I'm following my friend down to get my windows tinted, I am not familiar with the area, so I am being pretty careful.

Behind us, I see 2 CHP squad cars driving up pretty fast. They move around me, and look like they are going to turn right, then the change their mind and move to the left in front of me.

Sure enough, they pull my friend over. (His license plates were recently lost by the body shop.) I have no idea where I am, so I also pull over, behind them with my engine running. (We are all in a red bus zone.)

One officer talks to my friend, the other comes to me. As he comes up, I say, hi, I am following my friend, I don't know where to go and I am unfamiliar with the area. So he says, let me see your license and registration. So of course, I comply. I turn off the motor (park) and give him what he asks for.

He then proceeds to write me a ticket for parking in a red zone!

What the hell is this?

I have always had a lot of respect for police officers. However, this incident really makes me wonder if they themselves are given enough scrutiny. A citizen who is in clear need of assistance tells the officer, a 'public servant' he doesn't know what to do and instead of giving the citizen instructions, he gives him a ticket.

Anyway, I am planning to fight this. Has anyone here had a "Parked in a Red Zone" ticket? How much is it going to cost me?

Thanks.

Update:

Well the bail (bill) finally came in. That damned cop gave me a $250 ticket for stopping behind him to ask where I should go. I already talked to two different staff sargeants, so I don't think he'll be coming to court. But it really sucks *** that I have to take my time to do that.

I'm going to write a formal letter of complaint and send it to as many agencies as I can when this is over.


[Modified by kotetu, 5:55 AM 9/29/2002]

 

its prolly around 30 bucks....not too big a deal

 

It may not be a big deal, but still, its a BS ticket and you should fight it. I bet they'll dismiss the ticket if you tell them what happened....

 

Bull ****. If I were you I would have pulled into a parking lot near the incident, if there was one, otherwise or actually either way its bull ****, plead innocent and explain the situation to the judge. He'll most likely sympathize and drop charges.
Man a lot of people have bad luck, I don't get this much **** from cops, in fact I have yet to have an incident from the time I got my Prelude about a year ago.

 

Well..the truth is, you were parked in a red zone. Regardless, the officer sounds like a ***** and you should definitely fight it.

 

I'm not sure but to be considered park, doesn't your motor have to be off???

 

When cops pull you over they sometimes do it on the side of a main road. You can't park on a main road. That's against the law. So when I get pulled over am I going to get a "bonus" ticket for being stopped on the road and holding up traffic? You were stopped BECAUSE OF the cops. It's bullshit.

 

and dont u have to be out of your car also?
unless it was a no stopping any time

 

there is definately a distinction between parked and stopped. thats why some signs say no stopping and some say no parking. i think dude was just 'stopped'.

either way if it was a big deal the cop could have immediatly said move, rather than prolonging how long the car was in the red zone... silly...

 

CALIFORNIA CODES
VEHICLE CODE
SECTION 22500-22526

22500. No person shall stop, park, or leave standing any vehicle whether attended or unattended, except when necessary to avoid conflict with other traffic or in compliance with the directions of a peace officer or official traffic control device, in any of the following places: ...blah blah

It was a red zone, so you can't even stop there, however, I WAS worried about the traffic coming, and I did not know what to do. When you are caravaning, if the leader is pulled over, so is the follower right?

Anyway, I talked to their Sergeant about it, he was on my side and said he'd have the next day Sergeant call me after talking to the officer.

Here's a bit of advice my bro gave me after I talked to him: If you are following your friend, have a prearranged plan to meet at the next stop on the road if someone gets pulled over, don't just stop yourself as well.

Thanks for your support guys, I'll be in court in November apparently.

sheesh


BTW, two1accord, you can't get a bonus ticket, as it says above, "in compliance with the directions of a peace officer".





[Modified by kotetu, 7:57 AM 9/2/2002]

 

Phew, good thing. Still sucks for you though. At least the sergeant hears you.

 

what an *******.

that's the type of jerk that ends up getting bitched out after i complain to his commanding officer and file a complaint about his wreckless driving, speeding, failure to signal, and add in how rude he was.

 

That's what I would do.....fight for that ticket....but if you loose court costs can bite you in the ***. I' haven't had th best of luck with the traffic police. I've had such bad luck with getting pulled over that I should be commended for funding the interstate contruction for chattanooga. My teen-hood has been scarred. Now everytime I see a police car I get nervous over nothing. I need to buy some of that graphite paint to but on the car. It suposedly makes the vehicle harder to read on radar..hehe

 

no joke... cops are gay... there was a traffic light out in glendale, and instead of the cops standing in the middle of the intersection and waving traffic, they stood at the corner waiting for someone to speed so they can give them a ticket....

 

bump. See my update in the original message.

 

Was the Police Officer parked in the red zone also? Cause he is not allowed to, if he sees someone parked in a red zone, it's the law that he parks somewhere else and must walk to the car that is parked in the red zone.

Might help.


[Modified by Turbo Lude SH, 11:59 PM 9/28/2002]

 

most cops are there to do their job they are human too. it's the 10% of the ****** you meet who ruin it for all cops. they have a power trip or something. but hey you do this for as long as some of them have and you'll get a negative oppinion too. that still doesn't excuse MOST of their actions, goodluck and fight it.

 

Yes, actually there were two cops, and they pulled over my friend. All 4 of us were in the red zone. And as it shows in my post above, pulling into a red zone for reasons of worrying about traffic is acceptable.

That is what I will use for my defense, on top of asking the cop for directions and getting a ticket instead.

Where did you find that information, that cops cannot park in a red zone? It doesn't seem to jive with the info above VC 22500 where it says 'except by.. the direction of a peace officer" etc.

Thanks

 

Right now, you understand how bad all *******~~ police's attitude are.
And remember drive really carefully or not driving at all on every beginning or end of each month, got that? Coz they will give you ticket once you with him.
OR FLY THEM AWAY!!

 

10%?

I think its the other way around.

10% are decent
the other 90% are jerks.

 

fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck that. ive always wondered what you do if a person you are following gets pulled. from your story, ill just go down the road about 1/4 mile, park, then wait for my friend. i dont know why cops act like dicks sometimes.

 

because they are dicks!!! i say you go shoot his ***! j/k, but i would fight the hell out of the ticket. more than likely the cop probably won't even show up in court...then it will be thrown out automatically. good luck!

 

I used to work for the Fire Department. We had a big problem because one of our Stations was along a really busy road and everytime someone would get pulled over they pull into the red zone which was for Fire engines to be able to pull out into and merge. It was a perfect place for people to pull over and it happened like 2-4 times a week.

After a while we had to call the Poilice Dept to tell them to tell the people they pull over to go pull over somewhere else if they happened to pull into the red zone.

But you were in a red zone and didn't really need to be, I dont think their is much of a way out of it.