[whiteladybug2002]

My husband was driving through our city on a Saturday night at 1 am with my Dad, who had just broke up with my step mom, and noticed a police car turn around and pull behind him. My husband was already aware of the speed limit (35mph) and driving accordingly. The officer followed him for almost a mile before he pulled him over. He came to the car window and told my husband that his DL had expired. My husband asked him why he was pulled over and the officer told him, because he was driving under the speed limit. (We drove it after he pulled him over and noticed that the speed limit changes from 35 to 45 in the area where he was pulled over.) But the officer already knew before he seen my husband's DL that they were expired, how did he know that?

Do police have the right to run your plates when ever they want?

Then the officer said he had to give him a warning and renew his DL asap. We just moved to this town only a month before and was unfamiliar with the court system here (where to go, etc), but my husband renewed his DL two days after he was pulled over. The officer gave him the impression that was all he had to do and the WARNING would go away. We never thought nothing else about it. This was in July.

In Oct, we found out that my husband had a warrant for his arrest, we had absolutely no clue what for. It was a warrant for Failure to Appear (FTA) in court for the expired DL! My husband has never been in trouble in his life and was petrified, but he took it like a man and turned himself in. He was immediately released on bond and was gave another court date.

We contacted our lawyer, who told us that he would take care of it and my husband should not miss work for the court date; he wasn't needed there. So in Nov, our lawyer went to court trying to have this whole misunderstanding dismissed, but instead, the judge was threatening our lawyer with having my husband arrested again for another FTA! Our lawyer pleaded with the judge not to do that and to dismiss one of the charges (expired DL and FTA) and finally the judge dismissed the FTA charge, but gave my husband the max fines for the expired DL.

Our lawyer told us, that out of all the cases like this he has went to court for, that ours was the hardest to get dismissed! It was a expired DL, not murder! Plus my husband has never ever done anything and he is 41 yrs old! My husband is a physician at a local medical clinic and donates to charity, so why was the judge being so ugly about this?

It gets better...

We paid the fines one week after the court date and got a receipt, we always keep our receipts.

Then one Saturday night in January, we had the opportunity to have a babysitter for our children, it had been a long while since we were alone. We were very excited about the night. We stayed up all night; watching movies, talking, and well, you know the rest. (no alcohol) haha At 5am, we went to get something to eat and came back to the house exhausted. I dragged myself up the stairs to bed, while my husband set our house alarm. About 10 minutes later, the police was at knocking on the door! My husband had pressed the silent alarm by accident, because of his fatigue. We both apologized to the officers and they said, "Ok, what is both of your names?" We told them and they left. Five minutes later they were back and told my husband that they have a warrant for this arrest for Failure to Pay (FTP) his fines! (Great way to spend out night, right? ) My husband told him that it was all a misunderstanding and he would get the receipt. The officer told him to stay where he was and not to move, because he was under arrest. I told the officer that I would go and get it so they could see this was a misunderstanding. Still, NO! When they escorted my husband upstairs to get dressed, my husband quickly found the receipt and tried to show the officer, but he would not even look at it and told him that he would have his day in court. They took my husband outside in our front yard of our home and handcuffed him in front of our new neighborhood. He was mortified!

His bond was $300 cash at 6am on a Sunday morning! We don't have that much cash in our house and don't have an ATM card. It took me almost 6 hrs to come up with the money to bail him out.

When we ask lawyers if there is anything we can do about it, they say NO because the clerks have "soverant amunity" (don't know spelling)? How can a medium paid clerk get away with not doing their job and causing someone to go to jail?

Why couldn't the officers look at the receipt and let us work it out on a week day?

The officers had to run our names that night to find out he had a warrant, is that okay?


Plus, my husband has been having nightmares every since the arrest about being in jail and such. He cringes ever time he sees a police car. He is a emotional wreck over this. I know it may sound silly, he only spent 6 hrs in there, but if you are not a criminal I can see how painful it can be for him. He always trusted the police and now he is terrified!

How can he deal with the this?

Any suggestions would be great!

>>>We now have everything cleared up! The court dismissed the FTP charge and gave him his fine money back!

[ATYOURSERVICE]

And they say or court and law system is great. Yeah right. Police officers have the right to look up the plates, if it is a justifiable reason. He also has the right to check drivers license for the same reason. When he gave him the warning there is a box there that says he would have to appear. He should have with his renewed license. It would have been a fix it ticket and cost him $20.00.

The immunity is true. It's to prtect them for human error. There are a LOT of people in and out the court system and it is bound to happen.

I am sorry to hear your husband is having issues, but it is resolved.

I went through something similar because of a clerk. I did not turn myself in, I went to the court and showed proof. It was resolved and I receive a letter indicating the dismissal.
It's been, hhhmmm 15 years? And I still have it in my garage. You just NEVER know.

[excon]

but if you are not a criminal I can see how painful it can be for him. He always trusted the police and now he is terrified!

Hello white:

Trust me, it's just as painful if you ARE a criminal.

Yeah, cops suck. Of course, if my house was being broken into, I'd call 'em.

excon

[phillysteakandcheese]

Think about this situation from the point of view of the police, and the judge...

Do police have the right to run your plates when ever they want?

Yes. For any reason, the police (or insurance issuer!) can run your vehicle's license plates to verify they are actually valid and on the correct vehicle. This is the same expectation that when you are in public, you're picture will be taken without your express permission.

... why was the judge being so ugly about this?

It seems like the judge had trouble believing your lawyer about the first FTA. It seems reasonable that the judge was miffed that your husband didn't appear the second time, either. I know your lawyer said it would be okay, but he obviously wasn't anticipating the judge's reaction.

...My husband told him that it was all a misunderstanding and he would get the receipt. The officer told him to stay where he was and not to move, because he was under arrest.

The officer doesn't know you. They are not going to risk letting him get out of sight. The officers have no idea if he's going for a receipt, or for a gun... or jumping out the window to run away. After all, he already FTA and FTP as far as they know.

... How can a medium paid clerk get away with not doing their job and causing someone to go to jail?

Bureaucracy.

...Why couldn't the officers look at the receipt and let us work it out on a week day?
The officers had to run our names that night to find out he had a warrant, is that okay?

They're doing their job. Your husband had an outstanding warrant. The circumstances don't matter to the police. They don't get to pick what warrants they enforce and which one's they let slide. He had a warrant for his arrest and they did their job in arresting him.

... How can he deal with the this?
>>>We now have everything cleared up! The court dismissed the FTP charge and gave him his fine money back!

I'm glad all this was worked out finally. :)

I am sorry you had so much trouble. I sincerely doubt the police were "out to get him", it's simply how it worked out because of the clerical errors that had been committed along they way.

People sometimes get wrongly arrested.
Administrative clerks are humans, and humans make mistakes.

That sucks... But sometimes that's life.

[ScottGem]

In answer to your original question, yes the police have the right run plates if they suspect something. But I don't understand a traffic court judge acted like he did.

I'm not so sure your lawyers gave you the correct advice. I would seek the advice of an attorney familiar police abuse of power law suits. I'm not saying you have a case, but I think you may. In my opinion the police acted over the top here. Even if the warrant was valid, we are talking FTA for a traffic violation!

I think you can force an apology from the police and having his record expunged for the abuse of power.

[excon]

Hello again, whiteperson:

I'm going to add one thing. Within your sad story, two threads remain constant. That is your failure to do good "due diligence", and trusting (even expecting) that others have your well being at heart.

As an example, you say that you just moved to town and you didn't know where the court house was, and you were unfamiliar with things, and yada, yada, yada… So, that was why your husband didn't renew his license. You should excuse me, but that's just a bunch of bull! Your husband is an educated man. I promise you that he knew he was supposed to renew his license. He didn't.

THAT is the kind of due diligence I'm speaking of. YOU need to be watching your behind, because nobody is going to do it for you. If you think government will, you're going to be (and apparently are) sadly disappointed.

You need to make sure your tail lights work (and all things of that nature). Don't trust that people/bureaucrats are doing their job. Make SURE they are. Follow up. Document. Get receipts. Keep records. Make phone calls. Write letters. Send emails. Make a nuisance of yourself if need be.

You know exactly what I'm talking about.

excon

[whiteladybug2002]

Yes my husband is an educated man that simply forgot to look at the expiration date on his DL, who thinks to look? Check yours! I did, I am still good though.

I never said that he didn't know where the court house was, I said that we didn't know how it worked here. We did live in a very small town and we went to the court house, renewed our DL, then all was right. The lawyer told him that if he would have shown his renewed DL to the clerk then all would have been forgiven, but no one told him to do that. So therefore, he had to go through all this. The officer told him that all he had to do was RENEW his DL and then he didn't have to show up for court. Why would he think different?

Another thing, for some reason people assume that if you have a medical degree that you also receive a law degree too? Everyone says, "Your an educated man, you should have known better." My husband knows very little about the law, but is an excellent physician. You tell me, would you rather have a doctor that focus on medicine or law? There is a BIG difference! So yes my husband is very educated, but ignorant when it comes to law.

We have learned to make sure things are taken care of on our part and saving all paper work and receipts. But we had all that the last time and it didn't help!

Thank you all for your postings!

[whiteladybug2002]

Previous post have spoke of it being a simple mistake that caused this and it should some what be over looked. "Their human and it happens." Well if my husband makes a mistake in his job that affects another humans life it isn't by no means overlooked! Some how he is suppose to be inhuman and perfect? He would be sued and many people here would agree with the victim. I don't blame them either.

But I feel if you have a job where you actions could affect someone else, then you should be held accountable, no matter what the job is!

[Fr_Chuck]

Yes police can run license plates anytime they want to, and they always run them prior to doing the stop if at all possible, that was what he was doing while he followed you, running the plates, since they want to know who they are stopping and if there is any danger in the stop

I doubt a officer would merely give a warning for driving without a license, this is normally a serious traffic violation. What he most likely said and was misunderstood, was that if he renewed his license before the court date, the judge would most likely dismiss the ticket.

Yes FTA happens when you have a court date ( would have been listed on the ticket, check your copy of the ticket)

Your lawyer should have known better, was this a criminal attorney or a civil attorney ? Or just out of law school, for a FTA and a taffic citation, of course you have to appear in court.

Your husband did not appear before the judge, judges like respect and they want the suspect to appear.


The police can only go by what the records say, and NO they don't want to see the receipt, they can't do anyting but arrest him for the warrant, you could have had a dozen recieipts it is not the police officers right to decide. That receipt may or may not had been for that case, or a fake receipt the officers can't tell,

And no you can't sue the court for a clerical error


The officers can only do exactly what the NCIC and warrant says, not a thing more but also not a thing less. They did not come looking for him, but since they came accorss him, they had no choice at all, but had to arrest them, they would have lost their job for not doing it

Yes, it is normal for officers to run the names of people , all people they deal with susupects, victims and more. And since the alarm went off, they were checking to be sure you really belonged there, no domestic charges and no "warrants"


And he should trust the police they did their job exactly the way it was to be done, I would be more scared had they not, by letting wanted persons ( even if by error) go and not stop them.

And for heavens sake he was in intake or lock up for 6 hours, not really in "jail" Deal with it? Deal with what, there was an error, it was fixed,
If he had a name very similar to someone that had serious warrnts out on them, he could be stopped more often, we often had to detain people with similar names and birth dates till we verified who they were.

The only person at fault was the clerk who did not take this warrant off, not the police officers doing a very good job and following procedure exactly

Any suggestions would be great!

>>>We now have everything cleared up! The court dismissed the FTP charge and gave him his fine money back![/QUOTE]

[ScottGem]

I have to agree a lot with what excon said. I consider myself an educated person, though I only have a 4 year degree. My degree and vocation is not in law, however I think I have a decent grasp on legal proceedings.

Did the police officer actually say he didn't have to show up in court? I sincerely doubt that. If you read the ticket, I bet it shows a court date. Usually, with an expired license all you need to do is mail a copy of the renewed license with the ticket before the court date. But I suspect neither of you looked close enough at the ticket.

I think where you messed up was, as excon said, in trusting that the police had your best interests in mind. I think you have learned now that you need to question, but not disrespectfully.

I still think the police and the traffic court judge overstepped their bounds and your husband deserves an apology and to have his record completely expunged.

Edit: One point on what Chuck said. You mention this is a small town. I think the size of the town matters here. If it's a small town, the police tend to have greater leeway in following procedure. In a larger town or a city, they follow procedure more strictly.

But, if the police want respect from the populace they have to show them respect as well.

[whiteladybug2002]

On his ticket/warning, it did not have the option to pay... just a court date. That is why we took what the officer said as true... "renew and no court." We have learned much from this experience.

I understand my husband's 1st warrant with the FTA, but my problem is with the one for FTP. He was completely innocent and went to jail; he did not pass go or collect $200. Haha

If this can happen to him... It can happen to anyone, including you and me!! It is scary!

[Fr_Chuck]

And people are sometimes picked up on someone else's warrant until they are taken to the jail and the fingerprints checked, similar name, similar size and wait,

But it sounds like a misunderstanding of what the officer said and perhaps some poor legal advice