Posted on 08/20/2004 11:19:31 AM PDT by RMrattlesnake
Went to jail for nothing last night. I was driving home from picking my son up at football practice. And as I was driving down a big hill there was a speed trap at the bottom. I was caught speeding 65 in a 45. Bummer now my insurance is going to go up and I will have to pay a large fine I am sure. But then the Fort Collins police officer told me to get out of the car. He told me I was under arrest. For what, I asked because I has no idea my slate was clean. I just got my driver license back and you can’t get you license back if you have anything outstanding. So I was very puzzled and the officer said “for failure to appear”. Well I told him I had no failures to appear and there must be some sort of computer error. He said he gets that story a lot as if to say I was lying. After I was arrested and placed into the cruiser in front of my son with was very tragic for him bunt the heart less cop did not care. Then I found out after asking the cop over and over what was the charges on the failure to appear. I found out that a year ago I missed a court date because I wrote it down in my day timer on the wrong date and went to court on the day after I was supposed to be there. I have dyslexia so I often do things like that. I filed a motion to squash the warrant and it was done and I was giving a new date in the matter. I went to a pre-trial hearing and then court and every thing was finished. I had pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor offence and it was all taken care of. But for some reason 11 months later I am hulled of to jail for something that not only was the failure to appear taken care of, the whole made was done. So I had to sit in jail they wouldn’t even let me have a bible. I ask if I could take a King James Bible in with me and I was denighed not only that but they said they were not allowed in larmier county jail. Whether or not that is true because I always thought it was I was not allowed to have one. My wife came to bail me out and they made her sit in the lobby for 2 hours. Making her late to work. I did not get home till way late so I missed a day of work so as to get some sleep. The jail charged my 10 dollars for processing me. Not once did I ever get rude or impolite, even though it took ever thing in me to remain claim I did. Yet I was still treated rudely and was not giving any help to prove my case. I know the jailers have computers and all my past court history is on there and if they would have looked it up like I politely ask them to they would have found out I was not ling. But no they would rather joke amongst each other and not do anything about it. I live in Fort Collins Colorado. Is there anything I can do can I get compensated. I admit I am ignorant to this and don’t know what I should do. My wrist are still so sore that it is even hard to type right now 18 hours latter. Please give me advise I need it I do not hate Police officers in fact I respect then I belive that the police are ministers of justice but this was not justice. I know if I mess up I have to pay the courts but when they mess I don’t even get a “sorry”.
Agreed.
I want to echo theDentist's recommendation. Contact an attorney, give him the facts, and ask him if you have a case. If money is an issue for you (and an attorney thinks you have a case), find an attorney who will take the case Pro Bono.
I have 18 years of Law Enforcement experience. Here is my advice to you. Follow it closely, do exactly what I tell you, and I guarantee this will work.
1) Spend your every waking hour inventing a time machine.
2) Once you have perfected time travel, beam yourself
back to the first grade.
3) Pay attention in school and get an education.
4) Do not run afoul of the law.
That's it. Get busy, times a wastin'!
See my post #8
(2) Apparently you did fail to appear, even if it was only a clerical error on your part. The cop's records may not have been updated in a timely fashion, which would be a clerical error on your part.
Basically, if you had shown up for your court date on the right day and hadn't been going 50% faster than you should have been, you wouldn't have been arrested.
Also, here's a tip. Don't make special requests from officers like asking for a Bible, etc. They get annoyed when they have to go out of their way to meet your requests and that inspires them to be slower in doing your paperwork and handling your bail.
Some of the posts to this freeper have been downright cruel. He has taken time to come to us with a serious problem both courtwise and emotional. Clearly he is an emotional wreck right now and deserves our compassion as very FEW of us do the speed limit at all times.
May I start a prayer thread here now for Rattlesnake who is clearly in need of deep prayers.
The police were just doing their job. That said, the issue is not with the police, but the government entity that failed to correct your record when you had it taken care of. Take what documentation you have showing it was corrected to a lawyer and see if the lawyer thinks you can get some compensation for lost work because of the govt screw-up. I'm not a lawyer, but that is what I would do.
Doesn't sound to me like you "went to jail for nothing". You DID fail to appear, and the initial stop was because you were, admittedly speeding. In fact, by going 20 miles per hour over the posted limit, the cop could have been justified in hauling you in for reckless driving as well, so I'd say you got off lucky.
I guess that's why posted speed limits end in 0 or 5.
you got that right!
Poor formatting along with poor grammar skills should warrant the death penalty or at least life in prison.
Some people just naturally bring themselves to the attention of law enforcement.
In the words of a guard to me,many years ago after a looong 48 hrs,
"hey,stay out of trouble".
FUNNY, I always screw up left and right and 6 and 9. I was a banker for a while and my cash drawer would always be off by a 6 or 9 derivative. Very annoying and I am famous for typos and writing "the" instead of "they" no matter how many times I re read my work. I still no matter how I try to correct myself write in British English over USA English..it goes on and on and on..... : ((((
Its a damn miracle I am alive sometimes.
I don't think cops have any legal responsibility to be polite or to help you to prove you are innocent. That's just the sad truth: it's not their job, they're not paid to do it, and they don't benefit when they do go out of their way to help someone. Cops aren't there to "help" you.
I like that! Can I use it?
I'm tempted to put you in the slammer for a paragraph violation.
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