Just went through Florence and was at a red light, cop behind me pulls me over when light turns green. Said reason why he pulled me was that I had no lights on my tag. Not tail lights or break lights, tag lights. To make it worse, my damn insurance card expired Monday, I have insurance and pulled it up on my phone for him, he said it had to be on paper. I just printed out the new card from USAA and I have to call and make a court date because he said the only person that can drop this is the judge. He didnt give me a ticket on the tag lights, just the insurance. My 1st question: is there a law that says you have to have lights on your tag? I am going to replace the bulbs on that tomorrow anyway. 2nd question, can only the judge drop the insurance or can I take the new and old card showing consecutive running dates, does anyone know.
Rankin County (Florence, MS)
- Thread starter msudeltadawg1971
- Start date
Didn't even know the bulbs were out. I pulled them when I got home and will replace in the morning. I didn't know the cards were expired, but figured since I pulled up the new card on the phone it would be good enough. Oh well, lesson learned. Hope the judge drops it.
I got a ticket for the exact same thing and my card had expired but my insurance was paid in full. I showed proof of insurance at the time the ticket was written and the judge dismissed.
An Alabama Cop (AHP)blue lighted me and then kept me on the side of Highway-82 behind my truck at the tag for about ten minutes with the wife worried in the cab of the truck. Then, when I had decided he was going to arrest me for some trumped up charge, he suddenly told me to have a good night and let me go.
Strange thing was - my tag lights worked, but were covered in road mud. I got on my knees and cleaned them with my handkerchief when he told me they were outand thanked him for letting me know. I was going about 60 in a 55when he met me and turned around crossed the median and blue lighted me. He never said a word about speeding. He had a radar gun on the dash but may not have been running it. I didn't ask.
I never could figure out if he was looking for something to bust me for (likely?), or was just having a good time harassing me at 10:30 pm one night on the side of the highway. each time a car would pass by, he would stare at them until they were out of sight and then come back to me. Was wierd.
He never said anything about speeding or any other moving violation. He never got close enough to smell my breath either. Wouldn't have done much good as we had been to the movie in T-Town and I definitely had notbeen drinking.
Maybe he hated old white haired guys in Chevy Trucks
Strange thing was - my tag lights worked, but were covered in road mud. I got on my knees and cleaned them with my handkerchief when he told me they were outand thanked him for letting me know. I was going about 60 in a 55when he met me and turned around crossed the median and blue lighted me. He never said a word about speeding. He had a radar gun on the dash but may not have been running it. I didn't ask.
I never could figure out if he was looking for something to bust me for (likely?), or was just having a good time harassing me at 10:30 pm one night on the side of the highway. each time a car would pass by, he would stare at them until they were out of sight and then come back to me. Was wierd.
He never said anything about speeding or any other moving violation. He never got close enough to smell my breath either. Wouldn't have done much good as we had been to the movie in T-Town and I definitely had notbeen drinking.
Maybe he hated old white haired guys in Chevy Trucks
hey, thats my hometown.. they were defiantly using that as an excuse to pull you over and run everything and check to see if you were drinking or something.. with the insurance..just show them proof of insurance that covers the day you got the ticket and the judge will drop it..has happened to me a couple times..
calling in favors somewhere you will be fine. Now if you succeed in calling in favors, thats one thing but trying to and not succeeding and having the judge or cop know about it ruins it for you.
on the opposite side of the freeway, how did he know at that time that your tag lights were out? He had to stop you for another reason. If you were driving as you describe, and I have no reason to believe otherwise, there was no reason to stop you. Lots of times, I think the police just like to show their "authority", and when that happens it's an abuse of power ... just as in the original post. I have no problem with telling the guy his tag lights are out, but to even think of ticketing him is ridiculous. Same with the insurance card ... my company, State Farm, sends the cards well in advance ... and if you use them when you get them, they're technically not even in effect yet. So do you carry the old card until the new card takes effect? That takes up twice as much space in an already fat wallet. It should have been obvious that you had insurance, even if the card was expired a couple of days. Once again, abuse of power. Reason should prevail.
This is typical Florence cop BS. They have nothing to do but sit at shell with the sheriffs and eat waffle house. Been pulled over multiple times for your same violation. Find it funny that my tag light only goes out when I'm in Florence. Don't recommend going back to Florence unless your going to Jerry's fishhouse.
The police in Rankin county are hard asses but I appreciate it however the judges are pretty reasonable. Great checks and balance in my opinion. I have gotten three tickets in the pass. One for expired tag. Dismissed no fees. One for expired inspection sticker. Remanded to the file no fees. One for a rolling stop and I proved there was no way the police could have seen me. It was dismissed. I was guilty as hellon all three. Just got lucky.
and the booming MFing metropolises contained therein NOTE: public entities are hemorrhaging cash like a stuck hog. 2012 will be a year for the ages in terms of public entity budgets. Your asses are going to be fee'd and expense'd and specially assessed like you've never seen before. These rabid MFers are going to be grabbing your money using every conceivable means, constitutional or not. You will have never seen the likes of speed traps, short redlight cycles, and questionable stops like you will this year. For many of the law enforcement departments, this will be a matter of keeping their jobs. This is not the year to F around and wing it. Be vigilant. Don't be like the Bearz defense and just hand these MFers your money like a 3rd down conversion.
but me cop was young and cocky. Like I said, when another vehicle came by, he would stop talking to me and just stand there watching them unti they were well past before turning back to me.
He didn't bring up the tag light until well after he made me get out. figured he just saw that afte rhe stopped me. He never said why he came back after me.
I was happy to get away from him when he finally let me go.
Abuse of power? You bet it was.
What can you do? IMO - nothing unless you want to open a can you can't close back up when you realize what a problem your demand for fair treatment has caused for you.
At that time, we used that highway several times each week. There was no way I wanted to put a memory of my truck in the mind of an AHP officer.
He didn't bring up the tag light until well after he made me get out. figured he just saw that afte rhe stopped me. He never said why he came back after me.
I was happy to get away from him when he finally let me go.
Abuse of power? You bet it was.
What can you do? IMO - nothing unless you want to open a can you can't close back up when you realize what a problem your demand for fair treatment has caused for you.
At that time, we used that highway several times each week. There was no way I wanted to put a memory of my truck in the mind of an AHP officer.