Absolutely, write to the Northern District commander and community relations officer. It would be good to know what their response to the situation would be. Do they support aggressive demeanor to good citizens questioning an officer? Do they suggest that you and Steve were appropriately viewed as threatening? I'd like to know how the police are trained to deal with residents.
Linda >>> [EMAIL PROTECTED] 1/25/2006 9:47:55 PM >>> Hello, folks, Yesterday Steve accompanied me to the District Court on Wabash Ave. to help me contest the ticket I got for allegedly obstructing traffic on Guilford Ave. at about 10 PM on a Tuesday night. The officer didn't appear, and the case was dismissed! I was ready to argue that I didn't deserve the ticket. I had a letter signed by Dave Barnett, and Steve was there ready to testify as a witness. But it wasn't necessary. I do want to offer thanks to Steve and Dave for their help. I also want to thank Dana Moore for offering me advice about how to present the case and suggesting some Do's and Don'ts. This all was such a waste of energy brought on by probably nothing more than a police officer in a bad mood. While I may have technically violated the law, I think it was inappropriate for the police officer to give me a ticket for causing a very minor inconvenience. The demeanor of the officers was inappropriate. The officer who issued the ticket spoke to Steve in a very aggressive tone, ordering him to move back and threatening him with arrest when he did nothing threatening. I had to ask four times if I was free to go after they gave me the ticket. Should I write a letter to somebody to complain about the treatment? What do Chat List subscribers think? --Emil ----- Forwarded message from Emil Volcheck <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ----- Date: Wed, 12 Oct 2005 00:28:31 -0400 From: Emil Volcheck <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: chat@charlesvillage.info Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Ticketed for talking! Mail-Followup-To: chat@charlesvillage.info, [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED] User-Agent: Mutt/1.4.2.1i Hello, neighbors, After the CVCBDMA Board meeting, I drove back and gave Steve Gewirtz a lift. Steve and I both live on the 3000 block of Guilford, and I stopped across from his house, right before the intersection of Guilford and 30th. We chatted for a little while about politics, then Dave Barnett drove by in the opposite direction, on his way home I assume. I hadn't seen him for a while, so we both rolled down our windows to talk. Then I saw a police car pull up behind me, with bubble lights. Dave moved on, and I pulled my car closer to the side to get out of the way. The police gave me a $50 ticket for impeding the flow of traffic. I was really surprised because I was in the car the whole time, with the hazard lights on, and I moved almost as soon as I saw someone behind me was trying to get by. Certainly when Dave moved, I believe the police could have gotten past me. The police starting ticketing me right after I turned the corner and I let Steve off. Steve asked the officer what the problem was, and they told him to back off, gave him a 5-second warning. That seemed a little harsh. I think I remember hearing recently that Dana Moore was given a ticket when she was stopped out in front of her house loading or unloading from her car, and that the judge threw it out. I'm planning to tell the judge I'm innocent, and Steve says he'll come with me. Does anybody have any thoughts about this situation? It seems kind of extreme. I feel like I should have been entitled to some signal like a honk or yelling "move along" before they decided I was blocking traffic. --Emil -- Emil Volcheck [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://acm.org/~volcheck ----- End forwarded message ----- -- Emil Volcheck [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://acm.org/~volcheck _______________________________________________ Chat mailing list Chat@charlesvillage.info http://charlesvillage.info/mailman/listinfo/chat_charlesvillage.info _______________________________________________ Chat mailing list Chat@charlesvillage.info http://charlesvillage.info/mailman/listinfo/chat_charlesvillage.info