SilencedMessage
Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? MA
Hi everyone,
I'm new to this site and I've never had any kind of ticket or experience in court so this whole process is very new to me.
I was pulled over for apparently running a red light in Lowell, MA. I was behind another car and I was pretty sure (not positive) that it was green. A cop turned on his lights and sirens and came out from the street on the right side of the intersection. After pulling me over, the only thing he said was "Not only was that light red, it was very red. License and registration (and also asked for my friend's license who was in the passenger seat)."
After he went back to his car, he came back with a citation and I tried explaining, "I honestly believe that light was green when I was going through it. I'm not saying you're wrong for giving me the ticket, I just really don't believe I did anything wrong."
Officer: "Accidents happen, drive more carefully. I was going to ticket the guy in front of you until you blew through it. You just made his day. Put on your seatbelt, drive safe."
The real problem is that I'm not 100% sure the light was green. Not that it's an excuse I'd use, but I was having a pretty stressful day, and was just trying to get back to my place. I plan on fighting this ticket, but as stated, I'm really not too sure where to start.
As of right now, my only real resource is google, and I don't know what to trust and what not to.
Once I get a court date, my plans include utilizing the "discovery process" requesting information on the timing of the traffic signal, any maintainence logs for the lights at that specific intersection, the arrest record of the police officer for three months prior to the date of your offense and his log for the day of my citation.
If they provide all of that and I cannot get it dismissed on that alone, then I could try to argue the angle at which the officer observed the violation, and also ask him details about the day which may lower his credibility?
I'm really not sure where to look, what to look for, and just how to go about this.
If anyone could provide me with some advice, resources, etc it would be much appreciated.
Thanks!
Hi everyone,
I'm new to this site and I've never had any kind of ticket or experience in court so this whole process is very new to me.
I was pulled over for apparently running a red light in Lowell, MA. I was behind another car and I was pretty sure (not positive) that it was green. A cop turned on his lights and sirens and came out from the street on the right side of the intersection. After pulling me over, the only thing he said was "Not only was that light red, it was very red. License and registration (and also asked for my friend's license who was in the passenger seat)."
After he went back to his car, he came back with a citation and I tried explaining, "I honestly believe that light was green when I was going through it. I'm not saying you're wrong for giving me the ticket, I just really don't believe I did anything wrong."
Officer: "Accidents happen, drive more carefully. I was going to ticket the guy in front of you until you blew through it. You just made his day. Put on your seatbelt, drive safe."
The real problem is that I'm not 100% sure the light was green. Not that it's an excuse I'd use, but I was having a pretty stressful day, and was just trying to get back to my place. I plan on fighting this ticket, but as stated, I'm really not too sure where to start.
As of right now, my only real resource is google, and I don't know what to trust and what not to.
Once I get a court date, my plans include utilizing the "discovery process" requesting information on the timing of the traffic signal, any maintainence logs for the lights at that specific intersection, the arrest record of the police officer for three months prior to the date of your offense and his log for the day of my citation.
If they provide all of that and I cannot get it dismissed on that alone, then I could try to argue the angle at which the officer observed the violation, and also ask him details about the day which may lower his credibility?
I'm really not sure where to look, what to look for, and just how to go about this.
If anyone could provide me with some advice, resources, etc it would be much appreciated.
Thanks!