My daughter was arrested

[Horse with no Name]

Had a traffic ticket that she paid 2 years ago, for some reason it wasn't taken out of the system.
She had gone to a club and for some reason that we can't determine, the police were on private property running ID's.
The funny thing is, that the one police officer didn't want to take her in because it showed that it was paid but for some reason there was still an active warrant.
She was taken to city jail at 2 am where she was transported to county jail in shackles at 7 and then went before the judge at 11 who demanded she be released right then. After seeing the judge, she was processed out of jail in 10 minutes.
That's the inequity of the justice system in a nutshell.
The "have's" go home to sleep in their own beds while "their people" work out the details. The "have nots" go straight to jail until someone realizes that a mistake was made.

[soothsayer]

1. Same thing happened to me! Handcuffs and all. Bizarre waste

of police time.

[iamthebandfanman]

88. umm

dont you guys have some sorta of legal recourse?

i dunno much about law but
isnt that called false arrest or false imprisonment?

[Downtown Hound]

2. That sucks

I've always though it was bullshit that they need to shackle everybody in transport even if it's just a little traffic offense, especially when they already knew it was a mistake. God bless the prison state.

[malaise]

3. Sue them

she paid her fine.

[BlueIris]

46. Yep. And how.

[ChiciB1]

52. I Agree With You Here... To Sue Is VERY Complicated... Even Many People

who were falsely imprisoned for many many years and then found to be "not guilty" don't get very far!

Mostly it's OOPs and every once in a while they "might" say they're sorry! One thing you SHOULD do is MAKE sure any record is removed and NOW! They screw up on a REGULAR basis!

[BlueIris]

56. Um, I think she SHOULD SUE.

[slackmaster]

51. She probably can't

Public officials and police who can make the most shallow claim to "acting in good faith" are generally protected against lawsuits.

[MidwestTransplant]

4. Aren't cops supposed to have some discretion. I would expect this from TSA, not cops.

[Horse with no Name]

7. They do.

There were two cops involved. One didn't want to take her in because on the computer screen it clearly showed that it was paid. His partner was senior to him and insisted on taking her in.
She said that the one did treat her very kindly--gave her a Dr. Pepper and some Advil.
Also stacked up three mattresses for her. He felt bad that they had to take her in but he was outranked.
The Judge said it was an outrage that she was arrested. That wasn't much consolation though.

[villager]

9. Sue for false arrest! I'm serious. ("Series?") Make that senior cop account for his actions...

n/t

[Horse with no Name]

11. I don't know what we are going to do yet

But here I sit watching Paris Hilton and her multitude of probation violations sitting at home while my daughter sat in jail unnecessarily. It infuriates me.

[Downtown Hound]

14. After reading all these posts, I'd say that senior cop sounds like a real

asshole. I think you should sue also. Make it difficult for them to keep doing this kind of shit to law abiding people. One of the reason they keep getting away with it is because people don't fight back.

[villager]

17. at a minimum, you need to file a complaint with the dept...

n/t

[CrispyQ]

60. This deserves a heated LTTE at the very least!! --nt

[Th1onein]

76. Sue and then picket in front of the cop shop.

At least if she loses her suit, she will make them look like the assholes they are.

[gatorboy]

5. They had an arrest warrant out for my wife because of late library books.

Late. Library. Books.

[treestar]

12. I was sitting in a justice of the peace type court once and saw people

coming before the court on charges of keeping videotapes late.

Another court was charging some kids with "being in the park after dark."

Like the live version of "People's Court."

[Horse with no Name]

13. You've got to be kidding?

I thought that law enforcement didn't intervene in civil matters?
Oh wait, 911 changed everything.:eyes:

[RB TexLa]

54. Theft is a criminal matter. It's up to the video store (and I guess whoever runs the library) as to

if they turn it over to the police in a criminal complaint. I know a family that runs a video rental store and they don't have the resources within their profit margin to go after every person who keeps rentals with no intent to return them. He hasn't given many over to the police but he has some. He just weights it out when it happens.

[treestar]

74. Intent is always going to be in question, though

Usually it's inattention, rather than intent to steal from a library, otherwise, you could never go back there again, and you're local, since you have a card.

It must be a very safe and crime free area for the police to have time to go after this crime!

[RB TexLa]

78. I can't speak to the library ones. My friend's video store ones have been pretty

easy to classify as theft. I don't think he has had the police just able to go off hunting them down. He had one were the people had ripped off about 20 video stores, that one they did put some effort into.

[deadmessengers]

21. My friend's 14-year-old son was locked up for that...

staying in the park after dark, that is. He was kicking a soccer ball around with a few of his friends at around 10PM. Around the Solstice here in West Georgia, there is visible twilight until almost 10:30, so it was BARELY dark at that.

[deadmessengers]

19. I had one out for me for missing jury duty.

For about 10 years after moving to another state, the Bronx County Court Clerk was still sending annual jury summonses to me at my parent's place. For most of the letters, I called, sat on hold for a minor eternity, and then explained to the thoroughly uninterested person over the phone that I no longer was a resident of the Bronx or New York State and was ineligible to serve on a jury. After about the first 5 years, I sent letters instead of calling, figuring that maybe a piece of paper would be enough to get them to take me off the jury rolls.

Nope.

Two years ago, an officer showed up to my mom's house to arrest me on an outstanding warrant for contempt of court, issued after an administrative law judge noted that I hadn't shown up to serve about 8 times in a row. Of course, I wasn't there, but that didn't keep my mother from having a world-class freakout over it.

Finally, I called an attorney friend of mine, who gave me the name of another attorney that handled criminal matters. I explained the situation to this other attorney, and he said one thing: "This shit again? Those people are idiots. Do you have any evidence at all that you currently live out of state?" I faxed him a lease from 1995 when I moved to Georgia, and my most recent property tax bill, also from Georgia. A week (and a hundred bucks) later, I got a letter in the mail stating that the warrant had been lifted.

The postscript: even though the warrant went away, the jury notices haven't stopped coming. 2 more in the last 2 years. Sometime around 2015, I fully expect to have to pay again to demonstrate to an incompetent court official that I do not, in fact, live in New York, TWENTY YEARS after I moved.

[truedelphi]

43. Now there's one crime that we don't have to worry abt Paris Hilton

Committing.

[monmouth]

44. Migod, that was a Seinfeld episode...n/t

[shance]

63. NO. WAY. Is this more Patriot Act abuse?

How can they legally have access to your library records?

That is supposed to be illegal.

Of course it reminds me of the Patriot Act's assault of individuals library records.

We can assume why they wanted those records now.

Im so sorry to hear this happened to your wife, and I hope you consider going to whatever local paper you may have, not to mention telling friends and those in your neighborhood what happened.

[MountainLaurel]

89. The library probably requested it

So, it probably wasn't a matter of the cops randomly going in to find someone with a $5 overdue fine. After a certain point in value, not returning library items can be considered theft.

[IndyOp]

6. I think police officers have "quotas" and your daughter became another notch

on someone's "quota pole". The officer doesn't care whether the judge was likely to release her or not, all he wanted was a vaguely legitimate reason to arrest her to increase his arrest total.

:(

[Hippo_Tron]

81. I knew they had ticket quotas I can't imagine why they would have arrest quotas

Ticket quotas are so that they can make money. Arrests take up their time and resources. Don't understand why they would want to have lots of unnecessary arrests.

[villager]

8. You should sue, btw, for false arrest. My sister just settled a suit

with the city she was in -- she was arrested for *having a migraine* while driving (she'd pulled over). Cop insisted she was "drunk," even though she kept telling him it was a migraine.

Lots of cops in this city started to get sued for excesses, and the city eventually settled. You should see if someone will take your case pro bono...

And cops wonder why nobody trusts them...

[midnight]

33. Did they take her blood to prove that she was drunk?

If not then she was lucky. You don't want the cops to have your blood to dispose of they way they want to.

[Horse with no Name]

37. They made her take a breathalyzer test

And it was negative.

[midnight]

40. That was another piece of luck for your daughter. I know how

outrages this must be for you, and I'm glad you posted this hear. We all need to let people become aware of what is going on in our communities. Something is real wrong when our loved ones are coming home for work and they are stopped and their blood is taken from them..... I can say that this has happened in our community. Everyone keep letting people know.

[treestar]

10. I have noticed overall a change in attitude in law enforcement

since Bushco and 911 and the terra state - always do the most extreme thing possible, presume a person is dangerous regardless of what the issue is, and the public bears the burden of any mistakes.

It is like rot from the top. Chances are they think in terms of protecting themselves from accusations that they didn't do enough where something does go wrong, and so they are not willing to use their judgment - they just want to be able to say they did all they could.

I blame Bushco because of their attitude being that way in regards to the rest of the world, and the way they ignore subpoenas and such - it's all about strongarming, never about fair application of rules and use of good judgment.

[truedelphi]

45. I notice a change also

And one thing is, a lot of the National Guard members were also police men.

They do their rotations in Iraq, and then come home and are immediately put back in the police uniform - as the Police departments hold their jobs open for them.

I was stopped in a speed trap near where I live, and although I was only going 62 in a 55 zone (I only do that because the other drivers are going, like 75) and this cop totally lost it - he was almost berserk when I mentioned how every car going by us was doing close to 80.

It seemed very PTSD to me. Occured to me later that he may have spent time recently in Iraq.

[JHB]

64. We had that in NYC even before 911...

I believe the technical term is "Guliani Time".

[siligut]

15. Beautiful little girl!

Makes me heart sick to think they could have denied her freedom so easily. Definitely an abuse of power by the one officer who continued the process despite evidence there was a mix-up.

Is your daughter a feminist sort? I have had one run in because I just didn’t feel like caving to an over blown RW ego. Could it just have been a power struggle that the officer had an obvious but unfair advantage in? Quite possibly he/she didn’t see a shit storm if he erred, this in reference to your “have not” indication. And when did they start issuing arrest warrants for unpaid traffic tickets?

[Norquist Nemesis]

16. Were they running plates or checking at the door?

Something's not right about the whole situation. They had no reason to be casting a wide net 'running IDs' like that, let alone to handcuff her and take her off to the jail. If they were really just interested in going after active warrants, they should have just shown up at her door.

Too many years ago than I care to admit, hubby and I worked at a club in a small college town. I was a townie! :D We regularly had cops come in and mingle in their off hours. One night, a known asshole thought he had the big nap of the season when he mistakenly connected my name to an arrest warrant he'd been browsing for fun!

There was a person in the next town over with the same name as me...except HE had a different spelling of HIS first name, age, description, etc. He came in with his partner, chest out, tough looking...well, long story short, after talking with the owner the cop finally decided to 'allow me' to come down to the station immediately. They even let my hubby drive me! (Of course, they were right behind us).

After about two hours of sitting, his partner finally came out and told us they hadn't found the warrant or been able to confirm it but they were "sure it wasn't me". :eyes:

[Horse with no Name]

18. It stinks to high heaven

It is a teen club--no drinking.
She said they were walking out of the door at 2 am and there were two cops just in the parking lot demanding that everyone show ID's and were running them. Apparently they netted quite a few petty arrests that night.
I've never heard of such nonsense on private property where she paid to be.

[Norquist Nemesis]

22. Contact your city councilman and demand some answers.

Pronto!

Hope you get to the bottom of it. :grouphug:

[siligut]

25. A teen club? No drinking?

A teen club with no drinking? Sounds like senior officer was into a little bit of intimidation. A&&H074.

[hootinholler]

35. Is that even legal???

I thought I had the right to refuse to identify myself if I've committed no offense.

-Hoot

[High Plains]

47. Wrong. The Supreme Court ruled that you must ID yourself

...if a cop requests it.

But that depends on if your state has a law that says that. Not all states do.

[TX-RAT]

68. Is there a curfew in your town, or the town where it took place?

[Horse with no Name]

70. She is 20.

There isn't a curfew for 20 year olds that I know of?

[TX-RAT]

72. Sounds like an old warrant was still active.

In most city's the officer can only verify that a warrant is still active. they don't have the ability to determine if delinquent fines have been paid.

[Horse with no Name]

73. Not true.

She said that the Police Officer AND the Judge BOTH said that the screen showed the fines paid in full.
She said that they had a computer screen in the police cruiser.
What most likely happened is that someone entered the payment in the computer and forgot to dismiss the warrant at the same time.

[datasuspect]

84. the police can do whatever they want

and there is precious little the average person can about it unless they catch it on tape or if they are well-connected and wealthy.

[LSK]

20. Sue them

[Hell Hath No Fury]

23. Where do you live?

I ask this because here in SF/CA, I have never heard of anyone being arrested over a simple unpaid traffic ticket. :shrug: I am finding out this is common in other states (Texas, for example) and I feel it is nothing but a money making scheme for the departments involved.

[Horse with no Name]

38. Texas.

:(

[TX-RAT]

67. Was there an active warrant for her arrest?

[Horse with no Name]

69. Well I don't know by what you mean active?

But we have been at the same address and she has been at the same employer and nobody ever tried serving anything.:shrug:

[TX-RAT]

71. Not all warrants are served.

Sometimes they just pick them up when they run into that individual.

[Cleita]

24. That's too bad. Our system is really broken if they are allowed to do this.

What were the police doing roaming through clubs checking ID's anyway? When I was a bartender, the only time the police would start checking ID's was if a person looked like a minor or if the law was being broken like an exchange of drugs, or if the police were called because of a fight. In the case of IDs if they were in order, background checks were never done, only in the case of drug deals or other law breaking acts like assaults. I would get a lawyer to check into this. It seems the police overstepped their bounds if the laws haven't changed since I tended bar. If you can't afford a lawyer, you might be able to get some help in the Public Defenders Office.

[babylonsister]

26. Sue for mental anguish and emotional abuse. That sucks. I hope

your daughter is okay.

[evilkumquat]

27. It's Not Just Traffic Tickets

The Indiana county in which I live has (or had) the following procedure for unpaid personal property taxes:

After one year and the mailing of a certified warning letter, all unpaid taxpayers are put on a list and presented to a judge. The judge signed the paper, thus rendering an immediate blanket civil judgment against all those taxpayers. This was a "real" judgment, just like what would have happened if the debtor was hauled into court, and one that could show up on a consumer credit report or other background check.

When I used to work for a collection agency, one of our clients was the county treasurer. After we tried more "friendly" ways to collect the back taxes, we eventually filed paperwork to call the delinquent taxpayers into court. Those that never showed up were eventually issued a "body attachment", which basically meant that because they disobeyed a judge's order (i.e., to appear before him), they were held in civil contempt of court. This allowed a police officer or sheriff's deputy to arrest these individuals upon running a warrant check in the event of a routine traffic stop or ID check.

The beauty was the bail was always set for whatever the judgment was. So if one owed $50, he had to pay $50 to get released; if it was $1,000, he had to pay $1,000. The money was always turned over to my company for disbursement.

Now, on one hand, it was disquieting that an individual could be arrested for such a piddling amount (one time, $30 resulted in an arrest). On the other, my company (and myself, personally) always gave these people ample time to either pay the tax, or make arrangements in which to do so. Remember: this is not Dickensian England. People were not being thrown into Debtor's Prison. They were arrested for failure to follow a judge's order. The irony is if they would have originally appeared as ordered, they could have shown the judge they were incapable of paying the amount outright and asked for terms. By being arrested, it was everything at once with no negotiation.

However, in a situation where a cop knew the person should not have been arrested (or that the person would obviously be ordered immediately released upon a judge's hearing), and the cop made the arrest anyway, that cop should go fuck himself.

Evil Kumquat

[leftofthedial]

28. I'm beginning to hate this country

it is a joke

[Wednesdays]

29. Off to the greatest page with you...

Kick, with a rec #5.

[DemGa]

30. Freedom is cheap in the USA

A lil' mistake or clerical error and it becomes quite evident.

[Athens30603]

31. If the cops...

..had been around the outside of the club and seen obvious underage patrons get in then that would constitute probable cause to go in and check IDs.

[Athens30603]

32. never mind..

Just read your other posts.

[dave29]

34. my wife went to jail because she was unaware of a state surchage

that went to the wrong address - for a ticket she had otherwise completely taken care of. 10 hours in jail ond over $1000 in additional fees (lawyer, etc) to date.

Lovely.

[hootinholler]

36. I just had my driver's license renewal rejected for one of those...

It was over 6 years old, and I had renewed 2 times prior. Took me a whole day to straighten it out.

-Hoot

[WindRavenX]

39. American justice sure is grand

:eyes:

I'm sorry that happened to your daughter, HwNN. :hug:

[Joanne98]

41. Two Americas! So so true!

[ComerPerro]

42. Something like this happened to my fiancee's cousin last weekend, actually

Unpaid speeding tickets from several years ago. Apparently there was a warrant out for her because of them. She was stopped, and arrested. It wasn't until several hours later that it was finally revealed that the lawyer she hired way back to appear in court for her and take care of the tickets (pay, plead, etc) simply pocketed the money and never showed up for the court date.

So she was in jail for about two days because of this.

Crazy, no?

[Madspirit]

48. I'm sorry for your daughter HWNN...n/t

[Breeze54]

49. Well, if there is a warrant, I think they are required to pick you up!

It seems that the minor detail of clearing the warrants is 'forgotten' all across the country.
I know that when I paid a traffic ticket, I was told to carry the court papers for at least
two weeks until the warrant was cleared from the system. I don't know why it takes that long
but I've had it happen on the east coast and the west coast. Same situation.

Sorry your daughter went through that. At least she was out in ten minutes!!

I had a case dismissed but they still said I owed court fee's (I didn't know there were any!!)

I thought everything was over!! Then I got arrested about 3 months later for having a warrant!

It said I owed unpaid court fee's. $12.00 !! $12.00 !! (this was over 14 yrs. ago)

And they issued a warrant for me for the F**ing $12.00 and the police took me in and put me in a cell!

I was there for 35 DAYS before I could see a judge!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Trying to get them to understand!! And of course, my paperwork was at my house.... :grr:

They said they were 'trying' to locate the record!

They finally did, actually the marshall did and he testified FOR me and they released me!!

Talk about pissed off!!!!! :grr: Talk about misjustice!!! What a bunch of shysters!!

Fuck Hilton!!

[Horse with no Name]

53. You misunderstood

She spent almost 10 hours in jail--it was only 10 minutes AFTER the Judge saw her and said to get her out NOW. To say the Judge wasn't pissed is an understatement and he told her so.
Since I don't know which screen they kept referring to, I can only speculate. But the Judge said that the screen CLEARLY showed that everything was paid and it was obviously an oversight.
I had a friend that I picked up from jail once and after the judge saw him, it was still several hours before he got out. So I do know that 10 minutes processing certainly is expeditious.
The Judge also recommended that she carry the paperwork with her for at least a year just in case.

[Breeze54]

58. Ten hrs. I got the gist of the story.

[slackmaster]

50. Something similar happened to me about 20 years ago

It's an unnerving experience for sure.

[taught_me_patience]

55. When you see a cop in the rear view mirror

do you ask yourself "I wonder what he/she's doing back there... did I do anything wrong"?
or do you say "I'm glad the cops are out protecting the public"?


This petty shi!t that cops pull is driving me insane.

[ananda]

57. she goes to jail for a ticket..

.. while war criminals and corporate crooks
and whitehouse traitors go free...

[nolabels]

59. Some people have been preaching the government considers you guilty to proven innocent

In California prosecution because of being poor is epidemic x(

[rocktivity]

61. I keep a receipt for a ticket I paid recently in my glove compartment

Of course, reaching for it might cause a problem...

Another time, my driving privileges were mistakenly suspended. It took me a couple of weeks to straighten it out, but when I finally got a letter stating that I had been reinstated, I carried it in my wallet for six months--just in case it hadn't been "taken out of the system."

:headbang:
rocknation

[Horse with no Name]

62. I had no idea that this problem was this widespread

:(

[DarkTirade]

82. I have a habit of slipping through the cracks

whenever there is a paperwork crack that CAN be slipped through, so I do the same thing. I still have the receipt from every ticket I've ever gotten in my glove compartment. (All two of them...)
Just in case. :)

[Initech]

65. Fuck the rich. There, I said it.

I'm tired of Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, and Britney Spears. I'm tired of oil being $3.45 / gallon and we get nothing in return. I'm tired of CEOs gutting their employee's pension plans and making $400 million retirement packages. I'm tired of insurance being so ridiculously expensive and only getting the shit packages. I'm tired of MTV shows like "My Super Sweet 16" and "Laguna Beach" that showcase stupid spoiled brats blowing their money on ridiculous shit. I'm tired of it all.

So you know what? Fuck the rich.

[jus_the_facts]

66. Yep... happened to me and my boyfriend too...CLERICAL ERROR....

...he'd already served 3 YEARS yet we were both arrested on outstanding warrants that were over 3 years old because they'd never taken it out of the computer...the original charges had been dropped on me from the beginning but he served 3 years in jail.

....both our names got a big front page write up in the newspaper on EASTER SUNDAY for felony theft just because it was PUBLIC RECORD at the jail...didn't matter that it was a clerical error and we were released immediately after the faux pas was assertained...no appologies...no retraction in the paper...NOTHING. :nopity:

[DarkTirade]

75. Something similar happened to my brother a few years back

It took almost a whole day to get him out of jail too.

[Quixote1818]

77. ALWAYS get a receipt when paying a ticket, and save it!

The same thing happened to me but luckily I saved the receipt. It would have been a mess if I hadn't had it. I was handcuffed and put in jail for several hours. They said they fired the girl who made the mistake. I don't believe it but whatever.

[slampoet]

86. I went to jail with the receipt.

it won't save you .

[EFerrari]

79. Yes, it happens every day.

I'm so sorry you two went through this. I've been through it and it's traumatic, stupid and destructive.

:hug:

[DFW]

80. Not just in the USA, either

Although this was a lot less drastic and involved no arrest,
about 20 years ago, my wife went to vote here in our town
near Düsseldorf. She was refused at the voting center because
she was, according to their computer, a resident of München
(Munich). München is about 350 miles from here, and she has
never lived there or anywhere near there in her life. She
showed them her ID, and her driver's license, showing she lived
here, but they said no way, the computer showed she lived in
München so she couldn't vote.

She then told them to look up our two daughters, who were 2 and 4
at the time. They did, and sure enough, they were listed as
residents of our town. She then told them to either arrest her
for abandoning her two children or let her vote.

They let her vote. They even changed her residence to where she had
been living all along. Amazingly, they were unable to erase her
"previous" München residence. How it got there in the first place
is a mystery they have yet to explain to this day.

[madokie]

83. It happened to me many years ago

It cost me a thousand bucks in cash that they wanted and tried to keep even after it was shown that the matter was taken care of many years prior to then. but me being me and my love for MY money I got in their faces and came home with all my money.

[shrike]

85. Happened to Jon Stewart's wife, if I remember correctly

She's not an entertainer, worked as a vet assistant at the time. During a traffic stop a cop discovered there was a warrant out for her on an unpaid traffic ticket; turns out she paid the thing but the state didn't have it on its records. She was cuffed, taken in; Jon had to come in and bail her out. I doubt she was arrested because she was Jon's wife; cop probably didn't even know who she was. I'm sure it happens to people all the time.

[fidgeting wildly]

87. Exact same thing happened to my husband.

We were pulled over in Highland Park, Texas (not speeding, not breaking any law of any kind, just driving while poor -- apparently a crime there). We're both about as square as you can get, so when the officer came back and asked him to get out of the car I was shocked. They arrested him on a warrant for a two-year-old speeding ticket that had been paid. Then they told me to get out of the car and started searching it. When I protested that they didn't have sufficient grounds to search my car, they gave me a hard time, but they did stop. Fortuately this happened early enough in the day that we were able to get it sorted in a few hours. They never actually told us the reason why they pulled us over. I suppose the message was, "Keep your crappy car off of our pristine, gold-paved streets."