How much bad info are you gonna spew? Miranda rights have to do with questioning while in a subtle custodial situation. Your attorney friend either doesn't want to bother taking the time to teach Evidence 100 to you, or he too is a tard. And statement's like "you will get off dude fer shure" are either a joke or scarily ignorant in the crapshoot of a legal matter.

 

I'm not saying he is guilty of what he is charged with and I said that originally. I'm talking now about whether his Miranda right were raped. As I read his post, he never said the cops tried to question him after taking him into custody. And, back to the practicality of nailing the city for the cops action,even if you could find one, I still think it's a crap case. "Accused street racer wins false imprisonment suit for one night, awarded 100 bucks, cost 8,000 in fees,... News At Eleven!"

 

You know, sometimes when someone posts one of these stories, it may be true. They may really be innocent of the charge. Everyone needs to be willing to accept their story unless there are further significant statements to the contrary.

About 23 years ago my wife and I were stopped for racing, a contest of speed. We had been married for only a few months and my wife had met me at work around 1:30-2:00 AM. At the time, we both worked in the grocery business and had to close up our respective stores.

My wife drove a new stock 1981 Fiat X1/9 and I drove a highly modified 1978 280Z. Today this would be like a base Miata against a Z06 Corvette.

We were stopped at a red light on a 4 lane parkway (wide grass median) with no other cars in sight. A police car approached the light from the side street as the light turned green for us. We proceeded through the intersection and for the next 3/4 mile or so never approached the speed limit of 55 mph. We were doing a steady speed of 45-50 mph while driving side by side and < begin embarrassing admission > making goggle-eyes and blowing kisses to each other <end embarrassing admission> with our windows down.

I dropped back in behind my wife, and as we took our exit the police car that we had seen at the previous light passed me (on the ramp) pulled behind my wife and hit his blue lights. She pulled over, he pulled behind her and I pulled over behind him (not on his bumper, 20-30 ft back). Remember: it is 2:00 AM, my wife has just been pulled over by the police, I have no idea why they would have stopped her.

The officer gets out yells at me to stay in my car and then proceeds to my wife's car. After a minute he gets me from my car and gets my wife and I both together. He tells us we were "racing". This surprised me so much that at first I laughed and said he had to be kidding. He was very serious. I told him that if we were racing we would definitely be doing more than 45 mph. I also told him that it wouldn't even be a race, it would be like a vette racing a beetle.

He appeared to be unsure and might be changing his mind about the ticket when his sergeant drove up and then a third police car appeared. The three officers talked for 5 or 10 minutes, then the other officers left. The officer who stopped us came back to our cars and told us we were getting tickets for racing. My wife and I were both fuming, but remained silent.

We went to court to contest the racing tickets. We decided to speak with the DA and explain what happened and that we were going to contest the tickets. The DA was very understanding. She (this may have been a plus for us) said it sounded ridiculous to her. After speaking with the officer, she dropped the charges and made the officer personally give us our licenses back and apologize. The officer was not happy.

Most police are good guys. They may not see everything that is going on (like the embarrassing part above) and at 2:00 AM may assume the worst. Like everyone else, once they have formed an opinion on something it may be difficult to change their mind. This is why you need another party (like the DA or a lawyer) as a mediator.

Good luck.

 

Good point.

 

I can say most of you lots are being stupid, saying you shouldn't put your foot down etc...

So, when you got you new shiny s2000 and took someone out for a drive you never put your foot down to show him/her it rev'd to 9k..

 

I did 16 months.......................but I deserved it.

 

At the risk of repeating what others have said, get a lawyer. Make sure that he is one that has experience and is willing to go to trial. Many lawyers just want to play lets-make-a-deal with the DA and avoid going to trial, even at your expense. Get him to try to take care of things at the pretrial hearing. If the DA is busy, he won't want to bother with a trial. Be willing to risk a trial. You do have a right to a trial by jury. If you go to trial, it's a better option. Finally, don't even bother with trying to get back at the cop. Unless it's obvious to everyone that he did you wrong, it won't hold water.

 

Does anyone know the definition of "racing" according to the law?

Let say for arguement sake, if racing means a driver intended to pass another car and the burden of proof is on the cops. They need to prove that you and your friend were trying to overtake each other. If you guys were driving at the same speed, knowing that the horsepower different of the your friend's car and yours, a reasonable person would not have concluded that you guys were racing then. Since when it is against the law to drive at the same speed as the car beside you?

I want to know the cop's legal basis on determining you guys were racing.

 

HC, basically states the authorities have 72hrs to charge you...correct? That's all the point I was trying to make. The cops, can hold you, should they want to, for several days without a charge. Otherwise, I agree 100% with you. The kid needs an attorney.

Now regarding Rodney King...he was beat b/c he charged after the cops and less forcefull methods i.e. pepper spray, etc did not stop him. Did the cops go over board...sure, a little. But, if you faced the crap that LA cops have to deal with i.e. not knowing what someone's on, if they have gun or knife, etc, you pound the ever living crap out of them.
At least this poster was smart and kept his mouth shut and didn't provoke the cops. Like it not, they screw you all kinds of ways and will do so, if they think you're some punk kid.

 

No, not a city street. It's called self-restraint and maturity. Second, "putting your foot down" if different than winding out the gears between stoplights.....lame.
With that said, do I get on it on back roads, un-crowded stretches of hwy, etc....sure.