Criminal record: Michael Thompson, seen here outside Grimsby Magistrates’ Court, believed he was doing his ‘civic duty’ by alerting drivers on the opposite side of a dual carriageway

A driver has been convicted of a criminal offence for flashing his headlights at oncoming motorists to warn them of a police speed trap ahead.

Michael Thompson, 64, believed he was doing his ‘civic duty’ by alerting drivers on the opposite side of a dual carriageway.

When stopped by a police officer Thompson disagreed with the suggestion that he was ‘perverting the course of justice’ and was then allegedly told: ’I was going to let you off with a caution – but I’m not now.’

Thompson denied wilfully obstructing a policewoman in the execution of her duty on July 21 last year, but was convicted after a trial at Grimsby Magistrates’ Court.

He ended up £440 out of pocket after being fined £175, ordered to pay £250 costs and a £15 victims’ surcharge.

Thompson of Grimsby, north-east Lincolnshire, told the court he was warning motorists for safety reasons.

He said he had been involved in an accident a year ago when two drivers in front of him braked sharply after seeing a speed trap and although he braked in time another motorist crashed into the back of his vehicle.

‘It is not an offence to warn people of a possible speed trap because of the danger involved with vehicles braking quite hard,’ he claimed.

‘It’s a civic duty to warn people. I flashed my lights. I had a very good reason to warn oncoming motorists, in my opinion. My first thought was:”This may cause an accident.”

‘I tried to warn vehicles that there was a speed trap. Because I challenged the officer he would not let me off with a warning.’

Thompson was pulled up as he headed out of Grimsby on the A46 at 10am. He claimed the officer involved was a ‘Rambo character’ who was acting like ‘Judge Dredd’ in using the law unnecessarily. The officer pictured here is using a speed gun on the A130 in Essex

The stretch of road outside of Grimsby where Thompson was pulled over. He denied willfully obstructing a policewoman in the execution of her duty on July 21 last year, but was convicted after a trial and ended up £440 out of pocket.

For those of you who have been following my recent arrest and citations in Lakeway, Texas:

I have been found NOT-Guilty on all charges.

I am still not at liberty to discuss much more on this site (per my lawyer) until civil matters have been resolved, and I have suspended all posts related to Lakeway. However, for those of you who have been communicating with me directly, or who are past supporters, feel free to email me. I’ll fill you in on what I can.

Yep! I was arrested.

A little background for those of you who don’t know the recent history of SpeedTrapAhead.org.

As well as running a website that post articles of interest regarding traffic laws, tickets, legal decisions, driving safety, activism, state laws, etc., I also, from time to time, will stand on the side of a road, wearing my “SpeedTrapAhead.org” T-shirt, near where police are running a radar enforced speed zone. (I used to hold a sign, instead; but, that proved to be tricky with state sign laws.)

While doing the sign/shirt thing, I have been approached many times, by officers from several different jurisdictions (three times in Lakeway alone). None of them ever took it further than a quick comment or short discussion about what I was doing. They were actually quite friendly. NONE of them even asked me for I.D.

That is, until Lakeway Sr. Sgt. James DeBrow came around. A little over a year ago, I had an encounter with him. (search “James DeBrow” on this site for more info on that.) But, THAT is old news, and I’ve moved on from that experience.

Fast forward to last week. My truck, with a “SpeedTrapAhead.org” window decal was parked off of a main road in Lakeway, TX. It was parked in an area where construction vehicles and construction employees are parked during some road construction in the area. My truck was parked parallel to the road, behind a silt fence, about 6 feet from the sidewalk, and ~12 feet from the curb. My video camera was on a short tripod, sitting on the edge of the sidewalk, filming traffic going by in a school zone.

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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.

FORSYTH, Ga. — A Moultrie man has been forced to pay a $280 speeding ticket to Monroe County despite the fact that he was rushing his son to Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta for a life-saving kidney transplant.

Felton McCant Jr., 59, of Moultrie said he got a call from doctors on May 12 saying that a kidney had become available for his son. Time was of the essence because McCant was called only after the initial recipient was found to be too weak for surgery, said Dr. John Whelchel, head of transplantation at Piedmont Hospital. If the McCants could get to Atlanta quickly, the medical staff said, the kidney would be his.

McCant’s son, Felton McCant III, had been on the waiting list for a kidney after suffering a stroke, having his kidneys shut down and being partly paralyzed on his left side. So father McCant, who’s a veteran truck driver, called his local sheriff’s office in Colquitt County and asked what to do. They told him to turn on his headlights and hazard lights and if he was pulled over, to tell the officer what he was doing and he would have no problem. (That makes extraordinarily perfect sense!) With his ailing son in the back seat of their Cadillac Deville, McCant drove north from Moultrie up I-75.

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