This happened to me on Wednesday...

[jchantelau]

I was on my way over to my local gun store to pick up a few things. When I got to the front of the gun store the parking lot is very small so I had to wait just a second for a larger truck to pull out and then I slowly pulled in my spot and walked in. I walked in the store exactly at 12:44 and began to look around. I would say about 10 to 15 minutes passed and 2 South Carolina troopers walked in and started looking around the store. One of them came up to the ammo counter where I was and told the owner he was looking for the owner of the red mustang outside.

I quickly said that's my mustang what's wrong officer? He then says to me..."Why were you driving like that"?....I said..."excuse me", I've been in the store about 10 minutes not sure I understand the question...he ignored me.....I said again well I've been in the store for the past 10 to 15 minutes so I'm not sure why you would ask that to me. He continued to ignore me and asked the owner to see the video tape of the front door of the gun store. I decided to walk outside to see what the heck was going on and there were 2 more cops out there talking to 2 other folks discussing a reckless driver and I said...hey what the heck is going on? Somebody needs to explain to me what the hell is up?

The trooper came out and asked for my license, insurance, and registration which I quickly handed to him and he said he would be right with me. The other drivers left and then the other 2 cops went over to the troopers car and were looking at his video camera. The one cop came up to me and says.....cmon you know it was you......I said...you're out of your mind I've been in this store shopping for the past 15 min. before you guys came in.

He says that the trooper has video of my car from the camera in his car and that I was running from him. I said, well if that's the case how have I been in this store for the past 15 minutes? He ignored me and to my disbelief the next trooper walks up and hands me a reckless driving ticket and says I'm not going to arrest you today and my court date is on the ticket! I said, "ARE YOU FREAKIN KIDDING ME", let me see your video that you have of my car", that was ignored. I looked at the ticket and noticed on the ticket the trooper said the incident occurred at 12:20 in Greer and I was pumping gas across town in Simpsonville at 12:23 per my gas receipt, neither trooper wanted to listen to me.

I argued for about 2 or 3 minutes before I realized it was a losing battle and I went in and talked to the owner of the gun shop and he said he told the trooper he didn't think it was me they were looking for and then he and I spent the next hour reviewing the gun stores video. He was nice enough to print out the exact pic of me entering the store with a time stamp of 12:44 and the officer wrote on the ticket that the offense occurred at 12:20. Keep in mind I was in the store for about 10 to 15 minutes before they walked in.

So his patrol car was close enough to ID my vehicle but he didn't get a plate number? What the hell! What a mess....here I have a trooper basically calling me guilty of running from the cops and reckless driving, all because I happen to be driving a red mustang. By the way the chase started in Greer and I came from the complete other direction. Just crazy to be minding your own business and out of the blue I'm dealing with this mess.

[Glock Fan]

I always thought those guys driving red Mustangs were trouble. j/k

I strongly recommend hiring an attorney and have the attorney with you on the day of court. Here in PRHI, the offense you described would be considered a "traffic crime" where you would be assigned a public defender if you don't have your own counsel. A conviction could result in many negative things in your near future (denial of a CC permit for example).

In the future, I strongly recommend not arguing with the police regardles of how "right" you are. I've seen cases where a lot worse has happened. Best course of action is be courteous, answer their questions and take the ticket. Save the arguments for the judge when you get to court. With the state that the officers were in, there was no way that they weren't gonna find something to issue you a ticket for.

JMHO



gf

[jchantelau]

Originally Posted by Glock Fan

I always thought those guys driving red Mustangs were trouble. j/k

I strongly recommend hiring an attorney and have the attorney with you on the day of court. Here in PRHI, the offense you described would be considered a "traffic crime" where you would be assigned a public defender if you don't have your own counsel. A conviction could result in many negative things in your near future (denial of a CC permit for example).

In the future, I strongly recommend not arguing with the police regardles of how "right" you are. I've seen cases where a lot worse has happened. Best course of action is be courteous, answer their questions and take the ticket. Save the arguments for the judge when you get to court. With the state that the officers were in, there was no way that they weren't gonna find something to issue you a ticket for.

JMHO



gf

Yeah....it wasn't so much arguing but trying to get them to understand that they had the wrong guy, I was still under control and very respectful. I do have an attorney and have already started pulling my case together, i.e. receipts, video still shots, etc. Here in SC that kind of conviction will really screw alot up for me. Just sucks, cause the only thing I'm guilty of is driving a red mustang....talk about bad luck! Geez.

Yeah, I have my CWP class next week too and here in SC it takes 90 days to issue once submitted but I intend to have this cleared up before then.

[ricbak]

Originally Posted by Glock Fan

~~~I always thought those guys driving red Mustangs were trouble. j/k
I strongly recommend hiring an attorney and have the attorney with you on the day of court.~~~
gf

+1 on what GF is pointing out. Sometimes the color of justice is, wrongly so, green.. Get someone to help you. Good Luck

[jchantelau]

Originally Posted by ricbak

+1 on what GF is pointing out. Sometimes the color of justice is, wrongly so, green.. Get someone to help you. Good Luck

I actually do have some good help behind me which I am thankful for. It's just a crazy situation you know I'm a responsible law abiding citizen with a spotless record, just frustrating. Thanks for the advice and I'll update as I know more. I'm anticipating resolution before the court date. I will explain why once I know more.

[TheMan]

Sorry to hear. Please follow up and let us know the outcome. Good luck.

[Red Hat]

I see another good thing in your behalf. If the officer was 100% sure you were the one running from them he would have arrested you and taken you to jail. Reckless driving and failure to stop for an officer resulting in a chase would definitely be an arrestable offense.

[jchantelau]

Originally Posted by TheMan

Sorry to hear. Please follow up and let us know the outcome. Good luck.

I will and thanks.

Originally Posted by Red Hat

I see another good thing in your behalf. If the officer was 100% sure you were the one running from them he would have arrested you and taken you to jail. Reckless driving and failure to stop for an officer resulting in a chase would definitely be an arrestable offense.

Yep, that's the first thing I thought of....evading and eluding an officer will get you arrested for sure.

[OldOwl]

My mother ALWAYS told me, Cops LOVE red sports cars, lol.Don't drive one.

Cops always look for trouble. That's what they get paid for.

I had a similar happening a looooong time ago. Cops outright lied. I went to court, and the lawyer talked me into pleading sufficient facts and pay a fine, get it done. Which I did. Then the judge goes against the deal and says "one year in prison" .

I demanded a jury trial. The lawyer said I would do FIVE years if found guilty by a trial, and I said I didn't care, I didn't do this thing. I walked that area for weeks, every night around the same time, and one night a bunch of people hanging around at the beach said "We heard about that thing, a friend of ours lives right there and saw the whole thing." I tracked down the friend. He was summonsed to court and testified, and the case was dismissed. You need a witness. Good luck, and keep us posted on the outcome. And get a tan minivan, lmao.

[jchantelau]

Originally Posted by OldOwl

My mother ALWAYS told me, Cops LOVE red sports cars, lol.Don't drive one.

Cops always look for trouble. That's what they get paid for.

I had a similar happening a looooong time ago. Cops outright lied. I went to court, and the lawyer talked me into pleading sufficient facts and pay a fine, get it done. Which I did. Then the judge goes against the deal and says "one year in prison" .

I demanded a jury trial. The lawyer said I would do FIVE years if found guilty by a trial, and I said I didn't care, I didn't do this thing. I walked that area for weeks, every night around the same time, and one night a bunch of people hanging around at the beach said "We heard about that thing, a friend of ours lives right there and saw the whole thing." I tracked down the friend. He was summonsed to court and testified, and the case was dismissed. You need a witness. Good luck, and keep us posted on the outcome. And get a tan minivan, lmao.

Yeah, I was just saying to a buddy yesterday its time to trade in the mustang! lol minivan, not gonna happen Glad your situation worked out for you. I do have a few things going for me so we will see how it plays out. I will update once I know more.