I just got screwed by the police

Today is the first day here in Illinois in about a month, that the temp is above 60, its a perfect riding day. I figured i would suit up early and jump on the Duc for a nice ride up north while there wernt too many cars on the road. It started out great, I was enjoying my ride, i was just cruising, I was in no hurry i was heading north on Rt 12 in Wauconda, about 10mi from my house. I did the arm tuck and what do i see flying up behind me, a lake county sheriff, and he's pulling me over!!! I looked down at my speedo, its in between 60-65, i didnt forget to cancel my turn signal, i checked all my lights before i left, i know they worked. So i take off my gloves and my helmet and hes he's says that i was doing 82mph in a 55! WHAT!!! I pleaded with him saying that i was in no hurry and that i was not speeding, I told him that these older cable driven speedo's are off a lot by 10-15mph depending on the speed, mine is off around 12mph. I had it dead set on 65. which would put me at or near 55mph. he could care less, he took my license, and gave me a ticket for 27 over the limit, and in IL anything over 21 is considered reckless driving! This ruined my weekend. Being on a nice duc i guess it was real easy for him to single me out. I just cant believe that cops out there would F*** someone over like that just to get a pat on the back when they get back to the station. I have never had one ticket in my life!! And cops wonder why so many people hate them! Gee I wonder why

i turned around and stopped at a gas station and called my friend who is soon to be a lawyer and his dad is a highly known lawyer in this area, i told him what happened and he said he would tell his dad.

I didn't feel like riding anymore so i headed home only after 34min of riding. And on the way back i had my speedo set at exactly the speed limit, and the cars behind me were tailing me, flashing their lights and 3 cars passed me over a double yellow! I wasn't lying to him when i told him that these speedos are off.

My 1098 comes in 1st week next month, and i really don't want to ride it on a ticket. This makes me sooo Sick. My insurance is god awfully low because of my perfect record, well it was perfect.

My court date is in June, and my friend said that his dad will more than likely defend me. I just hope that my record isn't F***** because of this jagoff.

Cops are such hypocrites everyone has seen them flip on their lights to get out of traffic or to go through a red light and then immediately turn the lights off. And how many times have you been on the hwy and one cruises by you with no lights on at 20-30 over.

I just cant believe this, I'm sitting here and it 74 outside with not a cloud in the sky, i should be riding, but i just dont feel like it.

Around here where cops are a dime a dozen i pay very close attention on how im riding. Ive never passed on the shoulder, never passed in between cars, never crossed a solid line, i dont ride wheelies, always use my signals, never street raced. I know that a lot of you have and do the above and ride at tripple digits on the road, and God be with you for that, but thats not how i ride.

Has anyone gotten a ticket for that much over before? what did you do? If anyone has any advise it would be helpful. feel free to respond. ( other than get out your check book)
 
Desmo,

You got that right! Anybody's who's carefully watched police knows that they routinely break the laws. And before people start protesting that, "Not all cops do this, just some of them. Don't badmouth all police because of the actions of a few bad apples, blah, blah, blah," I respectully have to disagree. It's not just some cops. They all do it. It's commonplace. We've all seen it. They speed, go through red lights, don't come to complete stops, make illegal turns, etc... The police drive as if the laws don't apply to them. And they wonder why so many people don't respect the police. What amazes me is how so many Americans think this is such a great country, so free, so much better than every other country, without even realizing that we live in a police state.

As a criminal defense lawyer I can tell you that you're bascially screwed with your ticket. It will be your word against the cop's. When it's your word against the cop's, you lose every time because judges and juries don't want to believe that cops lie. And the cops know that. They count on it.

The only way to beat your ticket is to get a lawyer who has friends/influence with the D/A and the police. With the right lawyer you'll be able to get the D/A to reduce the ticket to a lesser, (hopefully non-point), offense. If your friend's dad is that kind of lawyer, he'll be able to make this ticket go away for you. This kind of resolution is essentially unethical but it's the only viable option you have when you're dealing with the police.

Welcome to America!

Elton
 
It says on the ticket he used radar, he wasn't behind me, i didn't see him coming towards me, there were a couple cars in front of me about 30-40ft ahead, and a bunch behind me same distance. This is more of a rural area, with a 20-30ft wide grass median
 
Thanks thats what im gonna do, my friends dad does a lot of DUI cases, and hes represented alot of professional sports players, Im sure he can get it taken care of. However i was told by my friend that they dont have court supervission any more. I dont know whats gonna happen. I wish i had my Valentine wired up on this bike. at least i wouldve been able to see where he was coming from.
 
Tickets suck. I feel for you man...

Really though, it's one ticket. I can't believe you are not riding because you got one ticket. If I did that I'd never ride. Get over it. Consider yourself lucky that this is your first one. " The sky is falling!! The sky is falling!!! I got a ticket...Oh my god! What ever will I do?"

One thing though. If you're "Mr. By the book" why do you have a radar detector? Seems like a waste of money for someone that doesn't speed.
 
Radar is the easiest to beat, especially if there are other cars on the road. Police radar is not unidirectional. It is very difficult to get a fix on only one particular object. When was the unit last calibrated? By whom? When was the officer trained to use the radar? Has he received any in service training? How much experience has he had using radar? Is it possible that the radar signal was reflecting off a much larger object behind you traveling faster? Motorcycles present an extremely small cross section for the radar to bounce off of.

I am not a lawyer, just a simple city cop. We are not all dickheads. These are some of the questions your lawyer should ask the officer in court. Your case will be dismissed.

CAG
 
I have a radar detector, because it keeps me alert, and makes me pay attention to my speed. and i don't think its fair for cops to sit behind trees picking people off, i like to know where they are. Ive used the V1 since i was 16, Unfortunately i don't have it hooked up to this bike so that my fault. Its not like i haven't gone over the limit, i keep up with traffic. If i was riding though the middle of a cornfield in Iowa then that might be a different story. But where i live cops are like flies on sh*t they are every where, i'm not gonna take the chance around here.

I'm hesitant about taking the bike out on a ticket only because i'm afraid if another Ahole cop stops me for so bs reason, like ( how come you only have one headlight on?)And yes i was pulled over for that last year, and would have received a ticket for that if i didn't show him the owners manual that stated that's how they are. I mean how many times has a cop made a u turn and followed you for no reason, tailing you, waiting for you to F up. It happens all the time here. I'm not crying over this I'm just really pissed off.
 
since owning the duc i've been pulled over twice. i swear this bike is a cop magnet. the first cop was cool. he claimed another unit saw me doing wheelies, not true. he let me go after asking about the bike.

the second wasn't so cool. it was a statie who slapped with 80 in a 65. i'm debating whether i should go to court to have it dropped by taking a safe driving course.

my clean record is now tarnished.
 
Back
Top