OHTA.ca

I was in a light collision with a police vehicle last November and will be having a trial by the end of the month. What happened was I was pulled over. I stopped and kept my right signal on. The cop car then tried to pull behind me when he was on my left but 2 cars pulled behind me. The cop wasn't too smart and instead of waiting for the two cars to pull away, he drove forward and boxed all the cars in. I was looking at the mirror wondering what he was doing and came to the conclusion that perhaps i need to move forward a few ft for the car behind me to pull out. I checked my left mirror and the cop car was still there. I then proceeded to release my brake and put my transmission to D. Once I released my brake and when the car rolled forward (I didn't even apply gas yet), he pulled in right to my left and our cars collided. The point of contact was his rear right passenger door and my front left bumper. No serious damage, only minor scratches that require light paint job. He came down the car and called me stupid and said that I was speeding. I was driving no faster than the car to my left.

In the end, a bunch of cops came over. The speeding charge was not mentioned and dropped. However I was given a ticket based on section 142(2) as per described in the title. I looked at the section and I find it interesting. It was safe for me to moved when I made that decision to move. Instead, why was I given 142(2) when in fact the cop changed lanes and hit my car? the cop should have been found at fault and be given a charge for unsafe lane change based one 153(1)

How can the cop claim that 142(2) bears more weight than 153(1)? If I was making a left, or right, and did not signal, subsequently hit somebody, I can see how this would apply to me. However, changing from parked position to D means that if any car hit me while I release my brake seems ridiculously silly. It is under my impression that unsafe lane change bears more weight since you are going into a lane that others have a higher "right of way".

Please advice on this situation and what sort of defenses could I use at the court. thanks

Your best bet is to request a trial date and disclosure. You should know what he's planning to claim in court. Also you need contact information for other witnesses to see if they'll back you up in court.

I have no witnesses. The two cars that were pulled behind me were not stopped by the cop who collided with me. He has no witnesses as well. A Sergent was called over first, then the accident investigation team was called over. So that's 4 cops vs 1 civilian. When he told me how he decided the fault, he said I hit the cop car from the back of his bumper, pushed it all to the side of the door. This is ridiculous as my car virtually did not move, and there was no dent anywhere, just scrapes on both our vehicles.

The investigator had a trainee with him. My charges is me vs them, I don't think the victim would should up.

Regardless, I filed for a disclosure today. I faxed them my disclosure request then went to the court and dropped off a hard copy. I was then asked to fill in "their" form. She was insistent so I said I'd take a copy and fax it over when I get back to my office. I asked her to keep my second copy and acknowledge that they received it regardless. She did that, stamped it, and she then noted on the disclosure request saying that I would be faxing them their form. I had no choice since I'd be questioned why didn't I fax it over should this be brought to the JP. So I faxed the form over, along with the photocopy of the disclosure that she gave me back.

Following is what I requested:

Aug 14, 2009

Provincial Prosecutors Office

York Civic Centre

2700 Eglinton Ave. West

Toronto, ON M6M 1V1

REQUEST FOR DISCLOSURE

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am schedule to appear in Court # W2 on the 28th day of August, 2009 at 10:30 am to answer the charges of UNSAFE START "HTA 142(2)" and FAIL TO NOTIFY CHANGE OF ADDRESS "HTR 34033(1)".

Please provide full disclosure of the case against me, with the following items typewritten where applicable:

1. Both sides of the officer's copy of the ticket;

2. Any statements the defendant had made to the police;

3. Any witnesses' statements;

4. Any document the Crown may rely on at trial;

5. Education and training record of the officer;

6. Procedures in accident reconstruction;

7. Officers success/failure record in reconstructing accident scene and the determination of fault;

8. Officers contact history/relationship with the 3rd part officer (victim);

9. Any repair history of the vehicle assigned to the 3rd party officer (victim)

a. PC Shaw #1247, Fleet #3381, license plate AVSA 807

Thank you for your assistance, and please send me all the information, type written, to the above address. Your promptness and timely disclosure is highly appreciated as the information is required for me to provide answer and defense to the charges.

Sincerely Yours,

______________________

Initially I wanted to file for a motion of change at the same time because they are very unlikely to be able to get the disclosure to me on time. I spoke to a clerk before that and she told me that I don't actually have to file it now because I can just request for an adjournment on the trial basing on the ground that I did not receive disclosure on time and that this is my first trial, this would put me at an unfair position. I'd request for adjournment on the trial date.

If the JP denies of my request, what should I do at that point?

If the JP denies your request, you have solid grounds for appeal. The JP should grant your request, but you never know. It's a purely political position. A retiring JP could recommend his favorite member of Tim Hortons counter staff and chances are that she would get the job. The training that they receive is laughable.

1) Never put your car in gear while stopped by an officer, unless you are cleared to do so.

2) Driving no faster than the speeding SUV next to you still means you were speeding.

So three cars were in the right-hand lane, with you in front. Cruiser was in the lane one over to the left (next to either of the cars behind you?). If so, I'm guessing that he was motioning for one or both of the cars behind you that he intended to pull them over as well, and was about to pull up in front of all three cars at the same time that you rolled forward. The cars behind you not signalling to the right is no indication that they were not pulling over. You claim to have moved three feet at most, but that certainly would make the difference, given that it was a light scrape starting at his rear passenger door. You failed to indicate left before moving from a parked position, and that's covered under 142(2).

You seem sure that the officer did not believe you were trying to run and did not pull up to box you in, so I won't go there.

He wasn't trying to stop me. When he got off the car, he was "surprised" as well. I wasn't trying to make a left or leave the lane, why do I need to signal left? If you put your car to park at a red light while waiting for the light to turn green, do you signal left/right when you are going to move forward? despite at at "parked position"? If he was trying to stop me, he would have restrained me, or give me a ticket for failing to obey an officer. This did not happen, and neither did I get a ticket for "speeding".

At a stoplight, no signal is required when proceeding directly forwards. When you are parked at the side of the road, you are considered to "turn" into the rightmost lane when you begin to move. Thus you must signal left when moving from a parked position. Try to pass a driving test without doing so - it won't happen.