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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Mar 2014
    Posts
    5

    Post Assault with a Deadly Weapon

    My question involves a traffic ticket from the state of: California

    Hi guys, I'm not here to get flamed, just to share my experience and gain some insight.

    So, I received my license in April and was finally able to purchase my first car at the end of November and start driving.

    Then exactly one month later I got a ticket:
    VC 22107 Lane change without signaling
    No front license plate
    No insurance

    I was driving behind a slow moving vehicle and decided to get into the lane next to it and proceed on my way. However the lane turned out to be a left turn only lane so I immediately got back over only this time I was in front of the vehicle that I had previously been behind. An officer pulled me over and told me that I was road raging and that I need to act more responsibly. He kept telling me to man up and just admit to road raging, going on about how the other driver probably deserved it and that I was just the one that got caught in a back and forth between me and the other driver. It was like a scene from the movie Anger Management.

    He threatened to arrest me for assault with a deadly weapon and attempted murder, needless to say I was shitting myself at this point and just agreed with everything he said.

    The officer said if I contested the ticket that he would file the aforementioned charges.

    Every time I would ask him a question about how I could have done better under the circumstances he would just call me ignorant.

    I had to wait for the dealership to special order a bracket to come to mount the plate
    I had insurance but hadn't received the card in the mail yet


    Is there anything I can reasonably do about this ticket without him trying to incarcerate me?

    For the correctable violations do I have to go back to the city where I got the ticket to show them it's been fixed or can I ask a local officer?

    Also there isn't a fine amount on the ticket so I'm not sure how to pay it.

    I see people who are about to miss their freeways interchange switch lanes late all the time and not get ticketed or arrested. What did I do different? (This is one of the questions that I asked the cop that resulted in his calling me ignorant.) I'm still trying to figure out the rules of the road. Please help.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Sep 2010
    Posts
    19,901

    Default Re: Assault with a Deadly Weapon

    Cases are not adjudicated on the side of the road. While ranting at you is probably inappropriate it is not going to have any bearing on your charge. Feel free to report his unprofessional behavior to his department if you like. Do not let the alleged threats of additional charges affect your decision as to whether to address these charges. It's highly unlikely he's going to file these after the fact and there's this little thing called the fifth amendment that keeps them from refiling new charges on cases that have already been adjudicated once.

    For the correctable violation, any officer can sign it off. You then take that and the $25 fee to the court you were cited in and deal with it there. There's no obligation to go anywhere hear the citing officer or his department.

    As for the failure to signal, you can contest it or not. Typically the fine amount will be on the courtesy notice, but if that doesn't come you'll have to contact the court you're cited to appear in to find out the fine and how to pay. In many counties this can be done online (just google your county name and pay ticket online together and that will usually help).

    Your options:

    1. Admit guilt and pay the ticket.
    2. See if traffic school is offered. You'll pay the ticket plus a fee to the state and have to pay for traffic school. If you do this however, the charge will not be reported as a conviction to the DMV. You won't get a license point and your insurance company won't see it and raise your rates (I assume you are a youthful operator from your description).
    3. Request a trial by written declaration. This perhaps is the riskiest in your situation as it clues the officer that you may be contesting the ticket if he wasn't making idle threats. You'll likely lose a TBD anyhow.
    4. Go to court for the arraignment. You can typically request traffic school here if it hasn't already been offered. You can just plead guilty and pay the fine. You can plead not guilty and things will proceed to trial.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    May 2013
    Posts
    1,055

    Default Re: Assault with a Deadly Weapon

    I'd wait with any complaint to the department until after your case is finalized. This will really irritate an unprofessional officer like the one you described and virtually guarantee he will respond at trial. He'll not be allowed to amend the charge at trial as he threatened to do unless you have a corrupt judge, which is unlikely.

    flyingron is correct that TBWD might cue the officer as to your intention to fight the charge but it's also one more step he must take get to a conviction. If you delay arraignment as long as possible and then delay your trial date (or "Due Date" in TBWD) after that, the officer might forget more than he remembers and be less liklely to respond at all. He may well have made notes but if he thinks his threats were effective enough, he may not have. He may have such great success doing this on a regular basis that he NEVER gets to court. Many motorists will have no idea that he's spouting nonsense.

    TBWD has the added benefit that you'll be able to go to the court and see his actual written sworn statement before trial. If he says anything materially different at your subsequent TDN trial, you can use this statement for impeachment of credibility.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2014
    Posts
    5

    Default Re: Assault with a Deadly Weapon

    Quote Quoting donzoh1
    View Post
    I'd wait with any complaint to the department until after your case is finalized. This will really irritate an unprofessional officer like the one you described and virtually guarantee he will respond at trial. He'll not be allowed to amend the charge at trial as he threatened to do unless you have a corrupt judge, which is unlikely.
    I'll probably just not take chances with the fate of my life and end up not filing a complaint if he is able to just change his story willy-nilly. HIS SCARE TACTICS ARE WORKING.

    I really hate that I put myself in this situation.

    Thanks for you input guys.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Location
    California
    Posts
    20,594

    Default Re: Assault with a Deadly Weapon

    He is not going to arbitrarily be able file charges for ADW (PC 245) on a whim. And if he tried, any court with an ounce of common sense would be able to read right through such an act (initially filing infractions and then changing it to a violent felony after you scheduled the matter for court). Not to mention that the officer would have to show that you had the intent to use the vehicle as a weapon and cause harm, not simply being negligent.

    Now,m if you DID change lanes with the appropriate signal, did not have proof of insurance on hand and lacked a front plate, it may be in your interest to correct the two correctable issues and take your lumps for the unsafe lane change. And, perhaps, go to traffic school.

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