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What can I do? Cops abuse of power

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Z

zoelynn

Guest
I was making a legal turn in the left hand turn lane on a green arrow when someone pulled from nowhere speeding past me. She was honking her horn and flipping me off. All other signals were red, and she was not in the turn lane with me, so I assume she ran a red light.
She followed me down the road flipping me off, and swerving. I wrote her License plate number down in case she hit me, then tried to get away from her. She followed me for ten miles. I got mad and flipped her off then sped past her in the other lane. She got behind me and was riding my tailogate talking on a cell phone. She turned off, and I was releived. Five minutes later a cop going in the opposite direction turned and pulled me over.
He was abrasive, yelling at me, asking why I was speeding and driving recklessly, I was confused and said yes, all those things haqd happened but it was the other person doing it and I tried to give him her plate number. He demanded my license and registartion and insurance, I handed him all those thing, and was shaken up by his entire demeanor. He THREW the items he didn't want back in through my window. He refused my insurance even though it was valid.
I live in California, and I was afraid, they have the power to tow your vehicle without insurance. He came back over an HOUR later and had written five citations. They were all fixable viloations. A crack in the windshield, driving with an out of state license (i just moved here, and had an appt. the next week) DRIVING without insurance, a clear plastic cover over my license plate, and no front plate. (there are no mounting brackets on my car for a front plate.
I went home and looked up the violations. He had marked them all NON CORRECTABLE. He also wrote four of the violations with the wrong code numbers. I have tried in vain to contact the office, they won't return my phone calls. I have a court date in a month and a fine of 1700 dollars because he wrote me four wrong violations and non-correctable violations.
What do I do? I don't have 1700 dollars and I don't think he had a right to pull me over and the other woman had no reprimand for false reporting. I belive the woman was probably related. No police officer reacts that fast to a traffic call, or acts in that abrasive manner. I have never had a ticket, and I don't know what to do.
 


M

Mikedani

Guest
Get an attorney that specializes in traffic court.
Or...
At the very least correct the violations that you were cited for, even though you think the officer may have used the wrong sections.
You can appeal to the judge to dismiss the fix it violations. You still will have to pay a fine and court costs. If you explain your story, the Judge may give you a better deal.
It is not normal for an officer to write 5 separate fix-it tickets, this may give you proof of his attitude.

You say you tried to contact an office and they didn't call you back. What reason did you call? If you want to complain about the officer, you should go to the office and file a complaint with his supervisor. This they cannot ignore.
 

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