Falsely Accused Of Handheld Device Usage
Hi!
This is my first time ever getting a ticket and I am completely frustrated and don't know what to do.
On July 7th, I was driving to work, taking my usual route and it's about a 15 minute drive for me. At the first red light, I noticed I had a bit of time thanks to the countdown so I quickly reached into my bag to grab a lip balm. I noticed I had brought the wrong one so I just kept it out and left it in my cup holder. My cellphone was in the bottom of my bag the entire time and I did not even look at it.
I continued on my way and suddenly I was pulled over by a cop. I don't speed and I signaled with abundance of space for each lane change/ turn that I did. I could not imagine why this officer needed to pull me over but I thought maybe something was wrong with my car and I couldn't see it.
Imagine my surprise when he tells me I drove past him twice and he saw me using my cell phone. I explained that I did not and he could see my cell phone was in my bag and I only had sunglasses and a lip balm out of my bag at the time. He insisted on what he saw so I explained that at some point I did reach for my lip balm from my bag, but that was it. Only a lip balm, nothing else. I offered to show him my cell phone so he could see all my unchecked messages and the call log. He didn't even look at it and went to issue me a ticket.
I'm completely flabbergasted. I have never used my cell phone while driving so I cannot fathom why on earth he would think it okay to accuse me.
I have mailed in my ticket to request for trial (Newmarket Traffic Court) as I am obviously NOT guilty and won't be pleading as such either.
The only problem is that now, while I await my trail date, I am unclear of what I can do. Does anyone have a similar experience and is there anything I can do at this point?
Thank you in advance!