Driving Under Suspension in Parked Car

My question involves a driver's license issued by the State of: Pennsylvania

Car is in my name. Daughter & I went to friends house. Said we would give another friend ride home. Friend goes with me to warm up car for daughter to drive us home. While talking in car, police car drives past us, turns around and passes us again. A minute later, police pull up, blocking the car in, turn on spotlight and come up to window, asking, "Are you (says my name)" I respond "yes". "Your license is suspended, you're not going anywhere!" THEN they ask for ID of both me and friend. I explain I wasn't driving anywhere; I'm warming up car for daughter, who is in house. They come back and ask friend to get out of car. They leave door open, which I try to shut and they tell me to leave it open. He apparently had an unpaid fine, so he gets arrested. They then ask me to exit the car and come to the back of the car. They ask if I have any weapons, which I deny and they "pat" down the outside of my clothing. They then ask me how long I've known the friend, because he has a "history of drugs", to which I reply we all worked together in the past and all I've known is that he drinks occasionally. They then start asking if there were any drugs in the car and I reply, "I don't consent to any searches" and they respond "it doesn't matter because we're searching it anyway" and they do....the glove box, under the seats, the trunk. I then ask if I'm under arrest for anything or may I go back into the house and they respond they're citing me for driving under suspension. So what are my chances of beating this? It was a non-traffic stop and they never answered me when I asked why they pulled up in the first place because we weren't doing anything illegal - it wasn't suspicious. They obviously ran my tags when they passed the second time and then ran the name from the tags which may have come up as a suspended license, but there was no guarantee the person in the vehicle was me. Any advice would be appreciated!! I have my CDL that was suspended for 6 months, which was restored on the 23rd of December. This happened on the 19th. I never drove during that 6 months because I didn't want to chance losing it for longer. It affects my job. Thank you for any advice you could give me.

From what you are telling us, it sounds like you were sitting in the driver's seat of a car, with the keys in the ignition and the engine on, when a police officer drove by. You have told us that the police officer knew you from a prior encounter (or encounters) and knew that your license was suspended.

Were you charged under 75 Pa.C.S.A. 1543? If so, then the issue would appear to turn on whether or not your sitting in the driver's seat of a running vehicle constitutes "driving", even if the car is not moving.

Duplicate of a previous thread. The answers aren't going to get any different: http://www.expertlaw.com/forums/show...ht=#post676940

I've been trying to find some sort of legal referral to 1543(a) because it merely states "driving" but nothing about "being in control of" a vehicle. I would think in order to receive a "driving" under suspension, it would be a traffic stop, i.e. being pulled over for a traffic violation and then being cited with DUS on top of that, or having been actually seen with the vehicle in motion - not being parked on the street between two other cars. The officer didn't know me from a prior encounter - he knew the passenger, or so he claimed. I'm curious how he knew my license was suspended before he even had my identification in his hand, unless, like I stated, when he ran the registration my name came up and he could then see that it was suspended. And that seems strange to me - I know cops run plates all the time driving, but to do it to a parked car - maybe because you saw some people sitting in a parked car, so you run the plates and it comes up the car is registered to a person whose license is suspended? So that requires you to go back and turn on your lights for a "stop" ? I don't know - hopefully I'll be able to beat this, because I definitely wasn't DRIVING.

You will most often see the statement "Person was in control of the vehicle" as the reasoning to justify a sanction. Although there are cases where just being in a running vehicle with a suspended license has not been held as a violation, in most cases if you are behind the wheel with keys in your possession, and especially the vehicle running, you are in control.

Most DUI cases with this issue cite Banner, 558 Pa. at 446-447, 737 A.2d

Quote:

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In Banner, the Court reviewed the evidence of the driver's actual prior physical control, which it noted consisted solely of the car's location parked along a rural road near a convenience store. The driver in Banner, as distinguished from the instant facts, was sleeping in the passenger seat and not behind the vehicle's wheel. In both cases - Banner, and the instant matter - the keys were in the vehicle's ignition. The Banner Court concluded that this evidence was "too tenuous of a connection to afford the officer reasonable grounds to have believed that [the driver] was in actual physical control of the movement of the vehicle while intoxicated", and accordingly reversed the trial court's dismissal of the licensee's suspension appeal. Banner, 558 Pa. at 449, 737 A.2d at 1208 (emphasis in original).

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For more specific information about 75 § 1543a. Driving while operating privilege is suspended or revoked. from a site I maintain.

Remember it is up to the judge to decide if your facts justify a conviction. It is up to the officer to make his case and in my personal belief 1543a specifically stated:

Quote:

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any person who drives a motor vehicle on any highway or trafficway of this Commonwealth after the commencement of a suspension, revocation or cancellation of the operating privilege and before the operating privilege has been restored is guilty of a summary offense

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The bold is my notation.

Get yourself good representation, explain the facts, and fight the ticket is my suggestion. Just remember, it could go either way...it all depends on the judge and your facts.

good luck,
Vince