OHTA.ca

Hello,

I'm actually asking this for my brother who called me after he was pulled over for no apparent reason which was very strange in the first place. The cop asked him if he new what he was doing and my brother said no, and the cop said you're supposed to pull over when he has his lights flashing, which he obviously did or they wouldn't have been having that conversation. He was driving on a four lane divided highway with very little traffic and the cop could have simply gone around him. I don't know how long he was following my brother, but if he was trying to get by, he could have put on his siren for a sec, no? Ok, that was weird, then he asked my brother for his driver's license etc...well, my mild-mannered brother who isn't used to being pulled over in the first place was very rattled and couldn't find his insurance in the glove box right away. I guess he figured the cop wouldn't wait, so he gave up looking, when the cop came back with a ticket fining him for not having his insurance...then while the cop was still there, he found his insurance, but the cop wouldn't take it and said he would ticket him again if he didn't get back to his car.

What should he do?

It doesn't seem at all fair to first be pulled over for nothing, then be fined for just not being able to find his insurance fast enough.

Thanks,

Arlette

In Ontario police are allowed to pull you over to ensure that the driver is licensed, and that the vehicle is roadworthy and insured.

You brother was fined for not being able to produce proof of insurance upon demand of the officer. Upon failure to produce proof of insurance the officer can write you a ticket. Even if you present it a moment later you would have still committed the offence.

Sometimes these charges are dropped by a sympathetic prosecutor... it doesn't hurt to try.

He should plead NOT GUILTY to all charges and request Trial with Officer present.

Once he gets notice of trial, he can contact prosecutor for discussion about the charges and see if they will offer plea deal and possibly drop insurance one.

If he does not like the outcome of this, then he should request disclosure and proceed to trial.

Once he gets disclosure post it here so we can take a look at it.

Can you post copy of original tickets (with personal info blacked out) so we can look for fatal errors?