14 CCR 4326(a)

[arbitraryandaimless]

I was at a California off-road event and was parked at an obstacle. I was unaware of the law stating that alcohol must stay at camp. I was not drinking alcohol, it was merely in the cooler in my vehicle. Officer searched through it and wrote ticket for 14 CCR 4326(a) alcohol on premises. He then emptied out my beer cans and even threw some cans on the floor for me to pick up. Do I have a shot at fighting this mean cop?

 

[Just Blue]

I was at an off-road event and was parked at an obstacle. I was unaware of the law stating that alcohol must stay at camp. I was not drinking alcohol, it was merely in the cooler in my vehicle. Officer searched through it and wrote ticket for 14 CCR 4326(a) alcohol on premises. He then emptied out my beer cans and even threw some cans on the floor for me to pick up. Do I have a shot at fighting this [edit for language] of a cop?

1. What state?
2. Your language is objectionable and violates the TOS of this site. Please edit out the vulgar language.

 

[arbitraryandaimless]

1. What state?
2. Your language is objectionable and violates the TOS of this site. Please edit out the vulgar language.

My apologies. California.

 

[Taxing Matters]

Officer searched through it and wrote ticket for 14 CCR 4326(a) alcohol on premises.

What prompted your encounter with the cop in the first place and did you give consent for the search of your cooler?

 

[quincy]

Were there signs posted in the area about alcohol possession?

 

[arbitraryandaimless]

What prompted your encounter with the cop in the first place and did you give consent for the search of your cooler?

I was with a group of people hanging around the parked cars. The ranger claimed to see someone drinking out of a can and assumed it was alcohol. No one was drinking anything. No one claimed to be the owner of the vehicles and the officer stated he then had the right to search through them then.

 

[arbitraryandaimless]

Were there signs posted in the area about alcohol possession?

Not that I saw, it was nighttime.

 

[zddoodah]

I was at a California off-road event and was parked at an obstacle. I was unaware of the law stating that alcohol must stay at camp. I was not drinking alcohol, it was merely in the cooler in my vehicle. Officer searched through it and wrote ticket for 14 CCR 4326(a) alcohol on premises. He then emptied out my beer cans and even threw some cans on the floor for me to pick up. Do I have a shot at fighting this mean cop?

Why on Earth would you want to fight a cop? That seems awfully silly.

I assume you're talking about section 4326(a) of Title 14 of the California Code of Regulations. As you can see, that regulation states that "No person shall (a) violate any provision of an order posted pursuant to the provisions of section 4301(i) hereof including, but not limited to, prohibited areas, use periods, no alcoholic beverage areas, no smoking areas and no parking areas, where posted in accordance with 4301(q)."

Your post provides insufficient information to assess whether you have any valid defense to the ticket you received (other than a possible claim for an illegal search). How much is the ticket?

 

[quincy]

https://govt.westlaw.com/calregs/Document/IB08EC8E0D48511DEBC02831C6D6C108E?newType=FullText&originationContext=documenttoc&transitionType=CategoryPageItem&contextData=(sc.Default)

First, not knowing the law is not going to help you. Claiming the car wasn’t yours when it was is not going to help you. If you were in a prohibited area, that won’t help you.

What potentially could help you is the search of your vehicle and cooler based only on the ranger claiming he saw someone drinking something.

I think you should speak to an attorney in your area to see if the ticket can be dismissed. It probably won’t be - but it could be worth a personal review.

 

[quincy]

For a look at another poster who was charged with violating 14 CCR 4326(a) - a misdemeanor - following is a link to a 2012 thread. The facts differ from what you present here but you might find the advice offered by an attorney (You Are Guilty) and a California law enforcement officer (CdwJava) helpful. The law has not changed since 2012, by the way.

https://forum.freeadvice.com/threads/posted-order-violation-should-i-fight-it.580332/

I especially like the poster’s plan to have an alcoholic testify as an expert witness.

 

[NeilTheCop]

I especially like the poster’s plan to have an alcoholic testify as an expert witness.

I'd offer my help, but I'm only a trainee alcoholic; I haven't taken my bar exams yet.