I'm going to cross post this from my myspace blog (with some language edited out ).  I had a horrible horrible experience last night, my first ticket...  I never thought it would be like this.

My cousin, who is only 19 and two years younger than me, had a premature baby last night.  5 lbs 9 ounces, a little over one month early.  He is healthy, but very very skinny.  I worked all day then went straight to the hospital because i was told she was going to be having him any minute because she was dilating very fast and was almost at 9 centimeters.  It ended up being awhile, so i was there for a long time.  By the time my mom and i left (i had rode with her) it was almost 11pm.  We got SUPER lost trying to get home (this wasn't somewhere we are used to driving to) and it was foggy and raining.

I had left my car at my moms, and as soon as we got to her house i hopped in it and headed home.  I was coming out of her town where the speed limit is 35.  There is a hotel and then a long bridge right before the speed limit turns over to 55.  It was super foggy, and i called my SO to let him know why i was running so late.  He had started cooking dinner around 10, when i told him we were heading home.  Then we got lost, and its already over an hour long drive back to my moms, then another 20 minutes for me to get home from there.  On a good day.  I was STARVING, and was calling him to apologize for running so late when he was nice enough to cook dinner.  And letting him know i would still be quite awhile because of the fog.  I barely got that out of my mouth when i saw the lights pop out of nowhere out of the fog, i was getting pulled over.  I told him that, and hung up the phone, pulling over to the shoulder.  My first time.  As soon as i saw the lights i started to get nervous.  Police intimidate me.  I've never been able to pinpoint why.  I just feel that they are very powerful, and they could use that power to get away with things or something like that.  So i was pretty scared right off the bat.  This is how the conversation went.

Officer: "Good evening ma'am, how are you?"
Me: "I'm okay, i guess." *thinking, i was great, until now*
Officer:  "Are you aware of what speed you were traveling?"
Me: "Honestly, no.  I was on the phone, i was supposed to be home hours ago.  Was telling him i was okay and was going to be awhile still because its so foggy."
Officer: "You were traveling 62 mph"
Me: "Oh, okay" *Grumbling to myself, i'm gonna get my first speeding ticket*
Officer: "Any particular reason you are in such a hurry this evening?"
Me: "Not really, i was going faster than i thought i was apparently.  Just want to get home, i'm tired and hungry.  Was at the hospital all night, my cousin just had a baby."
Officer: "Have you had any alcoholic beverages this evening, ma'am?"
Me: "Uhh... no!" *I'm Thinking: Umm.. i just said i was at the hospital... getting drunk at a hospital, yeah.  Saturday night... i'm lying to you, i was really at the bar*
Officer takes my license/registration and goes back to his car.  A good 20 minutes go by.  Another officer pulls in behind him.  I about pee myself.  He called backup for me?  What, am i smuggling drugs now or something?
Ten minutes tick by.  The second officer leaves.  Five more minutes go by, the officer finally returns to my car.
Officer: "Heres what we are going to do.  I first clocked you going 45mph in a 35 mph zone, thats what caught my attention.  I turned around.  I clocked you a second time before i pulled you over, at 62 mph.  You then proceeded to drive at a high rate of speed even after i turned my signal on.  I'm going to have you turn around and follow me back to my station."
*i about have a heart attack, what NOW? a million thoughts start going through my head, did i forget to pay my insurance or something??? He must have read my shocked face*
".. Because i wrote my last ticket this evening and have none in my car." *Okay, real nice, take me back to your  station when i just got through saying i'm tried and hungry and i was only going 7 mph over the speed limit? JERK*
He shines the light in my eyes.
"You haven't had anything to drink tonight, have you Miss /insert my last name?"
*At this point, i'm getting pretty frustrated*
Me: "No."
Officer: "Are you sure about that?"
Me.  "YES, i. was. at. the. hospital."

I think asking me the FIRST time was enough.  If you think i'm drinking, come right out with it and give me a sobriety test.  Don't waste my time.  Apparently he had some reason to believe i was drinking.  So, i follow him BACK to the station.  As i'm looking at my gas gauge going "Great, i have like NO gas."...

This "station" was way back a dark alley, behind a recycling place.  A shabby little one car garage.  With a BIG bright light. he tells me to wait in my car.  Where he proceeds to write a ticket for 30 minutes.  No joke.  I was watching him, he was writing SUPER slow, like a four year old.  Not trying to be mean, but i was literally starting to get extremely sleepy, could barely hold my head up.  My SO calls me 100 times, i finally picked up and asked him whats wrong.  He thought i go arrested or something "Its been over an hour, what is going on!? It doesn't take this long to get a ticket, are you okay?"  "Yeah, i'm fine, he made me go back to his station" "WHAT!?" "yeah, and he seems to think i've been drinking." "WHAT?"  "I'll call you back, he's coming back to the car"  He asks me to step out of the car.  Grrrreat.  He makes me go AROUND my car, and over to his, which is parked right under the bright light.  He starts asking me more questions...


Me: "Yeah, i've never done this before so i have no clue what i'm doing".
Officer: *looks down at my license* "Yeah, you just got your license like... 6 months ago, right?"
Me: *dumfounded* "Uhh, no, i've had it since i was 16".
Officer: *Still looking at license* "Oh yeah, since 1987 then."
Me: *What!??? thats my BIRTHDAY!* I didn't even reply, i just waited for him to give me my copy, impatiently at this point.
Officer: "Can i ask who Mr. Curt /insert SO's last name/ is ma'am?"
Me: "My fiance" *great, he's going to accuse me of stealing  his car, i didn't want to explain anything so that answer had to be sufficient*  The car i was driving is only in his name, the insurance card has both our names on it.  He stares down at the insurance card again, then looks at me with that STUPID look again* "Is this your address? 5535..."
Me: "Oh dear God,  i don't live there, i don't know who that guy is, we're not together or anything, i just stole his car from him you know, just like i've been drinking and everything else* "Yes, it is." I'm VERY Annoyed at this point.
Him: "Okay then, lets see, you've got to appear in Mayors court on July 15th.  If you explain your story there, the fine could be lowered.  *long pause* Oh... by the way, were you wearing your seatbelt?"
*Me... omfg... shoot me, isn't it YOUR job to look and see* "Yes, i was."
*officer gives me a doubtful look*  I want to strangle him.
"Okay then, i think we're all finished. Have a nice night, slow down and...BUCKLE UP!" Like i was lying about having my seat belt on.

So, i get in the car and call my mom back because she also called me 100 times wondering what the hell happened to me.  She FREAKS out because she made the point that she had bought me a Strawberry Fruitista freeze from Taco Bell and she thinks he thought that i WAS drinking when he smelt the "fruity" drink on my breath  and she says by asking me multiple times he was practically harassing me.  She was pissed saying he probably had tickets all along and just wanted to take me back there where he could get a better look at me. She tells me to look at my ticket...  I think she was most upset because of how upset he made me, i could barely talk to her i was crying so hard.  Yeah, everyone gets tickets.  But not everyone gets them after such a long day and not everyone gets pestered for two hours.

THAT *edit*TURD gave me a ticket for going 62 in a 35!!!!!!!!!!! He never ONCE specified that, the WHOLE time i thought he meant i was doing 42 in a 35 and 62 in a 55, which sounds RIGHT.   I was NOT doing 62 in a stinkin 35.  Its a $150 stinkin fine, opposed to $60.  Thats the highest ticket i can get.  If i would have known, if it wasn't COLD and FOGGY and DARK and i wasn't crying so hard i couldn't see,  i wouldn't have taken the ticket without an argument.  I was prepared to just take it and go home, even after all the hell he put me through.  And being such a jerk, a DUMB jerk who didn't even know WHO he was talking to and how old i was and when i got my license.  You know, as far as i'm aware, those factors play into whether or not they give you a ticket.  Yeah, if i was only driving 6 months like he seemed to think AFTER writing my ticket, it would be a little different than the simple fact that i've been driving for 5 years and have never had a ticket.  He seemed pretty dumb and made me feel like he didn't know much. I've always had respect for police, i respect that they risk their lives everyday and i LOVE watching Cops and things.  I came home and Cops was on and for the first time in my life i couldn't stand to watch it.   By the time that cop let me go i was shaking and in tears.  I felt like he was nitpicking EVERY damn thing.  Like i was some horrible person.  Lets not take into account that it was foggy, i just wanted to get home, i admitted to doing the speed, i was being polite, i just wnated the ticket so i could go.  And he takes me through this stinkin 5 hour process and then expects me to drive home safely when i'm shaking, crying, and about to fall to sleep at the wheel?
JERK.

I went over the character limit, bear with me!!!

My mom is telling me to go fight it.  I can't prove i wasn't doing the speeds he says.  He got me right after the Hotel where the speed changes to 55 by that damn bridge.  I don't know when/where he clocked me.  It was so foggy i couldn't even tell what driveway i turned around in to go back to the police station.  But i DO want the police chief to know that his officer made me feel very uncomfortable, didn't explain ANYTHING to me, and i had no clue i was getting the ticket that i was, and he shouldn't be out pulling people over if he doesn't have tickets to write.... and he should know how to read a license too, you know, that might be helpful. I'm calling on Monday.
It also might be a good idea to have an officer who can write a ticket in less than a half hour.  Considering some people have lives and can't stand to sit and wait while he chicken scratches six little fill-in-the-blanks that should have taken 5 minutes.


I'm mad, and i will say this: Give me a state highway patrol or sheriff next time, PLEASE.  Screw these little city cops who think they are awesome.  GOODNESS!!!!!  Last i knew, this little towns police didn't even have radar.  Until we went back to the station, i thought it was a state highway patrolman.  I had no idea it was an Andover  Cop.  Pshhhh.

What do you guys think?  Should i accept this ticket or state my case? 

Oh, and btw: I don't have the money to pay it.  I'm going to have to skip out on my car payment on the 15th of next month in order to have the money to cover the ticket. 

Definitely fight it.  100% fight it.  DO file against him and whatever you do, don't just pay for the ticket and let it slide.

In most cases, they WILL at least lower the fine and such.

Let the judge know everything that happened, and filing against the cop will help you with that.

It is better to contest any ticket than simply paying for it. 

I'll try to post some info later...  I would now, but I'm in a rush and am about to leave...

ACK!  What a sucky experience.  That sounds like a very odd experience and the fact that another cop car came out is strange.  Wouldn't that cop have had the paperwork to write you a ticket?  Very strange indeed.  I don't think you'll lose anything by contesting the ticket- except maybe more of your time.

Also calling for backup is routine now-a-days during traffic stops. It's a standard for officer safety.

I don't blame you for being so uncomfortable. I, too, have issues with men. I would definatley report him.

I got pulled over once for a ticket and had a 2nd car arrive on the scene but no fooling they were standing there chatting about where they wanted to grab lunch together.  The officer did not call for backup.  The 2nd cop just saw his buddy stopped so he thought he would stop too and see what was going on and check in about lunch.  Talk about annoying as hell cuz he too had to put his lights on.  Made me feel like some huge criminal and embarrased as heck to have people driving by and galking.

I would file a formal complaint but I would probably pay the ticket.  Ooooohhh here in Nebraska we have a program called the STOP program where you can go to a class all day and then get the charges dropped.  Do you have something like that there?  Here is a link about our program...

http://www.lincoln.ne.gov/city/police/traffic/stoppro.htm

you know if your blood sugar was low from not eating, you may have been exhibiting some "signs" of drinking.  I know I get the shakes  and can't seem to get my words out right sometimes when I'm really hungry.

If he really thought you were drinking, why did he not ask you to take a field sobriety test or to come in the station for a breathalyzer?  This situation makes me feel creeped out.  I think you should write up exactly what you posted here in a little more formal language and give it to the police chief. 

My dad is a Type 1 diabetic - and it is true that when sugars drop a person can look/act intoxicated.  However, if he thought you were intoxicated he should have done a sobriety test on site, and never let you drive to the station.  I know an officer that allowed an individual to reenter his car and move it 6 ft after initially questioning his sobriety to get the car better positioned off the road.  The officer then gave the sobriety test and arrested the individual.  The officer lost the trial based on the fact that if the officer suspected him of being intoxicated why did he allow him to drive?

From the sounds of what you wrote I have two suspicions.  Either the officer was new and messed up writing the intial ticket - hence why he had you go back to the station to rewrite the ticket.  That would also explain his taking his time, asking you questions slightly wrong etc...  Sometimes cops also play dumb to see if you can correct them.  If you were intoxicated you would have most likely had a hard time correcting his questions.  Or the officer suspected you were slightly intoxicated, but might not have had enough evidence to do a sobriety test on you so he dragged out the ticket writing to "sober you up".  Those are my uneducated thoughts since I don't know anything about how officers are trained/work in your area.  I know how they work in this area since I work with them quite a bit (never known an officer to do the above).

The sequence of events does seem extreme, and I would request meeting with his superior to find out what exactly the deal was.  Just let the superior know that you have concerns for how you were treated, and how that treatment could be construed by others.  Make sure you are very articulate, and don't fly off the deep end, otherwise the supervisor will think you are nuts. 

We recently had an incident with an individual that was pretending to be a cop and pulling girls over and raping them.  It is perfectly legal to call and request a second cruiser or request confirmation that an officer is behind you.  I highly suggest you indicate that you are going to pull over otherwise you might lead the cop to think you are taking them on a low speed chase, at least then more than 1 officer will be there, though you might exit your car through the window. 

If you do pull over for an unmarked car at night you don't have to exit the car until another officer shows up on scen