Alright Beeb, tell me what you think

[GUZZI JOHN]

 Perhaps he was watching you a while and didn't like your riding in general or he'd seen too many of us zipping through his area w/o catching them and wanted to make a 'score' of some kind. If your rear wheel had stepped out on some dirty pavement and you caught it w a foot-would that be a violation?? ???Guzzi John

[nraforevr]

I fought a similar BS ticket in Buffalo county and won it. Mine was for "unsafe lane deviation," which, statutorily, means actually deviating from my lane, which I didn't.

My approach was "I did not do what the officer said I did." If you had other riders there for witnesses, have them write up a statement for you of what you did do. Unfortunately, the prosecutor there won't throw out a ticket over the phone, he needs to talk with the LEO, so it'll still involve a trip to Durand.

The prosecutor there is reasonable, and if the statute you're cited under is incorrect, he'll own up to it and dismiss it. YMMV.

Pat

[Jared]

::UPDATE::

So I was away from home Monday through today, but when I got in this morning one of the first things I did was type up a letter to the court clerk pleading "not guilty" and asking to set a court date.  Got done with that and dropped it in the mail at the post office when I went out to run errands.

Fast forward to 15 minutes ago, I got home for the night and picked up my mail for the first time since last Saturday.  What did I find in there?  A letter from the Buffalo County Sheriff's Department.  I got a little sinking feeling as I open it up expecting to find another ticket for something else or a summons or something like that, but it's a letter from the officer dated two days after the citation was written.  He says in it that when he ticketed me he misread the statute and was informed that it only applies to the passenger of a motorcycle.  It says that I can disregard the citation and don't need to do anything else about it.

At the bottom of the letter he signs it and puts his contact info down and says to call him if I have any questions.  I gotta say that I'm pretty impressed with this.  The guy made a mistake but when he found out he was wrong he fixed it and typed out a letter to me right away.  He probably could have just waited to see if I'd fight it or pay up before doing anything if he'd wanted to.  Pretty cool outcome, I just wish I had checked the mail this morning so I didn't waste my time on the letter to the clerk...

JP

[Greg]

::UPDATE::

So I was away from home Monday through today, but when I got in this morning one of the first things I did was type up a letter to the court clerk pleading "not guilty" and asking to set a court date.  Got done with that and dropped it in the mail at the post office when I went out to run errands.

Fast forward to 15 minutes ago, I got home for the night and picked up my mail for the first time since last Saturday.  What did I find in there?  A letter from the Buffalo County Sheriff's Department.  I got a little sinking feeling as I open it up expecting to find another ticket for something else or a summons or something like that, but it's a letter from the officer dated two days after the citation was written.  He says in it that when he ticketed me he misread the statute and was informed that it only applies to the passenger of a motorcycle.  It says that I can disregard the citation and don't need to do anything else about it.

At the bottom of the letter he signs it and puts his contact info down and says to call him if I have any questions.  I gotta say that I'm pretty impressed with this.  The guy made a mistake but when he found out he was wrong he fixed it and typed out a letter to me right away.  He probably could have just waited to see if I'd fight it or pay up before doing anything if he'd wanted to.  Pretty cool outcome, I just wish I had checked the mail this morning so I didn't waste my time on the letter to the clerk...

JP

Congratulations Jared. Just goes to show there are good and bad cops just like everyone else.  

[PKPK]

Heh, me wonders if they got wind of the discussion we were having here.  Maybe they read this board and assign officers to overtime when they know Vince will be in their county.   

[Ray916MN]

Congrats!

Hope the officer isn't thinking, "I should've given him a damn speeding ticket, instead of being nice!"

[GUZZI JOHN]

 If a passenger were stretching their legs would they,the rider or both get a ticket??Guzzi John

[Greg]

If a passenger were stretching their legs would they,the rider or both get a ticket??Guzzi John

 That recent Trans Wisconsin Off-Road Trip with Darcey and crew garnered someone a ticket for just that. He was standing on his pegs (hands on the grips) stretching and got a ticket. At least I think that was the circumstances.


Greg

[4kless]

Wow, I don' t like the sound of that. Due to a bad hip, I ride standing up for a minute or two at least every half-hour. On the good side, I've been doing it for 5 or 6 years now and have yet to be stopped, warned or ticketed about it.

[nraforevr]

Yeah, when it comes to stuff like that discretion is important. You may be totally in the right and perfectly safe stretching out your legs or shaking out your clutch hand, but when it comes down to it, fighting a ticket is a lot more work than not getting one at all.

For example: I"m perfectly capable of making a complete stop at a stop sign without putting my feet down, but when there's an LEO around, I put em down so's just to avoid any confusion over statutes. 

P

[tk]

Congrats jared. We all make mistakes. It is how you deal with the mistake that matters. Sounds like this LEO did the right thing.

[Joel S]

glad it worked out like it did.

[KoopaTroopa]

The way it sounded at first was he was trying to nail you for something, and thats all he could come up with. Like pulling over a car he knows was speeding, but didn't clock it in time, so he fines you for window tint, loud pipes or something.

But the fact that he admitted his error and apolagized sez a lot about who he is. Most LEO's might not give a second glance. I'd write him back, thanking him for taking time to correct his mistake.

[Vander]

Wow!  Good news!

I'm glad my advice was totally off....