Traffic Court Blows
I can't believe the bullshit I'm going through on this one...
Back in February, I got pulled over for an expired registration. Finally got the money to fix the smog problem to get the registration. It was rough though, it ended up costing 3/4 of what the car cost me last year. Gotta stop buying those $1000 pieces of shit.
So, expired registration = flashing red light for cops. Got pulled over a lot. One of these times, I showed the officer (Cop #2) that I'd already received the fix-it ticket for registration, and he gave me a ticket for not having a rear view mirror on my windshield. He said that the state of CA requires a rear-view mirror on windshields. What? Can anyone say, "semi truck"?
Anyway, I believed the idiot cop, who was probably a newbie or just a total asshole, and he handed me the $10 fix-it ticket and told me to sign, which, he said didn't admit guilt, it just stated that you got the ticket.
So, my registration is still expired a couple of weeks later as I'm saving up money, and I get pulled over again. This time, I just hand the cop both tickets (expired reg. & mirror). He asked if I had both side view mirrors at the time of getting the mirror ticket, I said yes, he said the previous ticket was wrong and to fight it. Looked it up online and talked to like 4 more police officers. Sure enough, Cop #2 was totally wrong. The state of CA requires 2 mirrors which see 200 feet behind the vehicle, one of which is required to be on the driver's side. The other can be on the windshield or the passenger side.
Flash forward to May. I completely flaked and didn't go to court to fight it or just put on a fucking mirror, get it inspected, and send my $10 in. Out of the blue, I received this bright yellow envelope from the Court, it was the first bill of any kind I got from the Courts on this ticket, and it was a collection notice. That's right COLLECTION NOTICE, and now my $10 fix-it ticket turned into $616 with no warning whatsoever. I believe that standard businesses are required to attempt to collect debts 3 times before sending to collections, but apparently the gov can royally screw people over by doing no such thing. What the fuck?
So, I decide to fight it after all. Took the day off of work, went to the stupid court house, paid my $4 to park. (More bullshit) And waited to go into the courtroom. Got there early so I was one of the first 10 people in. The jackasses at the courthouse overbooked by like 20 people. So, we saw this stupid video about pleas, and 20 people had to wait outside. Then this ornery Andy Warhol lookalike judge guy walks in. Found out later he wasn't even a judge. A commissioner or something.
He was an extremely mean jerk. We were all at our arraignments, where you just enter you plea, but he had the power to dismiss all of our cases. The problem is, the fucker wouldn't let us say a WORD. He said he didn't want to hear anything at all except, "Guilty," "Not Guilty," or "No Contest." And anytime anyone said anything further, he would interrupt, and address the whole room,saying something obnoxious like... You see she didn't hear anything I said earlier. As I've said, I only want to hear a plea. I'm not hear to listen to your stories. And we have too many people to see to have everyone ask me questions. This is your arraignment, people.
He was bitter and pissed off and irritated with being there. He threatened anyone who spoke with skipping them completely and moving on to the next person.
Scared to say anything except not guilty or I'd get yelled at and kicked out of the courtroom, I stated not guilty. Then, while waiting in the cashier's line, I saw people who had yet to go in. They asked me how the judge was, I told them how much he sucked.
About an hour and a half later, the lady at the counter finally got to me. She asked me for the $616. Turns out that if you plead not guilty, EVEN IF YOUR TICKET MAKES NO SENSE AT ALL, you have to pay the collection notice bullshit just to see a judge. I got the maximum extension, 10 whole days, and finally left the courthouse.
On the way out, I ran into one of the people who I had seen before. She asked what my judge looked like, I described him, she said that he was really nice to their whole group and basically dismissed almost every case. THAT IS SO FUCKING UNFAIR I CAN'T EVEN HANDLE IT.
Just now got back from the courhouse, wrote a bad check for the $616 hoping it won't go through my account until Thursday since I get paid that day and I have direct deposit. They gave me my court date. The first available date is August 24th, so they get to hold my $616 until then. It totally sucks.
Back in February, I got pulled over for an expired registration. Finally got the money to fix the smog problem to get the registration. It was rough though, it ended up costing 3/4 of what the car cost me last year. Gotta stop buying those $1000 pieces of shit.
So, expired registration = flashing red light for cops. Got pulled over a lot. One of these times, I showed the officer (Cop #2) that I'd already received the fix-it ticket for registration, and he gave me a ticket for not having a rear view mirror on my windshield. He said that the state of CA requires a rear-view mirror on windshields. What? Can anyone say, "semi truck"?
Anyway, I believed the idiot cop, who was probably a newbie or just a total asshole, and he handed me the $10 fix-it ticket and told me to sign, which, he said didn't admit guilt, it just stated that you got the ticket.
So, my registration is still expired a couple of weeks later as I'm saving up money, and I get pulled over again. This time, I just hand the cop both tickets (expired reg. & mirror). He asked if I had both side view mirrors at the time of getting the mirror ticket, I said yes, he said the previous ticket was wrong and to fight it. Looked it up online and talked to like 4 more police officers. Sure enough, Cop #2 was totally wrong. The state of CA requires 2 mirrors which see 200 feet behind the vehicle, one of which is required to be on the driver's side. The other can be on the windshield or the passenger side.
Flash forward to May. I completely flaked and didn't go to court to fight it or just put on a fucking mirror, get it inspected, and send my $10 in. Out of the blue, I received this bright yellow envelope from the Court, it was the first bill of any kind I got from the Courts on this ticket, and it was a collection notice. That's right COLLECTION NOTICE, and now my $10 fix-it ticket turned into $616 with no warning whatsoever. I believe that standard businesses are required to attempt to collect debts 3 times before sending to collections, but apparently the gov can royally screw people over by doing no such thing. What the fuck?
So, I decide to fight it after all. Took the day off of work, went to the stupid court house, paid my $4 to park. (More bullshit) And waited to go into the courtroom. Got there early so I was one of the first 10 people in. The jackasses at the courthouse overbooked by like 20 people. So, we saw this stupid video about pleas, and 20 people had to wait outside. Then this ornery Andy Warhol lookalike judge guy walks in. Found out later he wasn't even a judge. A commissioner or something.
He was an extremely mean jerk. We were all at our arraignments, where you just enter you plea, but he had the power to dismiss all of our cases. The problem is, the fucker wouldn't let us say a WORD. He said he didn't want to hear anything at all except, "Guilty," "Not Guilty," or "No Contest." And anytime anyone said anything further, he would interrupt, and address the whole room,saying something obnoxious like... You see she didn't hear anything I said earlier. As I've said, I only want to hear a plea. I'm not hear to listen to your stories. And we have too many people to see to have everyone ask me questions. This is your arraignment, people.
He was bitter and pissed off and irritated with being there. He threatened anyone who spoke with skipping them completely and moving on to the next person.
Scared to say anything except not guilty or I'd get yelled at and kicked out of the courtroom, I stated not guilty. Then, while waiting in the cashier's line, I saw people who had yet to go in. They asked me how the judge was, I told them how much he sucked.
About an hour and a half later, the lady at the counter finally got to me. She asked me for the $616. Turns out that if you plead not guilty, EVEN IF YOUR TICKET MAKES NO SENSE AT ALL, you have to pay the collection notice bullshit just to see a judge. I got the maximum extension, 10 whole days, and finally left the courthouse.
On the way out, I ran into one of the people who I had seen before. She asked what my judge looked like, I described him, she said that he was really nice to their whole group and basically dismissed almost every case. THAT IS SO FUCKING UNFAIR I CAN'T EVEN HANDLE IT.
Just now got back from the courhouse, wrote a bad check for the $616 hoping it won't go through my account until Thursday since I get paid that day and I have direct deposit. They gave me my court date. The first available date is August 24th, so they get to hold my $616 until then. It totally sucks.
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