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”.
Clap Clap Clap Clap!!!!!!!!
Notice how this guy has absolutely no problem driving 20mph over the speed limit, with his son in the car, down a blind hill?
But it's all the cops fault!!!
While I agree he should not have been speeding , to me it shouldn't factor in. Eventually they would have picked him up at his house or where ever. Bad things happen . It amazes me how many posts I see here that "we are cops, we answer to no one, we aren't accountable" Well, I have news for you. LE answers to the public and if it was me I would get to the bottom of this and stir the waters as much as I could. Some of us get comfort from Gods word. If this causes a cop to get aggrivated and be late for his coffee break, tough. I know a lot of excellent , caring police officers but you give the picture that they are untouchable and that's not right. We should not have to be fearful or afraid of them and tip toe on egg shells.
If the cop had also been dyslexic, he'd have only gotten written up for going 2 MPH over the limit, and probably just gotten a ticket.
Wrong, there's nothing a Police Officer can do and to express sympathy or understanding runs the risk of making matters worse. I'm sure any veteran can tell you of some rookie mistake he made where he tried to show that he cared and had it blow up in his face. You learn not to do that twice. Don't confuse professional distance with lack of empathy.
And, btw, this poster says he went to court on the wrong day. From the sound of it he never bothered to correct his mistake. What did he expect?
I that a statement, or a question?
Do you believe you need our permission to pray?
Are you unable to pray silently, wherever you are?
The arrest was the result of the background check. The cop did his job of putting you in a box until a judge sorted things out. Sounds like he and the lockup crew did their jobs correctly - maybe not nicely, but considering who they usually have to deal with they've understandably lost the helpful/polite edge.
The problem is the bureaocracy breakdown, pointing to the fallicy of the ID-advocating "where are your papers?" crowd. The system sounds great - until something doesn't comply with the process. Someone dropped the ball, a paper was lost, a bit twitched ... something minor went wrong, causing you a major hassle which will haunt you for the rest of your life. Hence our Founding Fathers' insistence on freedom. There's a major problem when someone is declared a law-breaker by a paper-pusher who fails to notify you of the issue (despite having your address), leaving you to find out about it the hard way.
BWWWWAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
I'm afraid I have to disagree with you there.
There are things a police officer can do. I've seen them do it, for people they know personally.
They will not go to the extra trouble for people they do NOT know personally.
yea but the clerk was not doing there job. i never said the cop was not doing there job but they could have made some phone calls and had this matter resovled.
What am I? Flypaper for buttheads?
Here in California, it's called "the flow of traffic."
Keep in mind this was a speed trap, which means there is a 90% chance it was located somewhere where it is safe to drive 65MPH and everyone else on the road was going that speed.
You are reading between the lines I never plead guilty to anything I hit a person in defence of an my child. The person was attacking my child phyically and I punch this person in the face. That is what the whole case was all about tell me you would stand there and let someone attack your child and do nothing. So don't thank you are so high and mighty. If you attacked my son but your bottom dallor you will see stars if you are in arms reach of me. What did that created this whole mess was protect my family. I did what was right under GOD.
Making phone calls and saying "Hey, this guy I just pulled over and arrested says his warrant is a mistake. Will you look at it for me and tell me if it is or not? Thanks. Yes, I'll hold" is not their job - they probably hear that from every person with an outstanding warrant.
They'd spend all their time on the phone, and never have time for anything else...
I don't think there is anything you can do to be compensated for what happened to you. The police officers acted on the information they had at their disposal at the time, and this was clearly all the result of an innocent mistake.
You should be thankful that everything has been cleared up (I assume it has been), and make sure your son understands exactly what happened (so as to avoid alarming him).
P.S. If you have dyslexia and you can read/write this well, then there's nothing to be ashamed of -- you're a champ!
As others have pointed out, he was going 20 mph over the limit. In most locales that's considered reckless driving and is an arrestable offense. Add to that the fact that he had failed to show for a court date.
His excuse for not showing for the court date, to a police officer, sounds much the same as a "dog ate my homework" excuse for a teacher.
And to be frank, it is not the officer's job to make sure that our friend's story about rescheduling his court date is true. I would be pretty upset at the cops if criminals were able to talk their way out of failures to appear when they were pulled over. The cop isn't thinking "hey I hope I don't offend this poor, honest citizen" - he's thinking "this f*cking lunatic is driving 20 over the limit - if his record says he's supposed to be off the street I believe it."
What if our friend got off with a warning, then went back to driving like a maniac a few miles down the road and killed some kid trying to cross the street? Then everyone would be blaming the cop for not taking him and going by the book.
Some of us get comfort from Gods word.
I know I do. In fact I get so much comfort from His Word that I have large portions of it committed to memory. You don't need to have a physical Bible in your hand to get comfort from prayer and reflecting on the Scriptures.
If this causes a cop to get aggrivated and be late for his coffee break, tough.
So you think that "turn the other cheek" thing is pretty much a load of bunkum, huh? That's an interesting perspective on Christian witness.
The fact is, our friend was acting extremely irresponsibly and I hope he takes this as an expensive lesson that (a) he should take court appearances very seriously and (b) he shouldn't drive recklessly.
"I have 2 sons that we home school. "
I don't see any of those kids winning a spelling bee (or 'beeb', even)
awww.. poor little baby.. minding your own business speeding down the road. looking to kill your child? bet he loves dad! do society a favor and take a drive by yourself, make sure you stay at the 45mph speed limit, and drive into a tree.
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