I don't know about you, or how you drive, but it can clearly be said about me, that I drive like the gramma that I am. The thing is, I didn't start driving like a gramma when I became a gramma; nope, I've been driving this way my entire adult and almost adult life. I didn't want to spend money on tickets and such, so I drove correctly. I drive correctly.
I've been pulled over, but the only times I've been given a ticket was when I flat did not deserve one. Let me explain. In 2006, I was pulled over by a cop who I had just made eye contact with. I stopped at the stop sign, continued over the little bridge, and turned left. He stopped me a few yards down the way. When he pulled me over he didn't tell me what I did wrong, he wanted to see my driver's license and insurance card. This was before they were digital. I gave them both to him. He came back with the driver's license and asked me if I had found my insurance card. I told him I already gave it to him. He said I had not. See where this is going?
He forced me to let him search the car, and my daughter, who was not licensed at the time, was told she needed to drive the car home since I didn't have insurance. What an idiot. She wasn't even LICENSED and therefore not insured, but he was adamant, and when I tried to protest he threatened to have my car impounded. We were 90 miles from home at the time, it was the end of the year, and this man needed his quota. It was plain as day. Don't tell me they don't have quotas. YES THEY DO. Of course, I only let her drive until he was gone, and I took back the wheel.
I got home, waited for Monday, called the insurance people, got another card, and I called my attorney. She called the clerk in the small town of Stratford, Oklahoma, and she complained on my behalf. They told her I could speak to the judge, he wasn't coming into the county due to the weather, but he could dismiss the case. He said he would, but guess what, he didn't. He issued a bench warrant for me and NO ONE told me I had one until late last year, in 2022, 16 years later. The ticket had been sent for collection. Not only was it a ticket for driving under a suspended license, which I wasn't, but the cop didn't write down any reason for the stop in the first place. THERE WAS NO REASON, so how did he know if someone was driving under a suspended license or not?
I had Progressive insurance until I switched. Progressive reported me as being without insurance, which I was not. I had the insurance, and I had given it to the cop. It must be a racket, I don't know. What I do know, is that I am now paying $718 for something that (a) should never have happened (b) was forgiven but not recorded, and (c) is 17 years old, and I proved I had insurance. I was not without insurance. I was not driving under a suspension. I had to pay another $435 to the state because they thought I was suspended and I wasn't, and when I proved it, they never gave me back a single penny, but if I hadn't paid the fine, I would have had another bench warrant. This is just nuts! All that was in 2006 before I was stopped. That's how I KNOW KNOW KNOW I had insurance because I had already paid for the false suspension before I was stopped!
I was stopped in 2014 in Indiana when I was driving too slowly on a highway, but i wasn't driving too slowly. I was driving the damned speed limit. I wasn't even driving the minimum, I was driving the actual speed limit, but they pulled me over anyway, and checked my glove compartment for a firearm. Again, illegal, and wrong, and they couldn't do that, but there we were. I was not given a ticket.
I was stopped in 2018 for going through a parking lot rather than pulling up to the light and waiting for the signal...EXCEPT, I had pulled into the parking lot to SHOP!!! The cop didn't care. She tried to say I was pulling out to avoid the light. This wasn't true, but I had to pay $169 for a defensive driving course to keep the ticket off my record. The $169 paid off, in that I received a $36/month discount on my insurance for 36 months, but that is not the point. I wasn't breaking the damn law.
I was recently pulled over when someone stole the sticker off my license tag. I reported it when I was pulled over because that's when I knew. Apparently, we're supposed to walk behind and around our cars EVERY TIME we drive it, to be sure the lights work, the tag is in place, etc. Tell me, do you know ANYONE who does that? I had to pay $158 for the ticket and $275 for the tag replacement because it was time for a new tag, and I didn't have the paperwork from the last time I bought a tag why is that? Because I paid CASH and the guy gave me a sticker, but no receipt. I didn't think about it then, but yeah, he kept my money, didn't record the transaction, and I got stuck with it.
I had the proof that there was a sticker, so how did I get a sticker if I didn't pay for it? He kept the money, he didn't record it. He didn't give me a paper receipt because he claimed he emailed it to me. There you go, I didn't know any differently, and BAM...I have to pay $275 for another one, and $158 for being stopped when someone STOLE my tag sticker. If someone steals it, it should be replaced for free, but they say you can take it off and give it to someone; I was supposed to report it stolen. I didn't know it was taken!!
To say I'm pissed is an understatement. The thing is, in all those cases, I had a warrant out for my arrest for the 2006 bench warrant. Not one time, not one single time did a cop say to me "Hey you have a bench warrant". When I got my license renewed no one said anything. When I paid for insurance, and when I paid for a tag, no one said anything. I literally had NO IDEA until a collector tried to collect it. Now, I have to pay $718 for something that never should have happened and no, I'm not happy about it. If it happens to me, you know it happens to others. I had to call today and make payment arrangements to get the bench warrant stayed. I don't think it would do much harm being out there, but you just never know.
I can't wait for the rapture. I really really can't wait, and if that cop is in Heaven when I get there, I really hope he has to apologize to every single person he cheated, lied to, hurt, and manipulated. If he's not there, well, then he gets what he deserves.
Photo Credit: LV Criminal Defense
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