I got to spend yesterday afternoon in a vomit smelling jail cell. :icon14:
I got pulled over on my way to work for speeding (which is also bullshit but i'm not really concerned with that at the moment).
After the cop ran my license it came up suspended since april. (i obviously had no idea it was or why it was)
So without even asking me any questions about why I seem to be completely shocked at my license being suspended... he proceeds to cuff me so tight my fingers lost sensation, stuff me into his car and have my car searched and towed. (which I of course have to pay for)
Then also with no opportunity to plead my side of this horrific injustice... he booked me and tossed me in a jail cell for a few hours.
So now i'm out on Bail... for a petty crime that i didn't even commit.
I love suburban cops drunk on power!
After blowing $250 on bail, and missing a day of work. I was finally able to make the phone call to the city of buffalo clerk that i was asking to make when I first heard of this crap.
The buffalo people saw the error on my record, called albany and the DMV agreed that there was a clerical error which allowed a PAID PARKING TICKET FROM 2003 to turn into a scofflaw suspension of my license.
So some tit in a government office fucks up a bit of data entry, and three years later I end up in cuffs for the first time in my life.
The wonderful part of all of this... I have to pay towing and impound fees, fees to the DMV to get paperwork proving my innocence, legal fees to my lawyer, etc... And I have absolutely ZERO recourse. So i'll probably end up after all of this is cleared from my record; out around $1000 that I really don't have.
:icon33:
hows this for "a bad day"
probelm is that the only liable is the NYS DMV. the city is technically off the hook, since they were just doing their job with the shit information they had. (granted the cop could have been human about it and cleared everything up... but a cop being a prick isn't exactly litigous offence)
what lawyer is going to take a small claims case for a civil despute against the state?
what lawyer is going to take a small claims case for a civil despute against the state?
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HM-PuFFNSTuFF
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HM-PuFFNSTuFF
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that brings up the worse angle...brisk wrote: Go listen to some NWA at full volume to let off a bit of steam.
I'm a late 20's white guy going to a private engineering school who sells software licensing for a living. (all of which the cop knew)
Can you immagine what the situation would have been like if I was a black guy? (where he worked and where he went to school are questions the cop would have most likely never even asked... so that part of the comparison is irrelevant)
no win, no fee?Dr_Watson wrote:probelm is that the only liable is the NYS DMV. the city is technically off the hook, since they were just doing their job with the shit information they had. (granted the cop could have been human about it and cleared everything up... but a cop being a prick isn't exactly litigous offence)
what lawyer is going to take a small claims case for a civil despute against the state?
that's what it's there for
tough breakDr_Watson wrote:that brings up the worse angle...brisk wrote: Go listen to some NWA at full volume to let off a bit of steam.
I'm a late 20's white guy going to a private engineering school who sells software licensing for a living. (all of which the cop knew)
Can you immagine what the situation would have been like if I was a black guy? (where he worked and where he went to school are questions the cop would have most likely never even asked... so that part of the comparison is irrelevant)
you would've been fucked either way. if you're worse off than the cop then he'd enjoy looking down on you. if you're better off, he'd enjoy bringing you down a peg. the only way to deal with cops is to treat them like someone with a big knife having a bad acid trip and try to get off as lightly as you can.
if you're really pissed about the being arrested part, but can handle disappointment - write down everything that happened and then have a lawyer look at it to see if can spot any procedural holes in the cop's behaviour. there might be something you can nail him on. if you do find something, don't forget he'll tell all his buddies to keep an eye out for you in future
is there no recourse for compensation from the dmv?
most important thing is to make absolutely sure that you've got nothing over your head for the future (criminal record etc).
4days wrote:the only way to deal with cops is to treat them like someone with a big knife having a bad acid trip and try to get off as lightly as you can.
is there no recourse for compensation from the dmv?
i guess that's my problem... i always try to treat them like real people. and no, after talking with my lawyer about it... i'm pretty much just going to have to bend over and spread my cheeks on this one.
oh, and as far as proceidural holes... the cop cuffed me and booked me without reading me my rights... but that's not really a big deal considering he didn't care what I had to say and didn't take a statement.
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Freakaloin
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Re: hows this for "a bad day"
Dr_Watson wrote:I got to spend yesterday afternoon in a vomit smelling jail cell. :icon14:
I got pulled over on my way to work for speeding (which is also bullshit but i'm not really concerned with that at the moment).
After the cop ran my license it came up suspended since april. (i obviously had no idea it was or why it was)
So without even asking me any questions about why I seem to be completely shocked at my license being suspended... he proceeds to cuff me so tight my fingers lost sensation, stuff me into his car and have my car searched and towed. (which I of course have to pay for)
Then also with no opportunity to plead my side of this horrific injustice... he booked me and tossed me in a jail cell for a few hours.
So now i'm out on Bail... for a petty crime that i didn't even commit.
I love suburban cops drunk on power!
After blowing $250 on bail, and missing a day of work. I was finally able to make the phone call to the city of buffalo clerk that i was asking to make when I first heard of this crap.
The buffalo people saw the error on my record, called albany and the DMV agreed that there was a clerical error which allowed a PAID PARKING TICKET FROM 2003 to turn into a scofflaw suspension of my license.
So some tit in a government office fucks up a bit of data entry, and three years later I end up in cuffs for the first time in my life.
The wonderful part of all of this... I have to pay towing and impound fees, fees to the DMV to get paperwork proving my innocence, legal fees to my lawyer, etc... And I have absolutely ZERO recourse. So i'll probably end up after all of this is cleared from my record; out around $1000 that I really don't have.
:icon33:
this guy is obviously a lying criminal who needs to be put away for a long time...
a defining attribute of a government is that it has a monopoly on the legitimate exercise of violence...
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+JuggerNaut+
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Where I live you can't be arrested for driving on a suspended license - it's a citation.
Your license has to be revoked in order to be arrested for it - i.e., DUI charges or something similar.
That's a shitty day alright man, good luck.
At the very least, I hope you can get your money back when you go to court.
edit: Talk to another attorney too, just to get a second opinion.
Your license has to be revoked in order to be arrested for it - i.e., DUI charges or something similar.
That's a shitty day alright man, good luck.
At the very least, I hope you can get your money back when you go to court.
edit: Talk to another attorney too, just to get a second opinion.
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+JuggerNaut+
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You do have some recourse maybe against the clerical error bit. The cop was just following protocol except maybe for the handcuffs too tight..you are a pretty skinny guy, no? maybe he was afraid of you being able to slip out of them and shiv him in the side of the head or something....:icon32:
And how was the speeding bullshit? Usually that is pretty cut and dry...
edit: nvm, you apparently have talked with your lawyer.
I would think that maybe some sort of civil suit, because of tort law or whatever it is that goes something like 'but for the action of so and so person, this thing wouldn't have happened to me...' or something like that if I remember it right from judge judy. my friend is currently running for a judge position here, i'm going to ask him if he's ever heard of anyone winning any type of settlement for a clerical error resulting in improsonment/lost wages/etc.
And how was the speeding bullshit? Usually that is pretty cut and dry...
edit: nvm, you apparently have talked with your lawyer.
I would think that maybe some sort of civil suit, because of tort law or whatever it is that goes something like 'but for the action of so and so person, this thing wouldn't have happened to me...' or something like that if I remember it right from judge judy. my friend is currently running for a judge position here, i'm going to ask him if he's ever heard of anyone winning any type of settlement for a clerical error resulting in improsonment/lost wages/etc.
Last edited by tnf on Sat Sep 23, 2006 3:27 pm, edited 2 times in total.
