But do you know where he was hiding when you passed him?
The trooper was hiding right about where they begun the passing of the trucks, maybe a little before. So all he could have seen from his hiding place was a couple cars and a couple bikes passing a couple of slow moving trucks. He may have been able to get them going, IMO, 70mph before they were out of his line of site (trees helped hide him, and also helped hinder him).
If it was Radar, there are units that allow an officer to select "Fastest target mode", meaning he will clock whoever is the fastest of the group.
With the fastest moving target argument, he cannot be sure which vehicle he was hitting. Which bike or which car was fastest? How can he write up the other 3 when he only had 1?
If it was Lidar, he can get each vehicle independantly quite easy. That may also explain why none of your radar detectors went off.
LIDAR.. Can he use that while travelling at a high rate of speed (over 80 at least), while navigating turns and watching out for oncoming cars? Since he was a ways back, he didn't have much time to hit each vehicle before they disappeared around the next corner. Can he hit each individual vehicle within about 600 yards while travelling at a high rate of speed? Maybe even operating the radio to tell someone that he's in pursuit of 4 vehicles. With the distance he was at, the LIDAR cone would have spread enough for John's detector to go off, even if the trooper was aiming at the rear license tag.
IMHO you would be ahead of the game just to admit to what you did and beg for mercy.
The money is better spent defending themselves in court than to just plead guilty. There are too many variables and what-ifs and unclear things for them to just bend over and take it. The lawyer will be able to get a copy of the tape before the trial (either before the December court date or after it when a new trial date is set)
I have to ask myself every day why some people do the stupid stuff they do (not calling you stupid, just making an example), and rarely do I come up with a viable answer.... the judge likely has the same view on this as I do.
But it could be enough to put a doubt in the judge/jury's mind about the conditions surrounding the time. That's all that's required to get them off.
Let's see, there was the oncoming car, the tow truck, the officer, and the 4 of you. Tell me again that there was no traffic? Sorry, not going to fly in court.
There was no one near them. They overtook the tow truck in a safe manner, the oncoming car passed, and then they started to play around. They would have to be endangering other vehicles, which they were not because the oncoming car had cleared them and they had cleared the tow truck before they started to play. I didn't see a house along the side of the road until I came upon them pulled over, so there goes the property argument. Not a single vehicle came in the other direction before I came upon them pulled over.
Oh, and uh.... page THREE biatches!
