“Nabbed Wrong Car For Failure To Stop For School Bus!!!!!”

This is synopsis of a fail to stop for school bus ticket that was issued to my friend two weeks ago.

A school bus is stopped and driving east on Mohawk Road in Hamilton. As the bus driver puts on the lights and projects the stop sign two autos driving west in the slow lane (lane closest to the side walk) ignore the signals and proceed through. My friend is in the fast lane and comes to a complete stop. Within 5 seconds, a police cruiser who is roughly 100 meters behind the bus does a U turn and pulls over one of the autos who ignored the bus signals. At this point the bus removes the stop sign and lights and my friend proceeds to drive.

60 seconds after this she is pulled over. The police officer claims she saw two autos ignore the signal, her car being the second and takes her information. She pleas that she was in the fast lane and came to a full stop. The police officer says thats not what he saw, writes her a ticket and proceeds to go back to the first car he pulled over and write a ticket to them as well.

My friend knows a student who rides that bus as she works at a local school. She calls the bus company and is told the bus driver cannot say for sure if he/she saw her ignore the signals but gives the colour of both cars ( lets say red and black). Her car is blue. She is also told a statement from the bus driver has been submitted.

Thats where we are at and heres my view. The police officer likely made an honest mistake due to how quick everything happened as he was giving two tickets at practically the same time. Ive advised her to hire a traffic expert.

Questions:

1. Will this turn into a case of her word vs the police officers?

2. Is it common for police officers to issue two tickets at the same time?

3. Can the bus driver be subpoenaed since a statement has been given?

4. Does it sound like the prosecutor can prove this case beyond a reasonable doubt? I dont think so!

Whats your feedback forum? Ive advised her to hire points.

1) If there is a statement from an independent party like the bus driver, that should help your friend.

2) Not the usual practice, but not unheard of either.

3) Yes.

4) Again, a statement from an independent third party should help raise reasonable doubt.

It might not hurt for your friend to simply have a first attendance meeting with the Crown and show the statement they plan to submit as evidence. If the Crown doesn't feel like they can prove the case, they may simply withdraw the charge saving your friend paralegal fees.