Posted on 04/04/2008 1:15:23 AM PDT by Ken H
04/03/2008
Police in Portsmouth, New Hampshire arrest woman, impound dog over eight year old parking ticket.
Police in Portsmouth, New Hampshire have a long history of arresting motorists over minor offenses. Despite recent promises of reform, the force on Monday not only threw the book at a 58-year-old woman, but her dog as well. Susan Lehman alleged crime was failure to pay a couple of parking tickets issued eight years ago.
"It wasn't fun," Lehman told the Portsmouth Herald newspaper. "I was totally dumbfounded by the situation."
Police nabbed her in the afternoon as she attempted to refuel her car at the Lafayette Road gas station. The grandmother of three was handcuffed and led away to be booked while her 10-year-old canine companion, Sally, was impounded at the SPCA in Stratham.
Lehman was eventually released after paying a $500 bail bond which allowed her to rescue her dog. She now faces trial on May 19, 2008 for failing to appear in court on June 19, 2000 to answer for $90 in unpaid parking tickets. Although the court had sent Lehman a notice about this court date, it was returned as undeliverable. Lehman had moved into public housing and the letter had been mailed to her old address. Lehman does not recall any details about the old parking tickets.
Last month, Portsmouth police promised to cut back on the practice of arresting motorists over allegations of skipping out on 75 cent tolls in the light of embarrassing news coverage. In January, an innocent motorist was arrested and booked over a bogus accusation that he did not pay a single 75 cent toll.
In 2005, an innocent woman was arrested over a $10 "unpaid" parking ticket that had actually been paid in full.
Isn’t this the same place that lets violent pedophiles, child rapists, get off with probation?
No, that’s Vermont which is right next door.
Hint to all cops in similar situations: Look for the guy who tows the most vehicles - with or without arrests - the Union shrinks told us there is something kinky sexual wise about impounding vehicles.
(But you didn't hear that from me :^0 )
New Hampshire, motto, LIVE FREE OR DIE, yeah, sure!
Why after 8 years? Why not get her to pay it at the time? Eight years later, it seems like it’s too late. Even if they still wanted the money, did they have to arrest her? Why not just have her pay the money? Poor woman and poor dog.
Pigs.
I’m sorry......but pigs ain’t that damn dumb!
I apologize to any actual pigs who may have been offended by my previous post.
It is police officers like these that give the rest of them, you know, the ones who actually fight real crime, a bad name. Down near where I live some of the police don't even bother paying their speeding camera tickets, and they can legally get away with it too.
I don’t think it’s a kinky-sexual thing they get from having cars towed. Morelike graft and kickbacks from the towing companies....They always get their fee, innocent or not.
> New Hampshire, motto, LIVE FREE OR DIE, yeah, sure!
I’ve lived in New Hampshire for 31 years.
This state has fallen VERY FAR from the days when John Stark penned those words to Gen. George Washington to accept a commission as General to lead the militia and Green Mountain boys against the Hessians and British that were marching from Ticonderoga.
The communists took over the state in 2006, thanks in no small part to the typical Republican ineptitude and lack of interest in the state, and have begun to implement their totalitarian statist vision.
There is a law currently passed by the communist dominated NH Senate, now in the communist dominated NH House, likely to pass there and be gleefully signed by the boy communist governor, that will change NH from one of the most homeschool friendly states to one of the most hostile to homeschooling.
Arresting grandmothers for parking tickets brings in money.
Catching murderers who break in and kill grandmothers costs money.
Guess which one the administration told the cops to concentrate on?
More corrupt cops out of control.
So there isn’t any murders to solve there? I guess they want a ‘success rate’, and include old parking tickets in this average of success.
“Why after 8 years? Why not get her to pay it at the time? Eight years later, it seems like it’s too late. Even if they still wanted the money, did they have to arrest her? Why not just have her pay the money? Poor woman and poor dog.”
I still lived in MA back then and eleven years later I got a notice from the state of NH saying that I had an unpaid parking ticket from December '79 in Portsmith and furthermore that if I didn't pay up my license and registration in MA would be suspended.
Having no way to prove that I never got a ticket 11 years before, I gritted my teeth and paid up.
I keep hearing that ‘few bad apples’ argument.
The ‘rest of them’ group seems to be getting smaller. Maybe it’s just in my head.
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