Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Friday Night Fright

Song Stuck on the Brain: I Just Called To Say I Love You... Gag!!! This is one of those songs that I would like to delete permanently from my brain.

Well, Fridays are usually my favorite day of the week. It's payday, the last day I have to work and I have a whole weekend ahead of me. Plus, I get new Stargate most Fridays.

But last Friday, the world conspired against me. Mold counts ballooned to a magnificent size and so did my sinuses. I was miserable all weekend. To top it off, I got my first ticket on the way home from my nephew's birthday party Friday evening.

It was one of those stupid things. The policeman was just blocking my lane with his car and a few flares. Traffic was passing him in the oncoming lane. I waited for traffic to clear, then VERRRRRY slowly went around him. He didn't try to stop me until I was almost past his car, then he kicked my tire. Scared the crap out of me. I looked to see what I'd run over, and didn't see anything, so I went on. Once I was past his car and back in my lane, I saw a police car maneuvering his car to block off the other end of the road. I was trapped with no way to turn around because of the huge drop offs on either side of the road. I waited patiently until the cop I past came walking down the road to me. I asked how to get out, he blasted me for passing him. Claimed I'd ran a road block and nearly mowed him down. (My sister was in the car behind me and said I was no where near him and that he didn't try to wave me down until I'd passed him.) Long story short, I got screamed at and then waited another 2o minutes for the officer in charge to come back and write me a ticket. I'm supposed to appear in court for it.

Needless to say, I've called a lawyer. I've got a clean record with no citations, plus the officer clearly didn't try to stop me, so hopefully I'll not have to pay a huge fine.

I was really surprised by the venom in the officer when he approached me. I've dealt with officers in other situations and when in a car with other drivers, and I've never been treated so horribly before. Sure, cops tend to be a little stern and they start out on the defensive, but this was just really outrageous. Thank goodness most cops aren't like that.

In truth, I really respect them for the job they do. They deal with a lot of danger and crap every day. Who knows, maybe this officer was just having a rotten day too.

Here's hoping he fails to show for court and the whole thing gets thrown out. :)

A.

4 comments:

Camy Tang said...

Man that stinks! That's so unfair! I'll be praying it turns out okay for you.

Camy

April Erwin said...

Thanks. I spoke to my lawyer today. He says we could try to fight it, but the judge will always side with the officer. We decided it would be best to plead guilty to a moving violation so the fine is smaller and I avoid 2 points on my license. It's still gone end up costing me over $200 all together. :( But at least I don't have to appear in court and I suppose it could always be worse. I'm just gonna "Praise God Anyway" and move on.

bbygrlssn1989 said...

This was probably the same cop that stopped me a few years ago. I had a broken ankle and at the time was driving a car that was not an automatic, so my friend "Duck" (nickname) was driving. We were up on the Square and stopped at a stop sign. I know we stopped because he changed CD's while AT the stop sign. We past it and here came the cherries and the siren! He made us ALL get out of the car and sit HANDCUFFED on the curb up in front of the old Palmer Jr High bldg. Anyway, long story short, the car was a 2 door Escort. He got IN thru the driver's side door, went through the backseat and came OUT of the car on the passengers side. Amazing...he had a small sandwich baggie with weed in it. He holds it up in front of me and says "Well well well...look what I found UNDER your seat Ms. Pearce!" I said "Well, I wasn't even driving number one. And if you found it in my car, I had no knowledge of it being there." He said "Oh, of course not! What are we going to do with this?" I said "Well, I suppose you will write me a ticket or take me in?" He said "No, you are going to dump it out and smash it into the ground." So, he un-handcuffed me and handed me the baggie. I opened it and dumped it out on the sidewalk. He starts screaming at me (mind you, he is holding a baby book in his hand that had the ONLY pictures I had at the time of the son I gave up for adoption in 1998), throws my baby book into the middle of the street and says "NOT LIKE THAT! DO YOU WANT SOME KID TO COME ALONG AND PICK IT UP AND SMOKE IT? ARE YOU STUPID?" I said "No, sir. I was just doing what you told me to do. You didn't tell me where to dump it!" He grabbed the baggie away from me and said "SIT DOWN WHILE I WRITE OUT YOUR TICKETS...AND TRUST ME, YOU MAY WANT TO GET COMFY BECAUSE I HAVE SEVERAL TO WRITE" Luckily, my dad is an ex police officer and was able to talk to his best friend who is a detective and the tickets were disposed of without having any points taken off my license. But, I hope yours comes out good too! Good luck! Susan

April Erwin said...

Wow, what a nasty piece of business that was. I'm glad you were able to get it worked out. My court date isn't until October 17th, but my lawyer seems pretty secure in his ability to switch it to a moving violation. At this point, I just want it over with. Forget the fact I think the ticket was completely bogus, I just want it done with. That, and I'm avoiding any hint of a police car like it's the bubonic plague.