This is a bit long and concerns traffic violations and police complications; it is something of extreme importance to me as it's possible I could lose my license for 2 years. Read on if you have the time, I only ask for your valued advice on the matter...
Last night I had my LED kit on coming down a hill when I realized there was a county sheriff on the side of the road. I immediately shut the lighting system off and since I was at the end of the hill and at a T intersection, I took a right, looked over my shoulder and saw the cop still there with only his head lights on. Keep in mind, he did not turn around, and did not turn on his red & blue lights.
Seeing as I had a stop sign vioaltion for a rolling stop a week ago, I wanted to avoid a ticket if possible, so I took the next right and the following right after that, proceeding to pull into an alley and park my car in a driveway off of the alley. I then walked to my friends house which was a few doors down and just hung out for 15 minutes.
Instead of going back to my car on foot, I had a friend drive around the block to make sure everything was clear. We turned the corner and there were four squad cars lined up on the street adjacent to the alley where my car was parked. I had my friend immediately take me home at which point a sherriff flew down the street and skidded into my driveway and yelled "hold it right there unless you think you can outrun my K-9!"
At this point, he called for back up and I had 4 cop cars at my house and was then written up with the following violations:
Illegal Lighting System (guilty as charged)
Reckless Driving
Interference
Now as I understood it, Interference means I kept the police from doing their job (finding me and pulling me over). Both my dad and I thought this was ridiculous as he never turned on his lights or followed me, but the cop said it was necessary. I assume he was running my plates as he sat on the side of the road as I turned off. I have a court date in a few weeks and we plan on fighting the Reckless Driving and Interference violations.
On top of all of this, the county sheriffs had my car towed instead of having me go retrieve it. Now, the sheriffs have a contract with a towing company called Meyer Towing who does all of their tows. The cop that night called South Sioux Towing (a different company) and had my car towed over the border into Nebraska. As a county sheriff he has no jurisdiction in any other county let alone across the river in Nebraska, plus he was in violation of the contract. I believe we can prove this to be malicious intent as the tow fee was 130$ when it would have only been 50$ if Meyers towed me like they should have. The tow company also broke my front LED tube in the towing process.
My question is obvious...is this worth fighting in court, do you think I can win, and is there anything I can do about the damage caused to my LED kit by the towing company?
Any feedback is greatly appreciated and I thank you for taking the time to read this.
