wtf... arrested for a "visual determination" of my speed?!

[zixxer]

I'm trying to find what my next step is (I need to find a lawyer I supposed)..

~6pm friday afternoon I was in the middle lane on the interstate speed limit 65), right before my exit. There are two (maybe three) cops on the side of the road in the process of searching someone's car.. The idiot in front of me, at the last second, slammed on his brakes (when he saw the cop, maybe 200-300ft before them) and I swerved into the left lane. I was going about 65 (the same or slightly faster than traffic) and accelerated to 85 or *maybe* 90. (traffic was coming up behind us pretty quickly, and I didn't want to get caught up in it.)

I get off on my exit, and all of the sudden there are two cops FLYING down the exit ramp. I really didn't think they were there for me, and pulled over to the side. The jumped out, handcuffed me, and one of them told me he 'visually determined' I was going at least 120mph. I was like WTF I saw you guys from a mile away, I was going with traffic, and tried to explain what happened. They lowered it to 100 in a 65, also gave me a ticket for improper lane change (to avoid the idiot slamming on his brakes) impounded my bike and took me to jail. WTGDF? They said that they saw me coming up and that I 'took off' when I saw them pull out. They said they were "nice" in not charging me with evading or reckless driving.

I have 1 prior (13 over) and that's it.


EDIT:

This in in Georgia

EDIT 2:

I was on a motorcycle, the normal speed of traffic is ~85. The people in the two right lanes were slamming on their brakes and slowing to ~65 while the people behind me were not paying attention and still going 85. I changed into the left lane and sped up as fast as the people approaching me from behind. This is atlanta traffic, if you are going 10 over you'll get run over.



EDIT 3:

Noone seems to be getting that I wasn't speeding up to PASS anyone or stay out of traffic to get to my destination. I didn't want caught in traffic because I'm on a motorcycle - I stay in the open areas between groups of traffic.

 

[acemcmac]

what state?

 

[j00fek]

id fight this

 

[Wapp]

Fight it brutha.

 

[FoBoT]

why did you need to accelerate that much over the speed limit in front of police cars?

 

[MisterJackson]

You got owned!

 

[acemcmac]

They have no radar readings, no laser readings, no stopwatch/vascar printouts. The incident with the "dangerous swerving" happened more than a mile away. I don't think they have anything. You're going to get raped on the impound though

I'd do everything possible to try to get your bike out of impound as soon as possible and bring a camera with you as your bike may not have been shown the best of care by the impound people...

 

[d3n]

Yeah, that stinks. My only question (if I were the judge) is why did you have to accelerate to 90 when all you needed to do was meet the speed of on coming traffic.

Did you spend all weekend in the pokey?

 

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: zixxer
I'm trying to find what my next step is (I need to find a lawyer I supposed)..

~6pm friday afternoon I was in the middle lane on the interstate speed limit 65), right before my exit. There are two (maybe three) cops on the side of the road in the process of searching someone's car.. The idiot in front of me, at the last second, slammed on his brakes (when he saw the cop, maybe 200-300ft before them) and I swerved into the left lane. I was going about 65 (the same or slightly faster than traffic) and accelerated to 85 or *maybe* 90. (traffic was coming up behind us pretty quickly, and I didn't want to get caught up in it.)

I get off on my exit, and all of the sudden there are two cops FLYING down the exit ramp. I really didn't think they were there for me, and pulled over to the side. The jumped out, handcuffed me, and one of them told me he 'visually determined' I was going at least 120mph. I was like WTF I saw you guys from a mile away, I was going with traffic, and tried to explain what happened. They lowered it to 100 in a 65, also gave me a ticket for improper lane change (to avoid the idiot slamming on his brakes) impounded my bike and took me to jail. WTGDF? They said that they saw me coming up and that I 'took off' when I saw them pull out. They said they were "nice" in not charging me with evading or reckless driving.

I have 1 prior (13 over) and that's it.

Wow, that wasn't a very smart thing to do. I'd definitely fight it though.

Good luck!

 

[Aharami]

Originally posted by: acemcmac
They have no radar readings, no laser readings, no stopwatch/vascar printouts. The incident with the "dangerous swerving" happened more than a mile away. I don't think they have anything. You're going to get raped on the impound though

I'd do everything possible to try to get your bike out of impound as soon as possible and bring a camera with you as your bike may not have been shown the best of care by the impound people...

yea definitely contact a lawyer as this is utter BS! and definitely take a camera with you when you get your bike out of the impound lot

 

[Czar]

I dont get it why you had to go faster?

but in court I dont see why any of this can hold against you, they have no evidence to back them up

 

[d3n]

You're going to have to go in front of the judge if you want this taken care of most likely. I'd play up the angle of being on a bike you had to sheild yourself against crazy motorist who don't know how to react to a police stop.

 

[acemcmac]

Originally posted by: Czar
I dont get it why you had to go faster?

but in court I dont see why any of this can hold against you, they have no evidence to back them up

When people start slamming their brakes around me, I'll do ANYTHING to get around them.

I don't want to be anywhere near people like that.

 

[Czar]

Originally posted by: acemcmac

Originally posted by: Czar
I dont get it why you had to go faster?

but in court I dont see why any of this can hold against you, they have no evidence to back them up

When people start slamming their brakes around me, I'll do ANYTHING to get around them.

I don't want to be anywhere near people like that.

slow down, change lanes at about the same speed you were driving

just dont see the reason for speeding away from a assumed bad driver, only makes you a bad driver as well. He was already slowing down anyways, no need to go faster.

 

[sswingle]

Yay, theres some cops, lets go 90 in a 65!

 

[acemcmac]

Originally posted by: Czar

Originally posted by: acemcmac

Originally posted by: Czar
I dont get it why you had to go faster?

but in court I dont see why any of this can hold against you, they have no evidence to back them up

When people start slamming their brakes around me, I'll do ANYTHING to get around them.

I don't want to be anywhere near people like that.

slow down, change lanes at about the same speed you were driving

just dont see the reason for speeding away from a assumed bad driver, only makes you a bad driver as well. He was already slowing down anyways, no need to go faster.

I'm not saying that you shouldn't be careful about it... if he's slamming his brakes and you powering around him, what if everyone was stopping? You're going to cause a 20 car pileup.

If you've never sped up to pass a semi that was weaving in lane at 4am, rather than spend half an hour next to him...

There's always a time for it....

 

[Fausto]

$5 says it was Doraville cops.

 

[mcvickj]

Originally posted by: zixxer
I'm trying to find what my next step is (I need to find a lawyer I supposed)..

~6pm friday afternoon I was in the middle lane on the interstate speed limit 65), right before my exit. There are two (maybe three) cops on the side of the road in the process of searching someone's car.. The idiot in front of me, at the last second, slammed on his brakes (when he saw the cop, maybe 200-300ft before them) and I swerved into the left lane. I was going about 65 (the same or slightly faster than traffic) and accelerated to 85 or *maybe* 90. (traffic was coming up behind us pretty quickly, and I didn't want to get caught up in it.)

I get off on my exit, and all of the sudden there are two cops FLYING down the exit ramp. I really didn't think they were there for me, and pulled over to the side. The jumped out, handcuffed me, and one of them told me he 'visually determined' I was going at least 120mph. I was like WTF I saw you guys from a mile away, I was going with traffic, and tried to explain what happened. They lowered it to 100 in a 65, also gave me a ticket for improper lane change (to avoid the idiot slamming on his brakes) impounded my bike and took me to jail. WTGDF? They said that they saw me coming up and that I 'took off' when I saw them pull out. They said they were "nice" in not charging me with evading or reckless driving.

I have 1 prior (13 over) and that's it.

Right here is where this whole problem started and could have been avoided. I have no problems with the sudden lane change. Sounds like it was necessary. But you made a choice to speed in order to save your self some time in not getting caught up in some traffic.

Getting hand cuffed and tossed in jail certainly seems over the top. Sounds like the officer was having a bad day and was looking to take it out on someone.

 

[CaptnKirk]

First off - you cannot detect motion from 1 mile or more in traffic, you have to be less than 1 mile to observe apparant motion.

Second - Visual spped calculations are based on point to point evaluation while timing the moving vehicle.
You see markers or 'paint lines' on highways everywhere for this purpose, especially for arial observation by aircraft.
When your vehicle reaches 'Line-0' the clock or even a mental count starts, if you reach line-1 or line-2
if the time is less than the standard time for the distance traveled they have you for speeding,
Example - at 60 MPH you travel 88 feet in one second. If the referemce point designaters are positioned 176 feet apart,
anything less than a full 2 seconds are a bust.

You can always plead insanity.

 

[dmcowen674]

Originally posted by: Fausto
$5 says it was Doraville cops.

Or Hapeville, both lost the income from the Ford and GM plants shutting down so they are desperate for their Christmas party money.

 

[mercanucaribe]

Originally posted by: Czar

Originally posted by: acemcmac

Originally posted by: Czar
I dont get it why you had to go faster?

but in court I dont see why any of this can hold against you, they have no evidence to back them up

When people start slamming their brakes around me, I'll do ANYTHING to get around them.

I don't want to be anywhere near people like that.

slow down, change lanes at about the same speed you were driving

just dont see the reason for speeding away from a assumed bad driver, only makes you a bad driver as well. He was already slowing down anyways, no need to go faster.

THE PEOPLE IN THE FAST LANE WERE GOING FASTER THAN HIS PREVIOUS SPEED. THAT IS WHY IT IS CALLED THE FAST LANE. HE MIGHT HAVE BEEN HIT BY SOME B!TCH ON HER CELL PHONE IF HE DIDN'T SPEED UP TO MATCH THE FAST LANE TRAFFIC.

Hopefully that takes care of the "why did you speed up" posts.

 

[FoBoT]

it doesn't say the other cars were going 90
he was speeding in front of police cars, i don't think there is much more to cover

 

[sswingle]

Originally posted by: mercanucaribe

Originally posted by: Czar

Originally posted by: acemcmac

Originally posted by: Czar
I dont get it why you had to go faster?

but in court I dont see why any of this can hold against you, they have no evidence to back them up

When people start slamming their brakes around me, I'll do ANYTHING to get around them.

I don't want to be anywhere near people like that.

slow down, change lanes at about the same speed you were driving

just dont see the reason for speeding away from a assumed bad driver, only makes you a bad driver as well. He was already slowing down anyways, no need to go faster.

THE PEOPLE IN THE FAST LANE WERE GOING FASTER THAN HIS PREVIOUS SPEED. THAT IS WHY IT IS CALLED THE FAST LANE. HE MIGHT HAVE BEEN HIT BY SOME B!TCH ON HER CELL PHONE IF HE DIDN'T SPEED UP TO MATCH THE FAST LANE TRAFFIC.

Hopefully that takes care of the "why did you speed up" posts.

Its not called a fast lane. Its speed limit is 65, the same as all the other lanes.
Thanks for trying though.

 

[Czar]

Originally posted by: mcvickj

Originally posted by: zixxer
I'm trying to find what my next step is (I need to find a lawyer I supposed)..

~6pm friday afternoon I was in the middle lane on the interstate speed limit 65), right before my exit. There are two (maybe three) cops on the side of the road in the process of searching someone's car.. The idiot in front of me, at the last second, slammed on his brakes (when he saw the cop, maybe 200-300ft before them) and I swerved into the left lane. I was going about 65 (the same or slightly faster than traffic) and accelerated to 85 or *maybe* 90. (traffic was coming up behind us pretty quickly, and I didn't want to get caught up in it.)

I get off on my exit, and all of the sudden there are two cops FLYING down the exit ramp. I really didn't think they were there for me, and pulled over to the side. The jumped out, handcuffed me, and one of them told me he 'visually determined' I was going at least 120mph. I was like WTF I saw you guys from a mile away, I was going with traffic, and tried to explain what happened. They lowered it to 100 in a 65, also gave me a ticket for improper lane change (to avoid the idiot slamming on his brakes) impounded my bike and took me to jail. WTGDF? They said that they saw me coming up and that I 'took off' when I saw them pull out. They said they were "nice" in not charging me with evading or reckless driving.

I have 1 prior (13 over) and that's it.

Right here is where this whole problem started and could have been avoided. I have no problems with the sudden lane change. Sounds like it was necessary. But you made a choice to speed in order to save your self some time in not getting caught up in some traffic.

Getting hand cuffed and tossed in jail certainly seems over the top. Sounds like the officer was having a bad day and was looking to take it out on someone.

exactly

 

[jemcam]

Originally posted by: ScottSwingleComputers
Yay, theres some cops, lets go 90 in a 65!

I don't get your question. You admitted to speeding excessively and now you don't understand why?

You're going to lose this one, mark my words. You may not have been going as fast as they're saying, but to go at least 20-25 mph over the speed limit in front of cops and then have the balls to complain about getting busted is really, really stupid, but not as stupid as going that fast on a crowded freeway. I'll bet you were wearing flip flops, a t-shirt, and shorts while you were doing this too. :disgust:

Damn, I just noticed you're from Georgia too. I always saw more people pulled over in Georgia than any other state. I used to drive through there frequently and based on their rigorous enforcement of the speed limit, I was always a gentlman driver as soon as I crossed the state line.