Seized My Plates, In My Driveway.
We've had some history with the police in my town..
http://orilliapacket.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2158203We have a steady police presence of 5 - 10 officers in the town at any given time.
Long story short I exercised my right to not talk to the police (I watch them beat the *EDIT* outta my brother and a good friend on saturday) and now they are out to get me. I had a officer pull in my driveway, a good 3 minutes after I was driving around and I had 3 other marked cars pull alongside my house.
He told me he needed to test the reliability of my vehicle and that I needed to show him proof of insurance/ownership. I explained to him that he had no right to demand such and that he should leave my property immediately unless he could provide me with a warrant or such. I told him I know of line-of-sight and you can't see my car unless your in my driveway therefor he had no proof that I was driving around anyways. He made up on the spot that I was "squeeling" my tires down the road. I saw the 5 cops sitting all around the village i'm not a idiot, I wouldn't and did not do that. I called him out on his lie and he told me "hes the officer and what he says happened, happened" Its not like he followed me home. He explained to me that I would be arrested and my car would be towed if I did not do exactly as he said. My father was standing there for the whole encounter.
I already went inside and put my jacket (which has my insurance and ownership in it because I was swapping cars later that day with my dad) in my kitchen, I explained to him that I could go inside and get my paperwork.. He told me to stay put and that it was OK.
He checks my tire-pressure and it was low apparently, I had a air compressor in my backseat and my wintertires sitting beside my car (I was supposed to get them installed in a few days).
He told me he wanted to see if there were any holes in the floorboard and I told him he wasn't going anywhere near the inside of my car without a warrant and I called my moms friend who is a corporate lawyer and she told me not to say another word to him, block him in if we could and she would be there in 5 minutes.
Unfortunatly I told him this, and he litterly ran back to his car.. Printed me off a ticket for the following.
- Failure to provide proof of insurance
- Failure to provide proof of ownership
- Unsafe Vehicle - low tire pressure was the only thing wrong
- Unnecessary noise
He removed my plates and drove off.
What method of recourse do I have? He told me later that day when me and another person approached him on the road (I had to miss work) that I should fight it and he doesn't care if I win. He said he gets bonus pay for it anyways.
I mean, what can I do? Wait until my court date on January 6th? I don't have much money, all the money I do have goes towards rent/food.. I can't afford to do much. They know this.
Any advice would be appreciated, again I have no idea what to do. I feel like i've done nothing wrong besides neglecting to keep my tire pumped fully. (may I add I couldn't even tell it was low by looking at it).
