Posted on 08/20/2004 11:19:31 AM PDT by RMrattlesnake
Went to jail for nothing last night. I was driving home from picking my son up at football practice. And as I was driving down a big hill there was a speed trap at the bottom. I was caught speeding 65 in a 45. Bummer now my insurance is going to go up and I will have to pay a large fine I am sure. But then the Fort Collins police officer told me to get out of the car. He told me I was under arrest. For what, I asked because I has no idea my slate was clean. I just got my driver license back and you can’t get you license back if you have anything outstanding. So I was very puzzled and the officer said “for failure to appear”. Well I told him I had no failures to appear and there must be some sort of computer error. He said he gets that story a lot as if to say I was lying. After I was arrested and placed into the cruiser in front of my son with was very tragic for him bunt the heart less cop did not care. Then I found out after asking the cop over and over what was the charges on the failure to appear. I found out that a year ago I missed a court date because I wrote it down in my day timer on the wrong date and went to court on the day after I was supposed to be there. I have dyslexia so I often do things like that. I filed a motion to squash the warrant and it was done and I was giving a new date in the matter. I went to a pre-trial hearing and then court and every thing was finished. I had pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor offence and it was all taken care of. But for some reason 11 months later I am hulled of to jail for something that not only was the failure to appear taken care of, the whole made was done. So I had to sit in jail they wouldn’t even let me have a bible. I ask if I could take a King James Bible in with me and I was denighed not only that but they said they were not allowed in larmier county jail. Whether or not that is true because I always thought it was I was not allowed to have one. My wife came to bail me out and they made her sit in the lobby for 2 hours. Making her late to work. I did not get home till way late so I missed a day of work so as to get some sleep. The jail charged my 10 dollars for processing me. Not once did I ever get rude or impolite, even though it took ever thing in me to remain claim I did. Yet I was still treated rudely and was not giving any help to prove my case. I know the jailers have computers and all my past court history is on there and if they would have looked it up like I politely ask them to they would have found out I was not ling. But no they would rather joke amongst each other and not do anything about it. I live in Fort Collins Colorado. Is there anything I can do can I get compensated. I admit I am ignorant to this and don’t know what I should do. My wrist are still so sore that it is even hard to type right now 18 hours latter. Please give me advise I need it I do not hate Police officers in fact I respect then I belive that the police are ministers of justice but this was not justice. I know if I mess up I have to pay the courts but when they mess I don’t even get a “sorry”.
excuse me, but ... uh ... so what? slow down and you wont get locked up.
Hey, you're not Al Gore posting under a pseudonym are you? :-)
Call a lawyer and present the facts to him. Maybe he can give you guidance.
Sounds like you have no recourse, the cops were simply doing there job, you may not like how they did it, but they still did there job.
I'd lock you up myself for writing an entire page without a using a paragraph.
well, here in VA, that would be called "reckless driving", an arrestable offence (though they hardly will unless you are beligerent)
I have similar problems like you due to this. It stinks. Hang tight. You will be OK. My little story goes like this, I got pulled over for what was claimed driving over the white line on a curve near house that I always take. I was told to get out of car for DWI, I was asked to touch my right hand to my nose, I did left hand and was hauled off on DWI. I blew NOTHING. I spent the night in jail at age 20 due to this nonsense.
It was probably the spelling police.
You won't be reimbursed for your, or your wife's, missed work. To put not too bright a point on it, they don't care.
A majority of police are not bad people but they deal with enough bad people that they are not going to take the risk on you unless they know you personally.
Nothing to apologise about RM. Theres plenty of us without dyslexia that can't spell very well or get sentences constructed strange. You presented your issue quite clearly. I would advise you to find out if there is an office of citizen complaint at City Hall. You might also get alittle free advice from an attourney. Your not alone in this sort of situation. Happens all the time everywhere.
Good Luck!
Count your blessings.
Someone messed up though if he was cleared but the computer didn't show it. I thought I was going to jail awhile back. I got pulled over and my license plate didn't match. Evidently the dispatcher doing multiple tasks and got mixed up. The police officer was very nice and appologized . He knew something not right though. It was a new car and I was calling the dealer. I just hope the person with my tag number was cleared too.
Colorado Penal Code 3481: Unlawful Refusal to Use Paragraphs.
In alot of places doing 20 miles over the post speed limit with a minor on board would be considered reckless driving. It is an offense that can have you arrested on the spot!
Bummer of a mixup, but if you hadn't done whatever it was that you originally plead guilty to, you never would have had this problem. Don't blame the officer, he/she was doing his/her job.
The courts are separate from Dept of Corrections and so are their computers. In Alaska, all our law enforcement computers can tell us is if there is a warrant...not the reason behind it. You have to deal with the court system to find out the problem and to clear it up.
I do not hate Police officers in fact I respect then I belive that the police are ministers of justice but this was not justice.
I have no idea how one would handle a situation like this, but my first suggestion would be to start viewing police officers for what they are: agents of the state. Their first duty is not to "protect and serve" their fellow citizens but to enforce the laws of the state, right or wrong - computer glitches, clerical errors and all.
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