Off duty cop chased me

[The Toecutter]

Land of the free, huh? Thank God we don't have such crap here in the third world.

YEA!! The Cops just shoot you over there as target practice... LOL :iconbeer:

 

[SirIsaac]

....I was going approx 65 in a 50 zone without any cars around. ....he estimated my speed around 60 mph (which is fairly high, i would estimate it from 45-50). ..

I probably can't add much to what has been said, but I had a couple of thoughts. I'm not sure if I understand your speed vs. speed limits. What was the speed limit where you passed him? Is that where he claimed you were doing 60? Was it a legal passing zone? Where I am going with this is that if he was doing under the speed limit in a legal passing zone, then you had the right to pass him. I don't know if it applies in NY, but an Ohio State Trooper told me that you are legally allowed to exceed the speed limit while passing a slower driver in a legal passing zone, so as to get past and out of wrong lane as quickly as possible. Of course then you are supposed to slow back down to the speed limit.

 

[DeviAnt32]

I forgot to mention that my girlfriend happened to be riding on the back with me, so I do have a witness.

 

[Mancolt]

I think Tailgate is right. Unless you want to pay for a lawyer, I doubt you have much of a chance of winning. The chief of police will likely know the judge or some BS so you're screwed.

I did some searching and it does seem that LEO's have off-duty authority so long as they identify themselves as LEO's. Considering you're both moving at speeds on a road, without flashing red & blue lights, I'm not sure how he could accomplish this. So don't give them the chance to identify themselves or they could give you a citation.

I think the best thing now though is to learn from it. If it were me, after doing a bit of research (prompted by this thread), I'd take the hell off. Especially if I just passed someone illegally like that. The only reason they'd be chasing you is if they're a pissed off psycho @$$hole, or they're law enforcement in a personal vehicle (probably still a pissed off @$$hole to be chasing after you off-duty). In either case, I wouldn't want to stop for them. I would take off and lose them asap.

Just my opinion though and I'm not saying that you should do this. Hypothetically, if I was in this situation, it's what I would do.

Good luck though and sorry about the crappy situation!

 

[DeviAnt32]

I probably can't add much to what has been said, but I had a couple of thoughts. I'm not sure if I understand your speed vs. speed limits. What was the speed limit where you passed him? Is that where he claimed you were doing 60? Was it a legal passing zone? Where I am going with this is that if he was doing under the speed limit in a legal passing zone, then you had the right to pass him. I don't know if it applies in NY, but an Ohio State Trooper told me that you are legally allowed to exceed the speed limit while passing a slower driver in a legal passing zone, so as to get past and out of wrong lane as quickly as possible. Of course then you are supposed to slow back down to the speed limit.

It was not a legal passing lane, i am guilty of that. But I feel that me pulling over when I know that I didn't have to and the fact that I was very cooperative even though I was unsure it was a cop was more then enough. Making me get out of work to drive all the way to the other side of town the next day to pick up two tickets was way out of reason.

 

[Bouncing]

you could go to the mayor or some sort of city council meeting. basically going to his boss and complain. I think that could be effective.

 

[DeviAnt32]

You're screwed. Take it to court and and judge will, no doubt, take the CHIEF OF POLICE's word over yours!

Who says it will even get to the judge? My thought is that as soon as the Assistant District Attorney gets to hear about what happened, he will throw it out or reduce charges. I am considering filing charges on the police chief for threatening me to show up the next day at his office and chasing me off duty in a unmarked car.

 

[VEGASRIDER]

I think I would take that one to court. Depending on your situation, it may be worth your time to challenge the whole thing. If you are 'points free', I wouldn't bother if you can go to traffic school to avoid the dings on your license.

As has been pointed out, the odds are very, very good that Mr. Police Chief hasn't been formally trained in traffic control in a number of years. The fact that he had someone else hand you the tickets seems to indicate (to me) that he may not be the citing officer.... you have a right to face your accuser....... The additional points of contention concerning how he judged your speed are worthy; but I'd want a lawyer doing the debate.

That would cost you a fair amount of money.

+1 I would agree that the one who is citing the ticket must have witnessed it. So they both have to appear!

Plus all of the road rage incidents going on, I'm surprised you stopped.

 

[tweak89]

Not that I agree with HOW the officer conducted himself, but are you mad that you got CAUGHT or HOW you got caught?

You don't deny you were speeding, and you weren't paying attention to how fast you were going when you passed him. You also passed in a no passing zone. So really, what is your defense? "Yes, I did make an illegal pass and was speeding, but the cop was a jerk and I had to miss work...can I go now?"

Like I said, I think the officer could have handled it much better than he did, but the facts are, you broke traffic laws and got caught. I like how most in this thread are ignoring those facts.

A general power is given to peace officers to use the necessary force in doing what they are required or authorized to do; the possibility of using force is therefore open to a peace officer performing his duties, peace officers have the right to make an arrest, routine traffic stop, or respond to any emergency call when off duty, even if the particular provision of the Code under which he is acting does not give him such power. [subs. 25(1)b) of the Criminal Code]

Heck, anyone who say you breaking the traffic laws that you did could have caused you to get those tickets if they so chose to contact law enforcement and "tell" on you:

New York law extends the possibility for making a citizens arrest to any offense committed in [ones] presence.

 

[Tailgate]

Just call up "Ticket Busters." (don't you have one in your area). I see their billbooards in the Vegas area. It think it reads something like: "Got tickets, DUI? Call TicketBusters, from $79.00 up. GUARANTEED).

 

[Sparky10]

First of all, go back and delete everything that you admitted being guilty to if you are even considering fighting this.

Second, no lights and no siren means catch me if you can. And if you manage, you will likely get shot for your trouble. It could be an off duty cop, or it could be some psycho. If somebody in a regular vehicle has chased me down, I am going to assume my life is in danger (assuming they catch me, which is VERY unlikely).

Now, if there are lights and sirens, I will gladly pull over. But that is not the issue here.

 

[tweak89]

First of all, go back and delete everything that you admitted being guilty to if you are even considering fighting this.

Second, no lights and no siren means catch me if you can. And if you manage, you will likely get shot for your trouble. It could be an off duty cop, or it could be some psycho. If somebody in a regular vehicle has chased me down, I am going to assume my life is in danger (assuming they catch me, which is VERY unlikely).

Now, if there are lights and sirens, I will gladly pull over. But that is not the issue here.

The other, smarter option, is to proceed to a public area and call the police yourself and explain the situation.

No offense, but your catch me if you can otherwise I will shoot you is the reason why cops will act as they do. To them, every yahoo they pull over could be their last.

 

[VEGASRIDER]

Just call up "Ticket Busters." (don't you have one in your area). I see their billbooards in the Vegas area. It think it reads something like: "Got tickets, DUI? Call TicketBusters, from $79.00 up. GUARANTEED).

Sounds like you're here quite a bit LOL....

 

[Kamloops]

:spank::spank::spank::spank:

"open it up a little bit. "
"I was going approx 65 in a 50 zone without any cars around"
"It was not a legal passing lane, i am guilty of that."

 

[sxty8goats]

I would not have stopped. If I heard 'police' I would have assumed he was threatining to call the police and kept right on riding. If he continued to follow, I would have headed to a police station if I couldn't ditch him.

Lawyer up on this one. you are going to need the help in court.

 

[Slater]

first did he have to speed to catch you?
if so he should be given the same ticket cuse with out lights he can not do more than 10 miles over the speed limit and with lights he can only do 25 over
with out checking in with dispatch to go faster therefore he is intitled to the same tickets you were given for speeding. and if he did not speed than how the hell did he catch you
and in a personal car he has to follow the same rules you do
all he can do is call and report your plat number and have a patrol car come to you. never stop if the no lights or sirens to many junkies looking for there next fix and you never know what will happen

 

[Kamloops]

If you are pulled over by an unmarked car or a police officer in plain clothes, or have any other suspicion that the person pulling you over is not a police officer there are a few actions you can take. You can ask for photo identification, asked them to call their supervisor or even have them escort you to the nearest police station. The officer is trained to understand these situations and will not be irritated. Never attempt to flee as the police officer is trained to pursue someone who flees as criminal activity will be suspected at this point.

 

[YamahaMAXdRPMs]

I got pulled over like this one time, i passed a truck (on a 2 lane highway mind you, nothing dangerous about it, not speeding at all) and i guess the "cop" was pissed that i passed him and proceeded to chase me, cut me off and hit his brakes while holding his badge out the window. My brother who is a cop said i should have never pulled over, too many "fake cops" out there to pull over for someone in a civilian vehicle.

I would fight it 100%.

 

[RJ2112]

If you are pulled over by an unmarked car or a police officer in plain clothes, or have any other suspicion that the person pulling you over is not a police officer there are a few actions you can take. You can ask for photo identification, asked them to call their supervisor or even have them escort you to the nearest police station. The officer is trained to understand these situations and will not be irritated. Never attempt to flee as the police officer is trained to pursue someone who flees as criminal activity will be suspected at this point.

Now I KNOW you're in Canada, LOLOLOL

 

[DeviAnt32]

:spank::spank::spank::spank:

"open it up a little bit. "
"I was going approx 65 in a 50 zone without any cars around"
"It was not a legal passing lane, i am guilty of that."

The cop never witnessed me going excessively over the speed limit, that was after I was passed him. The only thing he witnessed was me passing him. How many times on a back road have cars slowed down and moved to the right a little to let you know that you can pass? The way he was driving I did not think it was a aggressive move on my part to pass him. That lesson I have learned. I will not pass a car unless I have visual agreement with them to pass.