood) and you've been speeding the whole way. You were speeding on Hickory Bend, which is 25 mph, shell field and this road (45 mph) " Hickory Bend is about 4 miles away from the grocery store. Now, I live in a small town where there is almost no traffic. My friend and I both noticed the police car pull up behind me about .5 miles away from the grocery store. The officers' stories make absolutely no sense. IF I had been speeding, why didn't the officer put her lights on and pull me over the minute they caught me?
Now, the cops claimed to have driven 4 miles behind me maintaining a speed of 60 mph (in a 45mph). Not once did they turn on their lights until they were behind me in the grocery store parking lot. We even sat at a red light before the turn into the parking lot. The officer told me that they didn't catch my speed on the radar because of how traffic was (makes no sense, they had plenty of time). I asked why they didn't pull me over for the whole 4 miles that I was "speeding", and why they didn't turn their lights on, and they said that it was easier for them to just follow me to the parking lot, and that they weren't going to pull me over in a neighborhood, or the main street of the town- claiming that it's hazardous. I've seen TONS of people pulled over in neighborhoods, on Shellfield Road (a small-town road with hardly any traffic and large sections of grass on the sides), and on the main road that they claimed I was speeding on. Especially the main road, theres a huge grass median and grassy area on the right side of the road.
The officer wrote me the ticket for "Reasonable/Prudent Speeding". On the ticket, the officer changes her story and says that they were following me from Dauphin Road to the grocery store. Near this road is exactly where I saw them pull out- only about .5 miles away from the store. BUT, they had previously told me they followed me all the way from my neighborhood 4 miles away. It makes no sense.
The ticket says "Paced from Dauphin Street to Pinehurst Street going 60+ mph in traffic".
1) I was not in traffic. There was absolutely no traffic on this road.
2) I looked at my speedometer and saw that I was going exactly 50 mph when they were behind me. YES I was speeding 5 over the limit. I would've been fine with a ticket for that and accepted my mistake.
My questions are:
1) Should I take this to court? I don't think the reasonable/prudent speeding applies to my situation, don't see why they didn't use their radar, and their stories were all over the place. They never made sense about where they had followed me from and I know that I wasn't speeding. They were also extremely rude to me and I'd love for a judge to hear the way they talked to strangers.
2) What should I do?
I think that I might've had a neighborhood complaint about the music in my car being too loud or something and they decided to take extreme measures to punish me...I have no idea how they knew where I live but I know for a fact that HUGE SUV was NOT behind me or in my neighborhood. Also, I make sure to go the speed limit in it because my dog ran away a few weeks ago and I'm always looking around to find her. I was absolutely NOT speeding at all.
ALSO, is there any kind of complaint I can make about treatment? The cops were HATEFUL! For no reason! When I asked how they thought they knew I was speeding since they didn't use a radar on me, they told me if I want to go through the police academy and become trained then they'd be happy to sign me up but until then they're right and I'm wrong. They seemed very set on offending me and yelled at me like I was a child. I've been pulled over before and I have graciously accepted tickets and admitted my wrong-doing. I've never had cops be hateful for no reason- I always seemed to get along with them. This was downright CRAZY!
Alabama (Enterprise, AL)
I was driving down the road today to the grocery store and noticed a large police vehicle following really closely behind me. I traveled about 2 miles with the car behind me, and they never put on their lights. I checked my speedometer and it read "50". The set speed limit for the road was 45. I looked at my friend and said "they aren't pulling me over, are they? I'm not speeding, what could I be doing wrong?". I turned into the grocery store parking lot and they followed behind me, still never putting on their lights. I parked my car and proceeded to get out (didn't think they were pulling me over) and saw the vehicle blocking my car with the lights sitting on. There were two cops, a female and a male. The female harshly said: "get back in the car and roll down your window." At this point, I was extremely confused and rushed to do what she said.
The cops were SO rude. I have never been treated so ridiculously in my life. I'm a 19 year old female, but I'm in no way, shape or form am I a disrespectful or immature child. I have so much respect for those that defend our lives, my dad's in the military and I have multiple family members that are police officers (outside of Alabama). With that being said, these cops were the meanest people I think I've ever came into contact with.
I rolled down my window, with my best friend sitting by my side, and proceeded to talk to the cops. I asked "what did I do wrong?" and they said "WHAT DIDNT YOU DO WRONG? We've been following you all the way from Hickory Bend (a road in my neighborhood) and you've been speeding the whole way. You were speeding on Hickory Bend, which is 25 mph, shell field and this road (45 mph) " Hickory Bend is about 4 miles away from the grocery store. Now, I live in a small town where there is almost no traffic. My friend and I both noticed the police car pull up behind me about .5 miles away from the grocery store. The officers' stories make absolutely no sense. IF I had been speeding, why didn't the officer put her lights on and pull me over the minute they caught me?
Now, the cops claimed to have driven 4 miles behind me maintaining a speed of 60 mph (in a 45mph). Not once did they turn on their lights until they were behind me in the grocery store parking lot. We even sat at a red light before the turn into the parking lot. The officer told me that they didn't catch my speed on the radar because of how traffic was (makes no sense, they had plenty of time). I asked why they didn't pull me over for the whole 4 miles that I was "speeding", and why they didn't turn their lights on, and they said that it was easier for them to just follow me to the parking lot, and that they weren't going to pull me over in a neighborhood, or the main street of the town- claiming that it's hazardous. I've seen TONS of people pulled over in neighborhoods, on Shellfield Road (a small-town road with hardly any traffic and large sections of grass on the sides), and on the main road that they claimed I was speeding on. Especially the main road, theres a huge grass median and grassy area on the right side of the road.
The officer wrote me the ticket for "Reasonable/Prudent Speeding". On the ticket, the officer changes her story and says that they were following me from Dauphin Road to the grocery store. Near this road is exactly where I saw them pull out- only about .5 miles away from the store. BUT, they had previously told me they followed me all the way from my neighborhood 4 miles away. It makes no sense.
The ticket says "Paced from Dauphin Street to Pinehurst Street going 60+ mph in traffic".
1) I was not in traffic. There was absolutely no traffic on this road.
2) I looked at my speedometer and saw that I was going exactly 50 mph when they were behind me. YES I was speeding 5 over the limit. I would've been fine with a ticket for that and accepted my mistake.
My questions are:
1) Should I take this to court? I don't think the reasonable/prudent speeding applies to my situation, don't see why they didn't use their radar, and their stories were all over the place. They never made sense about where they had followed me from and I know that I wasn't speeding. They were also extremely rude to me and I'd love for a judge to hear the way they talked to strangers.
2) What should I do?
I think that I might've had a neighborhood complaint about the music in my car being too loud or something and they decided to take extreme measures to punish me...I have no idea how they knew where I live but I know for a fact that HUGE SUV was NOT behind me or in my neighborhood. Also, I make sure to go the speed limit in it because my dog ran away a few weeks ago and I'm always looking around to find her. I was absolutely NOT speeding at all.
ALSO, is there any kind of complaint I can make about treatment? The cops were HATEFUL! For no reason! When I asked how they thought they knew I was speeding since they didn't use a radar on me, they told me if I want to go through the police academy and become trained then they'd be happy to sign me up but until then they're right and I'm wrong. They seemed very set on offending me and yelled at me like I was a child. I've been pulled over before and I have graciously accepted tickets and admitted my wrong-doing. I've never had cops be hateful for no reason- I always seemed to get along with them. This was downright CRAZY!
