UNBELIEVABLE COP (YOU MUST READ THIS)

[Purple Dog]

I unfortunately dropped my bike this past Saturday when the car in front of me made a sudden stop and then turned. I hit the brakes hard so not to run into him and I went down. It was my Vrod not the chopper. The vrod had crash bars, so I ended up with 2 broken ribs, 1 broken ankle, road rash and cosmetic damage to the HD. I was going about 20-25 MPH (under limit). My son was behind me in the car as we were taking the bike to HD for service. So get this, I lay in the road, the paramedics get me up and my son moves the bike to a parking lot near by. When the cop arrives, he immediately goes over to my bike and picks up my helmet. Meantime, I am sitting about 30 feet away with the paramedics asking me what day it is and all that stuff they do so well. I see the cop at my bike, so I walk over and ask him if there is anything wrong. He looks at my helmet and says this is not DOT approved. He points to the DOT sticker on the back and says you put this there! I said I did not; it is a $200 carbon fiber helmet that has DOT approval. He then asked me “how long have you been riding?” I told him 47 years since I was 12! In fact, the paramedics could not believe that he was holding me up while they wanted to bandage me up. The cop never said “are you hurt?” or “are you OK”. The paramedics even said what is with this guy? My son was following me and the cop never asked if there were any witnesses. I walked over to the ambulance and got patched up. I returned to the bike, the cop is there and asks me for my license and registration. For the next 40-45 minutes he is doing the various checks. My son asks why we are being detained, he won’t answer, tells us to wait over by the bike. Finally, he calls me over to his SUV to ask me about the VIN number. He then tells me and my son to go and wait back at the bike. He walks out after another 15 minutes and hands me a ticket for “failure to control my vehicle”. Says I need to come to court on August 21st. I was dump founded. I did not hit the car in front of me, I did not end up in the other lane, I did not destroy any property other than mine. In fact, I feel I did control the bike by not hitting the other vehicle. I was so shocked, I asked him, if I were sitting in the road and a bee stung me and I dropped my bike, would I get a ticket? He said I’m not going to get into that. See you in court.

My next step is to call the Sheriff of Loudon County Virginia and tell him about this situation and then do the same with the judge. I am hoping that they are professionals who would like to hear about this.

I am convinced this cop was set on giving me a ticket for something. I should have let him give me a ticket for the helmet since I can prove the DOT stamp. BTW, when we left he was waiting down the road to watch us go by!!!! This has me furious, it help the healing process. If anyone has suggestions, please let me know. Thanks. Poll - SHOULD I FIGHT THIS???? :angry:

 

[TSDAWG]

Of course you fight it! It's too bad that this cop's old lady won't let him buy a bike.....and he takes it out on all those who DO have a bike. Take your helmet receipt with you for him to wipe his poor resentful ass.

 

[rwill20]

I say yes,I never cease to get amazed with some of the so called officers of the law these days.Can't help but think the judge will make it right.:angry:

 

[PROFLYER]

Fuck him, call and reschedule the court date a week before and hope he can't make it or they don't tell him (tell them you have to get a checkup due to injuries related to the accident). Then show up and have your son tell this same story, demand he be reprimanded for his actions, he put your life in danger by not letting you get the medical attention the paramedics were trying to give you. Be sure to look the judge and the DA in the eye and make sure they understand you won't let this go...then call the news.

 

[Fibersnake]

Oh hell yes go to court and fight it. Worse case is you loose and pay a fine, best case is you get it dismissed and the judge makes not of the officer actions and possibly pull them aside and say WTF. Not done too often, but I have seen a judge give a cop the up and down once in court for writing someone a ticket for Driving Under The Influence, when in fact the driver never left the parking lot and just went to sleep in the truck and was only woken up by the cop beating on the door.

Take you reciept and any testing or ceritication info for the helmet if they allow that to be brought in court along with any data on all long you endorsement as been on the license. You may also want to get the info on the responding medical crew and ask for the to be ordered to testified about actions of cop while they were trying to attend to your injuries.

All that said, I will say that my neighbor had a similar situation a few years ago and dump his trying to avoid a car in front that made sudden stop and turn. He would have been good and never got a ticket since the only damage was to him and his bike, but dumb ass got smart with the cop and cop gave him same ticket "Failure to Control" and he ended up having to pay the fine in court. In that case, the cop was actually pretty cool, but dumb ass friend just kept going on with cop about it was the driver in fronts fault and why wasn't he doing something about that.

 

[KDF]

Fuck him, call and reschedule the court date a week before and hope he can't make it or they don't tell him (tell them you have to get a checkup due to injuries related to the accident). Then show up and have your son tell this same story, demand he be reprimanded for his actions, he put your life in danger by not letting you get the medical attention the paramedics were trying to give you. Be sure to look the judge and the DA in the eye and make sure they understand you won't let this go...then call the news.

Now that is good advice... Glad you are OK.

 

[LARS]

It dosen't toke an hour to fill out an accident report,oops I wrote toke,or did he even fill one out,he was called there to investigate an accident wasen't he??If he did any investigating he would have run into your son and put him as a witness on the report,Toolbags like him give a bad name,F'n fight it,

 

[Purple Dog]

I was so pissed about this I couldn't see straight. I believe I am still going to call the head sheriff and tell him. This cop was a pain dick. He is the kind that someone with screw loose might shoot his ass and kick him in a ditch. What a way to serve the public.

 

[Tim]

I would go to court over that for sure. Present yourself in a firm but professional manner and I think you would be golden. You are also allowed to question the officer in court and I would ask for his reasoning for the ticket he gave you since he was not there to witness anything.

Also, I would look into filing a complaint against the officer with his department before the court date.

To bad he didn't give you a ticket for the helmet, you really could made an ass out of him with ease.

Glad you are relatively ok and that you will be back to 100%. It could have been worse.

 

[ROCKETDOG]

You definitely need to report this to the internal affairs division of that agency. The cop is required to conduct a 'proper' investigation of the accident - as it were. Believe it or not - a court many times does not weigh the cops lack of concern for ..YOU! However, in this instance it seems clear that a proper investigation was not conducted and certainly YOU and your well being were not his first concern. THAT is a matter best handled by the agency. If you do this in a professional manner - and you have support for your story (son and Paramedics - names are available in their documentation) the agency should take this quite seriously....depending on the agency of course. Now, paying an attorney will only be worth it if you are looking at something serious like losing your license, etc. Otherwise, simply stating the facts in court in a professional manner is the best bet. Believe it or not...if you are following a vehicle - it is your responsibility to control your vehicle no matter what the idiot in front of you does. For example, some jackass stops for no apparent reason and you plow into the back of him....he's an ass, but YOU are at fault. That is the way this case will be viewed in court no matter how you present it in my opinion...but hell, it's worth a shot!

Good luck brother - and hope the recovery goes well.

 

[bushman]

fight the S.O.B.

 

[MaleficVTwin]

Glad to hear your not busted up too badly and..................


Hell yes you should fight it!!

Similar situation happened to me about 4 years ago. I dropped my bike due to road debris and got a "failure to control" ticket, as well as a ration of shit for my helmet, which was DOT legal as well. Same deal, paramedics making sure I'm OK(collar bone and some road rash) while Johnny Law is looking for revenue. No offense intended for cops reading this board, I know some good ones, but the bad ones like this cast a bad light on the entire profession.:angry:

 

[MaleficVTwin]

Can't help but think the judge will make it right.:angry:

I got lucky with that one, my judge rode.

Changed to a non-moving and reduced the fine. Could have been better, but I avoided any points that way.

 

[chacha]

Purple --

Do not call the Sheriff -- Simpson is an idiot and really dosen't care if he has an jerk on the force. Take this up in court and like the others have said, bring your son and ask for the paras to come if you have a way to get ahold of them.

Loudoun County is not known as a "civilian friendly" force and the word is that that courts are aware of this.

You really do want the cop there to "explain" his actions to the Judge in court. Recommend sticking to;

1) The idiot in front of you took an action that FORCED you to brake to avoid an accident,
2) The action of the other driver resulted in dumping the bike,
3) The Loudoun County Officer's negligence at the scene resulted in you being delayed in getting required medical attention.

Yea, this is a fucked up deal -- work the court to your advantage.

Sorry, most cops are OK, but any asshole tends to stand out.

 

[onaprwl]

Sounds to me like someone that own's a motorcycle probally stole his wife, or better than that, probally had a affair with her. To much like he's trying to settle a score!

 

[toomanybikes]

I personally have never had any problems with the Loudoun Sheriff's department in the 27 years living in the county and riding here for 21. A lot of my neighbors have received BS tickets from the deputies. One was ticketed for ahving a remote radar detector in his car, even though it was disconnected.

Simpson was the best of the candidates for Sheriff in the last election, but after signing a document that if he did not receive the Republican nomination he would support the Republican candidate he turned around and ran as an Independent.

The deputy must have mistaken the V-Rod for a crotch rocket. Wonder what speed he put down on the accident report and how he calculated the speed.

 

[johnnypoppa]

Never take a knife to a gun fight.

You were simply charged with failure to maintain control. If the D.A. is in with the judge they could say you should have been at a safe distance where you could have stopped or changed lanes. I would Never go in without an attorney. The cop sounds like a bad actor and his day is comming... Good Luck Brother! - Please Follow Up And Let Us Know Your Okay.:2thumbs:

 

[surferdude]

The cop was way out of line when he was more or only concern about your helmet and not you!!!! AW!!!!! When you know you are right ... fight it ... I had an accident Dec 04, 2007 in my car ... cop did not want to listen to any facts ... had to go to court ... but I did my homework ... satalite photos of where the accident happened (map quest), name and phone# of witnesses, photos of the sun in the other driver's direction. Photos of my car, the other person's car (so she couldn't take a sledge hammer to it and say I did it). Judge ruled that I was not at fault ... but !!!!! I'm still fighting the other driver's insurance to fix my car!!!!! Could of been worst for you ... my friend a few months ago had the same thing happen to him but he was not so lucky. Miss riding with him ... miss going to Dennys for breakfast with him ... count your blessings ...:flag: :up:

 

[wibsdogg]

:angry: Absofuckinlutely:angry: ------I agree with everybody. Go to court and make an ass out of this guy....Glad you are ok:2thumbs: . But I'd pay a lawyer before i paid that ticket.:argue: Fight It :argue:

 

[chitown]

i would get a lawyer . and sue for pain and suffering .just filing such a case should but him in some hot water. you should have a good case with all of your injuries .
you got a lot of great ideas from other members .i would do just about all of them,with your lawyer doing the talking. trust me they will take it far more for real if done so.good luck .