This is just plain funny!  –  A man who had been pulled over and ticketed by police ran backward up and onto a Buffalo Grove squad car, apparently in his haste to drive off.

Henry Raskin, 70, of Niles had been pulled over by a Buffalo Grove (Illinois) officer on the 400 block of Dundee Road around 11:30 a.m. Friday for driving 58 mph in a 35 mph zone, Sgt. Scott Kristiansen said. The officer wrote the ticket and returned to the car, and Raskin got ready to drive away. Except he went flying backward.

“(He) apparently was going to pull away at a high rate of speed, but the only problem was that he was in reverse,” Kristiansen said. He said Raskin was not happy about getting a ticket. He said police are reviewing the squad car videotape to see what Raskin might also be charged with.

Raskin was taken to Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights as a precaution. Kristiansen said police don’t believe Raskin has any medical conditions that could have led to the crash. Raskin’s age also didn’t seem to play a factor, he said. The officer, a 20-year veteran of the Buffalo Grove department, was not injured, but his car will be out of service for a while. “He ended up with the left rear wheel of the car coming through his windshield, about 6 inches from his face,” Kristiansen said. “Luckily, he was not injured.” The squad car suffered significant damage to the front end, including the windshield and the hood.

Kristiansen said the police investigation so far shows the officer initiated the traffic stop properly. He said officers are trained to treat every stop as if it isn’t a routine procedure so that they are aware when unexpected circumstances like this one take place. “The officer stopped the car properly and positioned himself properly,” he said.

The traffic ticket industry relies on people not having enough time to fight their tickets. Going to court, often multiple times, can be a burden on even the most motivated ticket fighters.

Because of the amount of time a traffic ticket case requires, we’re often asked if there is any way to fight a traffic ticket without the hassle of driving to the courthouse. The good news is that in certain states, through something called “trial by declaration” or “trial by affidavit,” it’s possible. The bad news is that those states are in the minority.

Trial by declaration allows a defendant to state their case in writing, send it to the judge, and have the judge make a decision based on the facts presented in the letter.

Although this may sound appealing, there are few things to consider before fighting a traffic ticket in this way:

1. 1. When you fight your traffic ticket using trial by declaration, you give up the right to directly ask the officer questions.
   2. Any chance of dismissal due to the absence of the ticketing officer disappears.
   3. Because you’re not there in person it becomes much easier for the judge to find you guilty — all it takes is a rubber stamp.
   4. In some states you give up your right to a regular trial when opting for trial by declaration.
   5. As mentioned previously, it’s not available in the vast majority of states.

States where trial by declaration is not allowed include:

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RENO, NV – It seems kind of unusual. A local man caught for speeding is sent to jail. Police claim he committed a crime, but he says it was all a misunderstanding.

38-year-old father and business owner, Anthony Buck is not your typical criminal. “I don’t speed very often. My brother always calls me the old lady, you know, ’cause I don’t go very fast,” said Buck. But on Monday, Buck was driving 40 miles per hour down Dixon Lane in South Reno. It’s a 25 miles per hour zone and he admit that he was speeding. But when he got pulled over, he says he gave the officers his license and registration, but couldn’t find his insurance card.

“My kids, one of their little chores to clean out my car and they put stuff everywhere. I know I had it and I said ‘can I have a minute to look for my insurance?” Buck says the officer then wrote him a ticket for not having insurance, which he refused to sign, because he thought that meant he was admitting guilt. He says that’s when the officer arrested him. “He spread my legs, handcuffed me, put me on the curb,” said Buck. Sent to jail, over a speeding ticket. Police say it’s extremely rare, but unfortunately, Buck technically, did break the law.

“In the state of Nevada, traffic charges are misdemeanor offenses, so whereas in California, you might have an infraction that isn’t arrest worthy, in the state of Nevada, they are misdemeanors or crimes,” said Lieutenant Dave Evans with the Reno Police Department Traffic Division. Police say under Reno city code, you must have proof of insurance with you in the car at all times…and if you get pulled over, by law, you must sign the ticket. “The ticket itself is just merely a summons. It’s not an admission of guilt. It’s just saying you promise to appear in court,” explained Evans.

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The City of Toronto moved today to clear up a backlog of more than a quarter-million parking tickets. But if you think the move will net the cash-starved city any additional revenue, guess again.

For the past couple of years, it’s been easy to make parking tickets disappear. A while ago I got an evil yellow flapper under my windshield wiper. I schelpped down to Metro Hall, 55 John Street, and asked for a court date. The attendant said, “you may or may not hear from us.” I haven’t heard from them.

In the past two years motorists have filed 250,000 requests to contest such $30 parking tickets, but only 4,300 have received trial dates. Today I looked up Barry Randell, Toronto’s Director of Court Services, at his office on University Avenue to find out what was going on.
Toronto’s 24 courtrooms — eight at Old City Hall, nine at 1530 Markham Road, and seven at 2700 Eglinton Avenue W., simply don’t have room to process those trials, Mr. Randell said.

“When you’re in the emergency department and you have a broken arm, you will get priority over someone with a sprained ankle,” he explained.

Even those with more serious offences (the ones that actually make it to trial) are benefiting from the court backlog. Today I popped into a traffic court on the third floor at Old City Hall and watched the Justice of the Peace, his worship Angelo Cremisio, withdraw or stay case upon case. In several cases the police officer who laid the charge has since resigned; in others, the judge accepted a Charter of Rights argument of “unreasonable delay” between the charge and the court date. He deemed 13 months’ wait unreasonable.

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Police in Scottsdale, Arizona arrest a man for videotaping activists protesting a photo radar van.

Police in Scottsdale, Arizona arrested a man late Wednesday claiming he “obstructed” a photo radar van. Jason Shelton, 35, had been videotaping a pair of anti-camera activists at 6800 E. Shea Boulevard before being taken into custody. (This guy wasn’t even participating in the actual protest — He was only filming the protesters!!) The protesters held signs calling the speed camera program a rip-off and advertising the group CameraFraud.com in an impromptu demonstration. Shelton intended to post his video on Freedom’s Phoenix, an Arizona-based political opinion and news website. Enraged local officials did what they could to ensure that would not happen.

“The City of Scottsdale, including the police department, respects and protects an individual’s right to stage and/or participate in a lawful demonstration,” Scottsdale Police said in a statement. “However, behavior such as the intentional obstruction of a contracted photo enforcement van’s operation is not lawful and subject to enforcement action.”

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