I mentioned in the other thread that I got a pretty unfair ticket and was biased for street racing when I was just driving with another friend with the same cars and maybe even racism. However, my mom spoke with a lawyer about that. Apparently, I can sue the officer. But I’m not allowed to get money or anything off him, the most I can get off him is an apology. I was just discussing this with a friend. What if I got the officer to make a public apology to all the owners out there with modified vehicles? That way, it may create public awareness and create less negative bias for modified vehicles.
As far as I know it would mean nothing.
Your dispute would probably cause more anger in Police all around and as a result they would target more modified vehicles.
The change has to come from a policy within the organization to stop hassling modified vehicles.
Unfortunately they have results to justify modified car pullovers because the results show that modified vehicles are not as safe for the road based on the illegal modifications that are done. Plus they are usually the ones that are caught racing and careless driving.
I guarantee that just about everyone that has lowered suspension and big rims is within an inch of a non moving part in the wheel well at any time which is illegal. I know my cars don’t meet that requirement.
Police officers need to pullover cars consistently and not have a reason for giving a ticket before a change of policy is in put in place. A dispute in court against one officer may be some sort of a start that’s been carried out by many before, but is not the end all to the entire thing.
Ohh sorry, and the court order would be to apologize to you directly and not everyone with modified vehicles. It would put modified vehicles in the spotlight. Most of us wouldn’t pass inspections. They’d take our cars off the road as a result. It would strengthen their claim and they’d do what they do to us even more. Worth it for racism against you then yes. Worth it against modified vehicles then no
yes, you CAN sue the officer for discrimination based on ethnicity as per the charter of rights and freedom (section 4 i believe), but what you lack in this case is EVIDENCE.
you have no concrete proof that he discriminated against you aside from your word (and maybe the word of your friend) which won’t carry much substance in court. all the officer would need to say is “i saw him driving erratically, and hence i gave him a careless ticket”.
sorry, but suing him for discrimination is by far the most garbage idea i’ve ever heard. i realize that you feel angry that you’ve been targeted, maybe because of your age, maybe he was jealous of the fact that you drive a 350z, either way please don’t use the race card unless you have real evidence to back things up. otherwise, you’ll just create a bad situation for everyone.
instead, you (or your lawyer) should concentrate on putting the onus on the officer to prove that you were driving carelessly. mind you, from what i heard proving careless driving in of itself is hard w/o hard evidence as well. and from what you described in the other thread, he just stopped you and your friend for no reason … so he won’t have any evidence and the ticket may get thrown out completely.
He did discriminate me accordingly to race. Because my other friend who was in his Z, said that while the officer was dealing with him, he wasn’t any trouble and was actually nice too him. However, while the officer with dealing with me, he called me an idiot and gave me dirty look and give me this attitude. My friend said he’ll volunteer as a witness if I do this.
However, as for the apology to modified vehicles. That idea has been dropped. Just talked to a friend. Basically same idea as Pcpoa, if this gets around, police can just tag me and give me hell whenever they see me.
Basically, there’s no way around now. I’m not gonna pay $300 to the lawyer just for apologizing to me only either. What a bullshit justice system.
if you’ve even been to traffic court you’ll know that it’s VERY fast paced. the system may be inefficient and backlogged, but when you’re up on the plate, they bang through the procedures in a matter of minutes. think about what would happen if you went there and when the judge asks you why you plead not guilty you start rambling on about how you felt discriminated against w/o any concrete proof to back up your claims. if i were the judge, i’d probably start laughing then question your credibility.
instead, like i said, attack the officers careless driving evidence, and be professional about it w/o bringing up this race card story.
Very true.
I’m not sure if this is traffic court but I got a ticket on my Datsun for a disconnected emissions hose. Got my whole thing prepared, got a copy of the bylaw, got up on stand and the judge tore me a new asshole.
It was my first time too so I was pausing and quivering because I was nervous, plus I have a natural stutter that comes out hard sometimes. Bang bang bang, she lowered my fine from $380 to $200 and told me to pay it in two weeks. Thats before I could even really make my point. There’s so many people and it’s routine with them hearing peoples complaints that they just want to get it all done with and not waste time.
That’s not racism. That could be ANYthing. You have zero, LESS than zero, grounds for racism. Maybe he thought you gave him attitude. Maybe he saw your record (prev. ticket) and thought you were a punk, maybe he just thought you were ugly… who knows? It might not be fair, but that doesn’t make it racism. You go for this suit, and you’re going to be made a fool of.
This makes me mad as hell; this is why my friends and I started OMVOC. We want to make a difference.
All in all I got angry at the system, tried to fight it on my own I thought that the “right” and “just” thing will come out in the end. I was wrong, it’s not like that. Basically this is what I am finding out.
We live in a Capitalist Democracy. Put that in short, its a money game with our justice/political system. Agree or disagree with it that is what my thoughts are with this subject. If you are of high influence or have a lot of money, the justice system is different from the average person. If you are younger and less affluent, you get hammered 10X’s as hard as a person that is above you finance wise. If we lived in a Social Democracy, things would be different and there would be WAY more accountability to the people.
The Cops are a very protected group of people, too protected in my opinion, they know how to get away with certain things and have way more resources that their finger tips than we can imagine. To that end, a Conservative Government is VERY cop friendly, while a NDP Government puts more public safety and accountability in place. I can go into case files with you to show you, but it’s a long read.
My best advice to you guys is, ride this out, join OMVOC and let us do the foot work for you. At the end of the day we are so much cheaper than a lawyer, and the group is a reflection of you, we drive cars/truck’s 4x4’s etc and want to keep the spirit alive when personalizing our freedom!
Here is something to make you guys laugh, its a very old sitcom that was on over 25 years ago. It pushed the envelope, but in this case is very much to OUR point in a way, watch it and laugh!
I would make him appologize for everything, I have head officers yell and curse at me and call me names. First thing to do be quiet, half way through the conversation you ask for the officers badge number, this is YOUR ****ING RIGHT, after he tells you, you proceed to tell him that you are recording this conversation for legal and reference purposes. DO NOT tell him this at the end of the conversation, as that will bring up personal rights violations. The reason for asking him in the middle is because if you ask him up front you would be interrupting him and he wouldnt say what he intended to and would act fake and differently. There you, thats how you get evidence. And make sure to tell him have a nice day at the end, that just pleases them! Make him appologize to you, racism and authority abuse is everywhere. Police officers do not only bias everyone, but are also a primary source of sexual abuse in the work place. Next thing you know they will be ass-reaming your gf while his partner is shoving it down her throat. Watch out guys.