[Chat] Case dismissed, was Re: Ticketed for talking

[Linda Forlifer]

Absolutely, write to the Northern District commander and community
relations officer.  It would be good to know what their response to the
situation would be.  Do they support aggressive demeanor to good
citizens questioning an officer?  Do they suggest that you and Steve
were appropriately viewed as threatening?  I'd like to know how the
police are trained to deal with residents.

Linda

>>> volcheck at acm.org 1/25/2006 9:47:55 PM >>>
Hello, folks,

Yesterday Steve accompanied me to the District Court on
Wabash Ave. to help me contest the ticket I got for
allegedly obstructing traffic on Guilford Ave. at about
10 PM on a Tuesday night.

The officer didn't appear, and the case was dismissed!

I was ready to argue that I didn't deserve the ticket.
I had a letter signed by Dave Barnett, and Steve was
there ready to testify as a witness.  But it wasn't
necessary.  I do want to offer thanks to Steve and
Dave for their help.  I also want to thank Dana Moore
for offering me advice about how to present the case
and suggesting some Do's and Don'ts.

This all was such a waste of energy brought on by probably
nothing more than a police officer in a bad mood.

While I may have technically violated the law, I think
it was inappropriate for the police officer to give me
a ticket for causing a very minor inconvenience.

The demeanor of the officers was inappropriate.
The officer who issued the ticket spoke to Steve
in a very aggressive tone, ordering him to move back
and threatening him with arrest when he did nothing
threatening.  I had to ask four times if
I was free to go after they gave me the ticket.

Should I write a letter to somebody to complain about
the treatment?  What do Chat List subscribers think?

--Emil

----- Forwarded message from Emil Volcheck <volcheck at acm.org> -----

Date: Wed, 12 Oct 2005 00:28:31 -0400
From: Emil Volcheck <volcheck at acm.org>
To: chat at charlesvillage.info 
Cc: gewirtz at bellatlantic.net, gdb at jhu.edu 
Subject: Ticketed for talking!
Mail-Followup-To: chat at charlesvillage.info, gewirtz at bellatlantic.net,
	gdb at jhu.edu 
User-Agent: Mutt/1.4.2.1i

Hello, neighbors,

After the CVCBDMA Board meeting, I drove back and gave Steve Gewirtz a
lift.  Steve and I both live on the 3000 block of Guilford, and I
stopped across from his house, right before the intersection of
Guilford and 30th.  We chatted for a little while about politics, then
Dave Barnett drove by in the opposite direction, on his way home I
assume.  I hadn't seen him for a while, so we both rolled down our
windows to talk.  Then I saw a police car pull up behind me, with
bubble lights.  Dave moved on, and I pulled my car closer to the side
to get out of the way.  The police gave me a $50 ticket for impeding
the flow of traffic.  I was really surprised because I was in the car
the whole time, with the hazard lights on, and I moved almost as soon
as I saw someone behind me was trying to get by.  Certainly when Dave
moved, I believe the police could have gotten past me.

The police starting ticketing me right after I turned the corner and I
let Steve off.  Steve asked the officer what the problem was, and they
told him to back off, gave him a 5-second warning.  That seemed a
little harsh.

I think I remember hearing recently that Dana Moore was given a ticket
when she was stopped out in front of her house loading or unloading
from her car, and that the judge threw it out.

I'm planning to tell the judge I'm innocent, and Steve says he'll come
with me.

Does anybody have any thoughts about this situation?  It seems kind
of extreme.  I feel like I should have been entitled to some signal
like a honk or yelling "move along" before they decided I was
blocking traffic.

--Emil



-- 
Emil Volcheck
volcheck at acm.org 
http://acm.org/~volcheck 

----- End forwarded message -----

-- 
Emil Volcheck
volcheck at acm.org 
http://acm.org/~volcheck 

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