Just got a speeding ticket... What do I do?

[93*Corvette]

Got a question.. Suppose this senerio happened...(just a "what if", not to say it really happened)
I happen to live in Kansas and was driving north on the Interstate. Yep, I was kind-of cruising along in the 93, top off. While passing an 18 wheeler, I decided to floor it, basically just for the fun of it. (Ok, I know I was wrong, so please don't preach...)

Supposedly a police car was there and clocked me. Since I was driving so fast, I couldn't safely take the exit ramp that I was supposed to take. So I continued down to the next exit (about 6 miles further down the road) and turned around. While I headed back the other way, I passed the point where I floored it around the 18 wheeler. Moments later, I had the police behind me. The lights come on, and I pull over. The police comes up to the window and says "I heard you were going 105 northbound, that's pretty fast. I didn't clock you though. I'm going to cut you a break". He went back to his car with my license and ran his check. Minutes later he come back with a summons saying that I need to appear in court. I guess the break he was talking about was not sending me to jail?

My question is: Can the police issue a ticket 15 minutes later? What do you think I should do? Any idea?

 

[Mac]

My question is: Can the police issue a ticket 15 minutes later? What do you think I should do? Any idea?

I don't know Colorado's laws but here in Canada, as a cop, I have up to six months to lay the ticket. I expect it's something similar in Colorado as well.

Are you sure the ticket is for the first time he saw you or was it for when he pulled you over? If it's for the first time, you might be in luck.

The key issue would be whether he can prove you were the driver in that first incident. Just because he stopped the same car now doesn't mean that you were driving it 15 minutes before (if you get my drift) and since your car was going at high speed, it's unlikely he'll be certain who was driving the first time he saw the car. Some officers will give you the ticket, figuring if you're guilty, you'll pay up and if you're not, he'll call "no evidence" if you fight it. I hate that kind of attitude but I know some guys do it.

If you have the time to do so, fight the ticket. It's up to the police officer to lead the evidence, not you. If he says he's 100% certain it was you driving it the first time despite the speed, you can cross-examine him with a view to introducing reasonable doubt.

Chances are pretty good the judge won't buy him being able to recognize you going past at 100 mph unless there's something about you which makes you easy to recognize at 100 mph (ie: bright green hair, distinctive ball cap, etc.). If your hair was bright green that day, it'd better not be on court day, right?

-Mac

 

[vett boy]

I'd blame it on the car.Vetts are living breathin' things with feelings.Sometimes they just get the urge .

 

[Daryllawman]

Yes they can .

 

[G Winter]

A big question is , did they have a plate number? If you were going that fast and couldn't catch up to you to give you a ticket then could they get a plate number? You were coming from the other direction.

Glenn

 

[Daryllawman]

A big question is , did they have a plate number? If you were going that fast and couldn't catch up to you to give you a ticket then could they get a plate number? You were coming from the other direction.

Glenn

Glenn all that is needed is to ID the driver. The plate could come back to any vehicle as a lot of people swap out tags, use others tags, ect. ect.

 

[Erik S. Klein]

Fight the ticket.

Fight every ticket.

At the very least, the cop standing there trying to prove your guilty isn't writing anyone else a ticket at that point.

Make the tax collector work for his ill-gotten gains.

Otherwise, what Mac said is right. The chances of the cop being able to prove that you were, in fact, the same guy going north when he saw you 15 minutes later going south are slim.

Of course, this post here might be incriminating. . .

 

[Tom Bryant]

Is the quote correct that he "heard" that you were going 105 mph going north? From that I take it that he isn't the one that saw you. I can't see how that would hold water in any court if you say it wasn't you.

 

[Patrick]

Is the quote correct that he "heard" that you were going 105 mph going north? From that I take it that he isn't the one that saw you. I can't see how that would hold water in any court if you say it wasn't you.

And therein lies your defense. If the officer who wrote your ticket is not the one who originally clocked you, both officers would need to appear in court. And even if they do, both officers would need to be able to prove the car they clocked going 105 is, in fact, you. I'd say your odds are pretty good.

The real surprise is why, over the Memorial Day Weekend, you'd want to take a chance like that knowing that saturation patrols are happening all over the place.

-Patrick