hassled by the Man...

I got pulled over while riding my Moped, today. The Man gave me a bogus ticket. I'm gonna fight it and win. Damn the Man...

Moped?

Exactly where were you driving this moped?

Details!! lol we need more details!!

I'm guessing, the ticket wasn't for exhibition of speed.

Crazy Moped drivers, tearin' up the streets... running down little old ladies... uh.. driving... places... and...

Ok, how'd you get a ticket... were you on the sidewalk?

People driving mopeds SHOULD get tickets...for driving mopeds.

Details? You mean the one about the speed limit, or the middle finger that went up prior to pull over?

Ok. About the Moped. Some Mopeds are dorky. Some Mopeds are cool. My Moped isn't one of those new, terrible little "scooters." I'm driving a 1977 Motobecane. It looks like a small motorcycle. Top speed of 40 mph (with a tailwind). And 110 mpg ain't nothin to laugh at, these days.

Anyway, I was doing about 35 through town when Mr. Cop pulled up behind me and flashed the blue lights. I pulled into a parking lot and he swung in behind me. I asked him if I had done anything wrong. Of course, he didn't respond. Cops. I swear, they're taught to NEVER answer questions, only ASK questions. It allows them to keep "control" of the situation, I guess.

He just asked for "license, insurance, registration." You need an M2 motorcycle license to ride a moped in SOCAL, now. I'm licensed and the bike is registered, with a plate on the back. All legal. So I handed him my license. I had to search through my wallet for my registration. While he went back to his vehicle to call in my license, I found my registration. He came back over to me after the LONGEST TIME. What do they do that takes so long? Do they just make you wait to intimidate you, in hopes that you'll "crack" and admit to all sorts of crimes? He didn't have a problem with my license, but he claimed that the bike wasn't registered. It is. He claimed that he could find "no record of current registration." I showed him my registration. He claimed "that's not a registration. That's just an identification." He also claimed that I needed insurance on the bike. I don't. It is exempt. I know. I've studied the Motorcycle Handbook AND the California Vehicle Codes. The DMV does not require insurance when registering the bike. The registration is perpetual. Never has to be renewed.

So, Mr. Cop wrote me an illegal ticket for "missing registration" and "missing insurance." He warned me that "unregistered vehicles can be towed." Boy, don't I know what a pain THAT is. Have you ever had a vehicle towed by the cops? I have. My old car was towed once. Cost me $450 to get it out of impound!

Mr. Cop also told me that "It's not even legal to ride this bike on City streets. There's a City ordinance prohibiting it." I asked him why the DMV hadn't told me that. He said "It's a City ordinance. The DMV knows nothing about it." Yeah. I later researched that mystery ordinance at the Library, the City Hall and the Police Station. No one has heard of it. I called the Police Station and left a message on Mr. Cop's voice mail, asking him to please call me back and clarify the ordinance he was talking about. I haven't heard from him.

The ticket I received did not cite me for "Ordinance X", just for insurance and registration. But, Im annoyed that Mr. Cop threatened me with a made-up ordinance that (supposedly) prohibits me from riding AT ALL on City streets.

I asked Mr. Cop how much the ticket would cost me. No amount was listed on the ticket. He said "$10." Yeah. Later research turns up that driving without insurance is a fine up to $500. The vehicle can also be impounded. I don't know how much the missing registration could cost, yet. The $10 that he mentioned is what I will have to pay in paperwork fees if the charges are DISMISSED!! IF I WIN, I STILL HAVE TO PAY!

Yeah. I'm annoyed. I'm going to fight this BS ticket. I did nothing wrong. I was completely within the law. Thinking back, I suspect that the stop itself was illegal. Mr. Cop was on a motorbike, himself. How could he have called my license in while driving? He would have had no probable cause to pull me over. When I asked him if I had done anything wrong, he said nothing. No violations besides insurance and registration were on the ticket. Not speeding. Not mechanical violations.

Does anyone know an attorney in SOCAL who handles motorcycle cases?

Wow that's lotta details.

Hope I never run into a cop in a bad mood.

LA cops are scum and corrupt. Afterall, they killed Tupac.

What Iron said. They just want their money.

I can attest to this. Long story super short.. I have a scar on my noggin from a police officer in the L.A. area.

Dudes, have a little perspective. Not all inner city youths are gang-bangers. Not all cops are corrupt. There are a lot of cops out there who's main concern is keeping little ol' us safe at night.

When I started this thread I thought, "Maybe he's talking about Grand Theft Auto: Vice City." But it turned out to be for real.

Then I read this:



Hope you're kidding. Certainly these are a very small minority. I lived in LA for 7 years and I only witnessed the cops protecting the 'hood.

Did all of you hear about the LAPD cop that was shot and killed this Saturday? Well the dude died because some stupid ganster was having some sort of domestic dispute. Thanks to the new police chief, Bill Bratton, the LAPD is cracking down hard on these #*%$! thugs and it's about time. I hope the LAPD stays on course 'cause trust me, being in a neigborhood with stupid gangsters is no walk in the park.

I respect cops because they put their lives on the line every day to make our communities safer. It makes little sense for scum to put their life on the line. . .

The sad but true truth is that not all cops are bad, but many turn bad. I would guess that many corrupt cops were good in the beginning. Then, having to bust the same people over and over again (because some judge practices "revolving door" justice), they get frustrated with their jobs. This leads to a cop finding handy shortcuts to make the charges stick, such as the "throw down" gun or bag of weed. After awhile, knocking a few heads in doesn't seem so bad to this cop, and eventually he or she will go too far. Policing can be stressful, and sadly many cops reach the breaking point.

Phew, thanks to those who blew the whistle on the "all cops" thing, I was starting to get "frustrated" there.

I have no problem with taking a corrupt cop to court for going over the line (there are cameras all over now, anyway), but if a cop beats down a 'gangsta pimp' or whatever that some people think is one time too many....I don't really give a crap.

If you go and give a cop a hard time, don't cooperate, try to get away or whatever, and then they catch you after an intense adrenalin surging chase, well...you deserve what you get for giving them the stress and hardship THEY had to endure because of your obviously guilty a$$.

Oh, although obviously in this case with the Moped, we apparently just have a grouchy cop that needs a writeup or something.

I guess I owe another comment here. was born in and lived in LA most of my life. Only the last 7-8 years have I lived anywhere else (N. Cal).

I had many friends that were LA police officers but they all joined the force well after my "incident". Yes I believe the force isnt all bad, yes I believe it is improving over when my situation occured. BUT there are still bad cops, everywhere. Sadly there probably always will be.

Yep. People tend to pick careers according to their predispositions, and not all of the ones that make someone want to be a cop are benign or about helping people. Some of them are just bullies who get off on pushing people around.

LOL was he running behind ya or on a horse

Catherine Cotton

Of course all cops aren't bad. But there have been many incidents where cops are just bullies. LIke a friend of mine has a shaved head. He got pulled over in front of his workplace for all his coworkers to see. There was no reason for being pulled over. They were just profiling and being bullies. After they saw he was wearing a suit, they apologized.

Another time I was at a softball game and cops pulled over another friend who was about to park. They started harrassing him, asking what the fuck are you doing around here. Ya he has a shitty looking car and doesn't groom himself well but being pullled over for nothing just to get harassed makes you think twice about cops. They went on saying his tail light was out, which it wasn't. They'll make up any excuse just to get a closer look at you and look at all the crap in your car.

Ironchef...what you say is a little worrying. It seems that how you look and what you wear makes a big difference to how you're treated by the cops. You have greater rights if you drive a nice car and are wearing a suit, than if you have dreadlocks, hippy clothes and piercings. It's just stupid.

Interestingly they did a study in Sweden that found out that people that looked nice generally got lesser sentences in the court system, than people that did not look nice.

Little

Worrying, but true. Improper, but probably unavoidable. Profiling is surely improperly and over used, but it is still valid. It is sort of applying Bayes Theorem to law enforcement. If X% of criminals look like so, or behave in such a manner, then there is Y% chance that someone who looks or behaves that way is a criminal. Cops aren't psychic - they must use whatever tools they do have.

If you get pulled over just because of the way you look, and you have to pay $20 not to get arrested, then the cop is corrupt. If you get pulled over because of the way you look, and after the encounter you just go on your way (possibly with an apology), the cop is not corrupt - just trying to do his or her job.

That sucks.

Robin can edit my post too. Don't come crying replying to my post as if you actuallly care what I wrote.