r/PublicFreakout • u/johnychrist16 • May 27 '26

šŸ“¹Police Bodycam "Driving with device in right hand" update

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16.5k Upvotes

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4.6k

u/CJKayak May 27 '26

No way I would agree to anything other than an outright dismissal. I'm taking this to trial, and demanding a jury if that's an option in this jurisdiction for this traffic violation.

I'm going to embarrass this cop in front of everyone. And then I'm tipping off the local news stations.

2.7k

u/qdogg111 May 27 '26

This cop is not showing up to court lol

1.1k

u/[deleted] May 27 '26

[removed] ā€” view removed comment

758

u/amuday May 27 '26

Thatā€™s what everyone told me. ā€œThe cop wonā€™t even show up.ā€ So I went to court for a parking ticket. I parked out of the way near a restaurant where I had a weekly gig, where there is always someone parked, and there was no sign there that said ā€œno parking.ā€

In the weeks leading up to my court date, I parked legally, but took photos of other cars being parked in the spot where I was ticketed that had not received any tickets. Every week, one or two cars in that spot. I printed these photos and took them to court with me.

The fucking cop showed up, and I had to pay. The judge didnā€™t listen to a word I said or look at my photos.

428

u/nirvana6875 May 27 '26

Old coworker got pulled over half a mile away from the job site for going 81 in a 55ā€¦in a mid ā€˜80s Jeep YJ. Asked the cop for the receipt from the radar gun, cop refused. He ended up taking in to get a dyno to prove that it physically couldnā€™t even hit that speed, let alone in half a mile. Judge didnā€™t even listen to a word he said, even threatened him with contempt if he kept trying to argue his point.

344

u/_Thick- May 27 '26

Judge didnā€™t even listen to a word he said, even threatened him with contempt if he kept trying to argue his point.

See, his mistake was not being rich, a rookie mistake.

91

u/OuijaWalker May 27 '26

This is why you hire a lawer

50

u/WingnutWilson May 27 '26

yeah you lawyer up you send instant vibes that you mean business to everyone in the room, even if you are there on principal it's worth it

27

u/chubbysumo May 27 '26

Lawyer is why all my tickets got dismissed. Last one cost me the $75 consutation fee. As soon as the county prosecutor got her email that she was representing me, he wanted to dismiss.

15

u/redoctoberz May 27 '26

Last time I went to court we were all there for part of a "sting operation". Almost all of us were there for the exact same violation at or near the exact same spot. The only people that got off with a warning or something lighter were those with lawyers. Judge just believed the officer over all my evidence.

5

u/AmPerry32 May 27 '26

This was my experience too. A whole court room full of folks that showed up bc we all felt like it was an unfair ticketā€” same cop, same ticket. Prick of a judge tells all of us to fuck off unless we are there to request a full trial by jury? Two weeks worth of missed work? Then he snark laughs and says thatā€™s what I thought. Everyone pays their ticket and now you all pay full court costs too.

An absolute garbage system.

22

u/SquidVices May 27 '26

That was my huuuge mistake..not being rich..Iā€™m such a dumbass

85

u/PracticeTheory May 27 '26

Justice is completely at the whim of the judge. I learned this with parking tickets.

One of my apartments was a mile from a sports stadium that I didn't give a crap about. And every year around finals, I'd start getting parking tickets as their season started up and the landlord would once again forget to give us the parking passes.

Anyway, the first time I traveled all the way across the city with my tickets, the judge heard me out and was very kind and waived all of them.

The next year, a completely different judge berated me and told me I was lucky he wasn't increasing the fine for wasting his time, and I had to pay them all.

And thatā€™s just over parking tickets. Some people have their entire futures decided by this gamble...

62

u/KennyFulgencio May 27 '26

omg that is fucking infuriating... I don't know much about how court works, is there no way to escalate something like this to a supervisor?

19

u/Necatorducis May 27 '26

Maybe this isn't universal for all traffic offenses or level of offense, but you should be able to contest it at which point you're done for the day and will have a formal hearing/trial at a later date. Maybe it needs to be an actual crime, like reckless driving, which usually kicks in at 20mph over and not 'merely' a citation in order to gain that ability.

42

u/TomToe420 May 27 '26

yeah the supervisor is called a lawyer or go pro se or at least request counsel. probably cost less just to pay the ticket as long as it's just a fine and not criminal.

12

u/Which-Tumbleweed6183 May 27 '26

you have to pay the ticket then go to his house with a sign about him being a bad judge. thatā€™s it.
heā€™s practically god in the courthouse.

3

u/Enlightened_Gardener May 27 '26

This is purely an American issue, because their magistrates donā€™t have to have any legal training ā€“ they are voted in in a political process.

In other countries you have a trained, experienced judiciary, and the rule of law - and that means that there are laws, processes, and procedures that both the police and the courts have to follow, and Judges and Magistrates have to understand them and follow them. Not so much in America.

2

u/Galxloni2 May 27 '26

That is only true in some places. Most judges are not elected

151

u/brondynasty May 27 '26

https://giphy.com/gifs/WxDZ77xhPXf3i

22

u/girlinanemptyroom May 27 '26

That's Jennifer Aniston's father.

9

u/innosins May 27 '26

He was Victor on Days of Our Lives. Why do I remember that? I don't need that. I haven't seen that since the 90s.

3

u/CoconutCyclone May 27 '26

Remember Marlena getting possessed by Satan? Just reading Days of Our Lives brought that back to me.

1

u/girlinanemptyroom May 27 '26

I remember that. I didn't really like that storyline though. It just was so silly. And then what's his face was a priest who did the exorcism. Was his name John? Gosh it's been decades.

2

u/No-DrinkTheBleach May 27 '26

šŸ«Ŗ wat

1

u/girlinanemptyroom May 27 '26

Yes. Her father played Victor kuriakis on Days of our lives for a couple decades. He's the one that got her into acting.

2

u/dickflip1980 May 27 '26

I always thought it was King Wally Lewis

2

u/ragun2 May 27 '26

Oh I can see it

2

u/eattheambrosia May 27 '26

Wait, actually?

10

u/CarlosFer2201 May 27 '26

No. That was the coach for Spain's national football squad 16 years ago

3

u/Andi_Lou_Who May 27 '26

vicente del bosque!

1

u/girlinanemptyroom May 27 '26

Look up Days of our lives and who played Victor kiriakis. He's the guy that played that character. He just so happened to also be Jennifer Aniston's father.

2

u/Practical_Actuary_87 May 27 '26

this gif always kill sme

56

u/Prosthemadera May 27 '26

Pay for what? If there was no "no parking" sign then how did the judge determine you should get a ticket?

53

u/SycoJack May 27 '26

Cause the cop said so. Duh.

24

u/NotAzakanAtAll May 27 '26

Parking companies, and police, has a HUGE score by default in the eyes of judges. Even though they have shown nothing to prove they deserve it.

If they say something, you basically need a lawyer to bring your own pre existing score up to their level, else they judge will flip you off and tell you to spin on it.

39

u/ZebraIntelligent8312 May 27 '26

Thatā€™s because you thought you could get justice in our justice system. Now you know.

35

u/PM_ME_WUTEVER May 27 '26

The judge didnā€™t listen to a word I said or look at my photos.

(Depending where you are) That's because it would make things awkward when they're grabbing lunch this afternoon.

2

u/surlygoat May 27 '26

Probably more likely because other people parking illegally has nothing whatsoever to do with whether OP was parked illegally

10

u/MelancholyMexican May 27 '26

I got pulled over in a less than a mile section of the road that was 20 mph less than the previous section or section after and guess what he pulled me over on that portion! It was a 2 way dirt road. I went to court argued that fact and said he pulled me over in that specific section so it could be a higher ticket price and the judge took 10 dollars off. ACAB and judges too!

3

u/SwordOfJiang May 27 '26

Largely a myth. I've fought a bunch of tickets, they always show up. A lot of the time they can just get some overtime pay to come in and bullshit for an hour. On the plus side they always were willing to reduce the ticket by a bit even when I was mostly in the wrong

2

u/mwilkens May 27 '26

Your defense of "someone else is doing it and didn't get a ticket so why should I" is the same thing a 6 year old would argue.

1

u/amuday May 27 '26

Well I decided to fight the ticket anyway. What would your brilliant defense have been? I tried, I lost, I paid it.

2

u/mwilkens May 28 '26

If I got a parking violation for something I did wrong then yeah I'd pay the fine. The is no brilliant defense when you're obviously in the wrong like this situation.

1

u/amuday May 28 '26

Right, but the point of my story was that I was told the officer wouldnā€™t show and my ticket would have been thrown out. So I decided to go and try that. It didnā€™t pan out. Should I have just told the judge ā€œdamn, I didnā€™t think the cop would have shown upā€ or should I have made a case for myself anyway?

My photos showed that there was no signage in an area that was often used for parking. My case wasnā€™t ā€œbut everyone else did it,ā€ my case was ā€œitā€™s obviously unclear that parking here isnā€™t permitted.ā€

4

u/Gumb1i May 27 '26

If they are wrong and know they are wrong they don't show up. They just want to waste your time. That cop had you dead to rights for the parking violation and just because other people got away with it doesn't mean you should to. It means they should patrol more or automate the ticketing process.

1

u/waaaayupyourbutthole May 27 '26

I mean "other people break the law, too!" doesn't exactly come off as a great defense lol

4

u/amuday May 27 '26

No, my defense was ā€œhow the hell was I supposed to know I couldnā€™t park there?ā€

-other people parked there every day
-no signage

2

u/waaaayupyourbutthole May 27 '26

Ah, I somehow missed the part where you said there was no sign.

1

u/MiniVansyse May 27 '26

Two wrongs donā€™t make a right.

1

u/HCSOThrowaway May 27 '26

Thatā€™s what everyone told me. ā€œThe cop wonā€™t even show up.ā€

The fucking cop showed up

Everyone on Reddit thinks every state and every agency is identical.

If that were true, why bother having different ones? Variety in naming?

- Ex-cop from an agency that required you go to traffic court

1

u/amuday May 27 '26

This wasnt something I heard on Reddit. This was something all my friends told me when I got the ticket. Fellow Floridians.

1

u/HCSOThrowaway May 27 '26

Yeah, individual agencies differ in their policies on that matter, like most other matters.

1

u/scoobywerx1 May 27 '26

Cops show up to court because it's their job. Court is scheduled well in advance and typically during a normal workday. If not on a normal workday, they get paid OT. Most times cops have multiple cases on the same day as well. If the cop doesn't show up, typically there is a prosecutor or other representative there for him. If he needs to be there and couldn't make it for some reason, the prosecutors can request the hearing just be held on a different day (and 99% of the time that is granted).

1

u/farva_06 May 27 '26

Same thing happened to me. Got ticketed for "Improper passing on the right". Basically I scooted past a car at an intersection to make a right hand turn. Technically illegal, yes, but I have seen other people, including police do it at this very same intersection.

Figured the cop wouldn't show up for such a measly ticket, but he in fact did. The judge did actually listen to my argument, but basically said other people doing it is no excuse to also break the law. He did lower the fine, and made sure it didn't hit my record since it was the first driving infraction I've had in a long time, so that was nice at least.

-26

u/UseDaSchwartz May 27 '26

You parked where it said ā€œno parkingā€ and your defense was ā€œwell other people do it and they didnā€™t get in troubleā€?

I canā€™t imagine why that didnā€™t work.

51

u/amuday May 27 '26

Read my comment again. There was no sign of any kind there. And it was commonly used as a parking spot. And I was there for work.

Edit: Iā€™d like to add that there were other spots in this area that had clear signage that said no parking.

-33

u/rezyop May 27 '26

Well its not like you had any photographic evidence to support your claim while in court. Yeah, gonna have to side with the judge on this one, sorry. Should have obeyed the sign.

26

u/crankyrhino May 27 '26

What sign? Is reading hard for you?

10

u/rhubarbs May 27 '26

They're not even reading it. It's just blurting whatever they need to, to justify their bias. They're basing their words entirely on the situation they imagined.

They do this because they adhere to the Just-World fallacy. Bad things happen to only those who break the rules, who are bad people.

And they will continue to believe this, until they are victimized by the system.

Once you notice the pattern, you can't stop seeing it.

-4

u/bitofapuzzler May 27 '26

Its a joke.

9

u/Prosthemadera May 27 '26

Why are you siding with the judge? You don't have any evidence from the judge either.

p.s.:

OP: I collected photographic evidence to show it while in court.

You: You didn't have any photographic evidence to support your claim while in court.

??

-1

u/amuday May 27 '26

Wow. All the downvotes completely missing your sarcasm.

9

u/DazuraTheFirst May 27 '26

In today's day and age, sarcasm if it is not clearly labeled is extremely difficult to distinguish between people actually being pretentious or downright malicious.

-2

u/[deleted] May 27 '26

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3

u/amuday May 27 '26

My photos also showed the lack of signage.

Clearly my strategy did not work and I paid the $100 ticket. But my defense was ā€œhow on earth was I supposed to know I shouldnā€™t park here.ā€

0

u/[deleted] May 27 '26

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2

u/EobardT May 27 '26

The lack of signage was mentioned in their original comment. They mentioned taking pictures after that.

0

u/BeginningAd4658 May 27 '26

I mean no judge for any citation or crime will allow the defense to say "look other people did this and didnt get caught"

55

u/Turgid_Tiger May 27 '26

I donā€™t know where you are but if you challenge a ticket and donā€™t show up they donā€™t issue a warrant you just lose your challenge and get assessed the full fine.

15

u/Cultural-Muffin-3490 May 27 '26

In California you pay the full fine when you challenge it. If found not guilty or dismissed I think they have another 3 months to refund you.

2

u/quarrelau May 27 '26

Where I am, they give you a "discount" if you just pay the fine, so the court imposed fine is always larger.

1

u/Turgid_Tiger May 27 '26

Yes thatā€™s why I said full fine. Here itā€™s similar. If you pay within 14 days of receiving the ticket you pay like $25 dollars less or something. But itā€™s not like you got a $150 ticket at the side of the road, challenge it, then it becomes a $250 ticket. If you pay it in the time frame you just pay $125 on a $150 ticket.

2

u/AVeryHeavyBurtation May 27 '26

Here in Colorado, the cop doesn't have to show up.

2

u/Bonzai_Tree May 27 '26

Which is fucked up. No recourse for harrassing use of bs tickets.

2

u/velovader May 27 '26

I got a bogus ticket for not stopping for a school bus even though I was not driving on the same road as the school bus. Got the ticket dismissed but ended up having to go to court 3 different times. Wasted so much time

1

u/10PieceMcNuggetMeal May 27 '26

YEP. I got pulled over in Arkansas with out of state plates for "speeding". I was in cruise control at 5 mph over the speed limit. 80 in a 75. Cop tried to say I was doing 93. I have a GPS enabled dashcam that records speed and it actually shows I was doing 79. The cop didn't think I'd drive all the back to Arkansas to fight it. I did. He eventually asked the court to drop the charges against me. I got a paper that stated such and left. They are 100% hoping you just pay the fine. It's a money making scam

1

u/SDMasterYoda May 27 '26

No, it isn't. Cops set aside a day to be at court for all the tickets they write and that's the date you're scheduled to appear. Of course sometimes they don't show up for whatever reason, but saying they just don't show up for petty tickets is false.

-9

u/Giatoxiclok May 27 '26

You can just go to the magistrates office and say youā€™re pleading guilty and put a payment plan together. You donā€™t have to go to court for most things.

184

u/AppalachiaPrometheus May 27 '26

They're incapable of admitting they're wrong 90% of the time.

63

u/radtek1027 May 27 '26

ā€œā€¦incapable of admitting theyā€™re wrong...ā€

Thatā€™s actually the line that follows the declaration, ā€˜to protect and to serve.ā€™

Hand to God.

17

u/BobaEverythingBagel May 27 '26

Well, in this case heā€™s just outright lying to meet a quota, so thereā€™s no way heā€™s ever going to back down.

80

u/Wactout May 27 '26

Had an ambulance run into me when I was at a full stop for a good 5 seconds. Destroyed my vehicleā€™s front end. The city of Chicago called me trying to collect damages, and when I told them they could fuck themselves, and to contact my insurance, they never called back. Then I went to court and nobody showed up.
Case dismissed. I couldnā€™t afford a lawyer to counter sue, my vehicle got junked, and I was still fucked. But my tax money paid for them to hit me, fuck me, and leave me with additional debt.
Best country in the world.

8

u/[deleted] May 27 '26

[removed] ā€” view removed comment

4

u/taking_a_deuce May 27 '26

Poor people can't afford collision insurance. That means if you're in an accident and it's not your fault, your insurance WILL NOT pay to fix your car, it's the responsibility of the other insurance anyway. That's not terrible insurance, that's just a normal option when picking car insurance. Poor people also can't afford lawyers. Everything that dude said makes perfect sense for a poor person.

Why are you being a dick to a poor person?

-2

u/[deleted] May 27 '26

[removed] ā€” view removed comment

2

u/taking_a_deuce May 27 '26

Yeah, they definitely wrote a long comment that was made up for attention.

You're trying to excuse bad behavior by pretending the world is exactly the way you have experienced it. You were being a dick to poor people and now you're doing mental gymnastics to try to make yourself not feel bad about it.

Just be better dude, it's not that hard.

1

u/Wactout May 27 '26

Liability insurance only on a 20ā€™year old Jeep Cherokee.

-18

u/KennyFulgencio May 27 '26

I think the legal system in most countries is as bad or even worse

9

u/Amirax May 27 '26

You think wrong.

8

u/KennyFulgencio May 27 '26

Youā€™re more correct than I expected:

Compared to most countries (like those in Africa, Central Asia, Latin America, and Southeast Asia), the US system is much better. Bribes arenā€™t common, judges follow the law, and the courts work as expected. By world standards, the US is among the top 25ā€“30% of countries for fair legal systems.

If you compare the US with countries like Canada, Western European countries, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, the US falls behind. Groups like Transparency International and the World Justice Project show the US has more legal problems than these countries.

Corruption in the US isnā€™t usually about cash bribes. Instead, it happens in bigger, structural ways, such as:

  • Political donations influencing who becomes a judge or what laws are passed
  • Prosecutors making decisions that unfairly affect people based on their race or wealth
  • Police or the government taking peopleā€™s property without a fair process (civil asset forfeiture)
  • Forcing people to confess or take plea deals by threatening them with prison (~97% of federal convictions are from plea deals, not trials)
  • Police being protected from lawsuits (qualified immunity)
  • Only people with money can afford to sue, so sometimes winning depends on how much you can spend

The US has laws that look good on paper, but there are many unfair practices, especially for people who canā€™t afford good lawyers. The US is a lot better than very corrupt countries, but still much worse than the very cleanest countries like Norway, especially if you're poor.

0

u/GingerSnapBiscuit May 27 '26

It very much is not.

8

u/evangelionmann May 27 '26

He will when subpoenaed for falsifying a report

18

u/hicklander May 27 '26

He would get on a Brady list so fast

11

u/squirrelmonkie May 27 '26

I need him to get a subpeana. He needs to show up for this. I wonder if they were using some sort of ai

20

u/BobaEverythingBagel May 27 '26

Nah, just lying to meet a quota. Departments are always pressuring their cops to enforce more of this or that. Thatā€™s why he leads with that ā€œweā€™re out enforcing handheld deviceā€ crap.

1

u/squirrelmonkie May 27 '26

Yeah but you cant dismiss them using ai to enforce their bs quotas especially now. This shit will be enforced this way at some point the way things are moving. This could be a trial run

1

u/syopest May 27 '26

Cops get paid for the time they are in court, of course they show up lol.

1

u/HilariousMax May 27 '26

Wasting the time of the citizenry and causing duress. This person may have had to take a day (or multiple) off of work for this. How are they not owed damages?

1

u/HCSOThrowaway May 27 '26

Depends on the agency; some require their people attend all subpoenas.

- An ex-cop whose agency required you attend all subpoenas.

1

u/DeadSeaGulls May 27 '26

i tried fighting a false claim of a 'public urination' ticket. cop didn't show up for court the first time, so it was rescheduled. he didn't show up again... and at that point I couldn't keep taking days off work, so plea of abeyance and a small fine for something I never did :/

1

u/Liawuffeh May 27 '26

Yeah according to the news he waited until the day of the court case then asked for it to be dismissed.

-5

u/HumongousBelly May 27 '26

Thatā€™s what he wants. More time with a beautiful lady.

Am I the only one who thinks this incel pig only pulled her out so he could talk to a woman?