I live in Annandale VA. I was driving home around 1:00am on 7/3/06. I was driving on the right lane on I 495 I was about to get of on the Little River Turnpike Annandale exit. Right before the exit there was a cop with his lights on. He was walking back to his car. I inched to the left of the lane. He started to wave at me with his flash light.
He got in his patrol car and pulled me over by the exit ramp. The cop gave me a breathalizer which I had no problem and passed. He returned from his vehicle and said that I almost hit him with my car and that he had to jump on top of his hood. This is BS. Then he gave me a VA Uniform Summons. I have to go to court on Aug 30th. I am charged with Failure to change lanes for stationary emergency vehicle.
Is this some BS? I am 24 years old, I drive a Z. The cop was being a *******. What should I expect the outcome to be? Any advise on how to beat this crap? I have read here that the court date can be changed and the cop mite not show up.How much of a fine? Thanks for any help guys.

 

I think your screwed. It doesn't matter if you almost hit him or not, you are supposed to move over.

 

Sadly, judges will always believe cops over anyone else. Especially if he plays the "life was in danger" card, then the judge will not listen to a thing.

There are lots of sick, crooked cops out there and only a few pretty cool ones.

Good luck man. If you want to chat with my lawyer, PM me. The consultation is free.

 

Tough break. May want to call in question if he had a dash mounted camera showing him "supposedly" jump on his hood.

 

I will keep this in mind.

 

Reason that I did not move over was because My exit was coming up.

 

It is apparent that you pissed-off the cop, and the judge is not going to be too happy with this one. Hire an attorney.

 

Contact your local news station, see if they'll run a story about it. Chances are, if the cop is just a dick there will be other people willing to speak up over some past injustices.

 

Nothing wrong with that. I say do this.

 

I will wait about a wek. I'll talk to an attorney and see what he thinks. After the week I mite just have to call the news.

 

Does anybody know what the fine is?

 

wait..so there is a law that says you got to move to another lane if there is a disabled car on the shoulder?

 

That really sucks. Sounds like something I might expect from the Va Beach police. No idea on the fine though. There may be a phone number on the back of the ticket that you can call that will tell you how much the fine is. Of course, there isn't really going to be a "set amount" being that you have to go to court. It's pretty much going to be whatever the judge feels like making you pay.

 

In some states yes. There are signed that say "State law requires drivers yield to emergency vehicles" or something like that. I am for it. Lane dicsepline (i know I mispelled that!) is a good thing, like in NJ trucks are forbidden in the left lane. Depends on state and sometimes county. Fairfax Cty seems to be pretty damn strict.

 

I don't know about a disabled car, but the law is that you have to move over to the next lane if an emergencey vehicle is on the shoulder OR you slow down to 20 mph under the speed limit.

I think the OP should have slowed down a LOT to make sure the cop wouldn't be a b1tch about it. You are supposed to slow down when an emergency vehicle is on the shoulder AND when you're getting off on the exit. So you should've been going at like 20 mph gettin off the exit.

Try to get the footage from the cop car, but I doubt you'll be able to.

 

What a load of ****. The more bull**** i hear about this place makes me want to park my cars and walk everywhere. Good luck and get a lawyer!

 

I have no idea. I hope somebody can answer this for me.

 

I just did.. in my above post.

 

MAKE sure you ask to see the video with him jumping on his hood because of you.

 

PM me if you want my lawyer. Hes in Manassas but works a large area. Hes a bit pricy but damn good. Not to mention, he is well known to defend Z guys. Not that he has one, just that im in court every month for the same thing. Eventually they will ge tired of hearing it and leave us alone. Until then, sorry, but VA is the ****hole of american justice.