What is the name of your state?California Orange county
I was driving my fiancé to work at about 7:45am. I had just turned onto my street heading right (East) from the right most driveway from my apartment complex (there are 3, starting from the west to East). There is a sign that is lit up saying “school zone” from the middle one on towards the east. A crossing guard was preparing to cross the street (they were waiting for enough children/adults to gather so they could take a larger group across). Suddenly we heard a whistle from the crossing guard who had not raised his stop sign or put his hand out or walked onto the road yet (so he was still on the sidewalk). This crossing guard usually blows the whistle to warn drivers that he is about to walk into the road (kind of like a yellow light), crosses with the group to the middle of the road, then remains there until the last person walking reaches the sidewalk and then returns to the original side of the road. An officer was at this crosswalk intersection but he was facing south. He then pulled me over and said that I failed to yield to the crossing guard. When I said he wasn’t in the road yet and I couldn’t stop less than 10 feet from the intersection, he claimed I had 5 seconds to react to whistle, despite it being misty (barely raining off and on) and a car tailgating me.
What are some arguments I can make? Does a crossing guard need to be in the road with the sign raised? What evidence does the prosecution (aka the city) need to show that I actually didn’t yield (such as dash cam from the officer, local cameras etc)?
I also found this part from the California Vehicle Code 2815: "Any person who shall disregard any traffic signal or direction given by a [crossing guard] ... when the guard is wearing the official insignia of such a school crossing guard, and when in the course of the guard's duties the guard is protecting any person in crossing a street or highway in the vicinity of a school or while returning thereafter to a place of safety" I think the officer fails to establish this.
I was driving my fiancé to work at about 7:45am. I had just turned onto my street heading right (East) from the right most driveway from my apartment complex (there are 3, starting from the west to East). There is a sign that is lit up saying “school zone” from the middle one on towards the east. A crossing guard was preparing to cross the street (they were waiting for enough children/adults to gather so they could take a larger group across). Suddenly we heard a whistle from the crossing guard who had not raised his stop sign or put his hand out or walked onto the road yet (so he was still on the sidewalk). This crossing guard usually blows the whistle to warn drivers that he is about to walk into the road (kind of like a yellow light), crosses with the group to the middle of the road, then remains there until the last person walking reaches the sidewalk and then returns to the original side of the road. An officer was at this crosswalk intersection but he was facing south. He then pulled me over and said that I failed to yield to the crossing guard. When I said he wasn’t in the road yet and I couldn’t stop less than 10 feet from the intersection, he claimed I had 5 seconds to react to whistle, despite it being misty (barely raining off and on) and a car tailgating me.
What are some arguments I can make? Does a crossing guard need to be in the road with the sign raised? What evidence does the prosecution (aka the city) need to show that I actually didn’t yield (such as dash cam from the officer, local cameras etc)?
I also found this part from the California Vehicle Code 2815: "Any person who shall disregard any traffic signal or direction given by a [crossing guard] ... when the guard is wearing the official insignia of such a school crossing guard, and when in the course of the guard's duties the guard is protecting any person in crossing a street or highway in the vicinity of a school or while returning thereafter to a place of safety" I think the officer fails to establish this.
