Inaccurate Officer's Written Statement

Greetings, and thanks to all who wish to reply:

At an arraignment for a carpool lane violation (2 pax, not 3), I was able to review the officers written statement.

In it, he states I was the only passenger in the car, when there were two. (I have a photo taken at the time with my friend clearly visible in the passenger seat, and the officer beside my car.)

How likely am I to be able to use this error to invalidate their case? There are other points, as well, but this would become he said...I said....

how do you have a pic showing both passengers and the officer?

While the officer was checking my info, I got out of the car and began taking pics.

Wow, in todays world, I am surprised you were not ordered to plant yourself somewhere or even worse.

You can try to use the pics. The worst that will happen is they won;t be allowed. Seems like the pics would be pretty condemning.

Hopefully Carl, (CDWJava) will post on this. He is a Cali police officer and is the best source of info concerning California on the site.

Am I misunderstanding something? You got a ticket for having only one passenger, instead of two or more, and your photograph documents that you had only one passenger?

To clarify, there were two persons in the car: myself and my friend.
The on-ramp requires 3 or more to be in the car.

Forgive me for my ignorance but I am from Hicksville Michigan and we do not have HOV lanes.


so where does the on ramp come into this situation.

Quote:

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Quoting aaron

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Am I misunderstanding something? You got a ticket for having only one passenger, instead of two or more, and your photograph documents that you had only one passenger?

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D'oh!, sorry Aaron.

To be clear to all, there were two persons in the car: myself and a friend.

Here in Cali, over half the HOVs are 2+occupants; the one I was stopped on is 3+. And while it has about six signs stating carpool only hours, the one lone sign listing the required# of people was obstructed by a tree, and invisible from a car.

Hope this clarifies. Thanks!

sorry, I misunderstood your original post that you were in a HOV-2 lane not a 3.

Now, since you toss in a totally different situation, it seems that 2 passengers were not enough to qualify so why would that make any difference?

If you can prove that any sign you would have passed was not readable, you may have a shot. Since you are so handy with the cam, do you have a pic of the obscured sign?

JK, the on-ramp I refer to is a city street that abruptly (in less than 1/2 block) turns into a freeway on-ramp and is designated carpool use only during commute hours.

I was driving with a friend in my car when cited, yet the officer's written statement says I was the only one in the vehicle. My buddy will be in court to support my position, as will the picture.

So to my question: if the officer is wrong in a key element of his submitted statement, and my photo and friend prove otherwise, how does that impact my overall case? Do I have the right to ask the judge to dismiss if she agrees with me on this point?