OHTA.ca

Hey everyone!

So today I got a ticket for Disobeying Stop Sign - Fail to Stop on my way to work. I've never gotten tickets before so this is frustrating me. The officer pulled me over after I drove through a 4-way stop sign intersection in Mississauga, claiming I never stopped and drove right through. My issue is that I did slow down and stop (and I have dashcam footage) however he was adamant that I did not. Also from where he was hiding out, I find it hard to believe he could have seen me "not stop". I will post a link to the dashcam footage I have in this post. I have also emailed the Police Division from where the officer is from to ask if its possible to request the dashcam footage of the officer, as this would help to show his POV. Please do advise if you guys think I have a shot at winning this in trial, as that is what I'm leaning towards and any advice is welcome!!

**In the footage that I've uploaded to YouTube, the officers cruiser is hiding out on the far left side of the intersection. I've uploaded a diagram to attempt to clarify this. My concern is that at one point there are two vehicles impeding the officers view of my vehicle (1:41 of video), and as such, how can he justly claim that he clearly saw my vehicle not stop and drive straight through the intersection?**

Feel free to fast forward to the 1:27 mark

Thanks guys!!

I watched the video and in my opinion it looks like you slowed down and almost stopped but then continued thru.

If the officer testifies you did not stop and you tried to use that video, I think it would not help and would help the officers case.

There may or may not be video from the officers car. You would request that for disclosure.

Plead Not Guilty and request a trial with the officer present. Once you get your notice of trial with the trial date, then you can request disclsoure (copy of officers notes and dashcam video if there is any).

I'd take this to trial. On the YouTube video you can slow it down to .25 and re-watch. For a fraction of a second he does appear to have stopped and that is all the law requires.

I would advise not showing a video of running 3 stop signs.

but I agree with above post.

if you are going to show the video in court, you need to copy the video onto a cheap usb stick and then bring a laptop along to play it on.

if you put the video directly on the laptop, they may want to keep your laptop as evidence, so it's important to put the video on a usb stick so you can leave the usb stick and take your laptop back home with you.

Wow. What a chicken *EDIT* charge. It's stuff like this that turns people against the police. Did you stop completely ? I don't think so but near as dammit.

Thanks so much for the advice and help guys!! I'm new to this but I've been hearing about this full disclosure thing in which I request items like notes and dash cam video that the officer had taken, how do I go about doing this? I went this morning to request a trial and gave them my notice. Thanks so much once again for all of the help guys!

Wait until you get your Notice of Trial in the mail with your trial date on it.

Then you send a letter to the prosecutor requesting everything you want to get, something like this:

I would like disclosure of the following items:

- Copy of notes of all officers involved.

- Typed copy of any hand written notes that are hard to read.

- List of any shortforms used in the notes and their meanings.

- Copy of any video/audio that is available from dashcam of vehicle or officers personal body camera.

Fantastic! Is there some sort of template I should follow? And does it have to be mailed or can I drop it off to the courthouse? Sorry for all the questions, I'm a newb when it comes to this lol

There is really no special way you have to do it. You could just copy and paste what I wrote above.

You can also Google the following for more information:

ontario disclosure template

My preferred method of delivery is FAX because you can print off the FAX SENT OK report as proof you sent it. Mailing works, but gets expensive if you want to send it registered mail as proof you sent it. You can go to court house and drop it off in person as well. Take three copies, one for Clerk of Court, one for Prosecutor and one for yourself to get stamped.

Awesome, thanks so much! The Courthouse I had to go to is in Mississauga on Burnamthorpe Road. How do I know if the prosecutors office is there since that is where I have to submit the disclosure request. I am going to deliver the notice in person.

Google it.

Hey guys, just an update here. I emailed Peel Region as soon as this happened inquiring about if they use dash cams on their vehicles and I just received a response stating that in Peel Region there are no dash cams on cruisers. Is this actually the case? I'm a bit surprised as I was hoping for this to be a large part of my case.

The full response from Peel Police:

"Unfortunately we do not use dash mounted cameras in Peel Region. If you were stopped in another region that uses them you would have to contact them.

The process for obtaining information is relatively the same in all jurisdictions though. If you want information obtained by an officer you would typically make a ‘freedom of information request through the records department."

Thanks!!

Some police have cameras and some do not.

Yes freedom of information requests are possible, but if it relates to a charge then you ask for it in disclosure instead.