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I was talking about this write up my friend did to get out of a ticket where the officer used LIDAR. I was incorrect in the speed he was doing. I thought he was doing well over a hundred but turns out it was 70. Either way, it worked for him and may work again.
Today, I have officially talked my way out of a LIDAR statie ticket in front of a judge
So, here's how it went down. I got to the court room early, and it got pretty full by the time they started hearing cases. I saw my ticketing officer show up
and my heart sank, because him not showing was my first line of defense... so I'm thinking I'm ****ed.
The first person they called got off because their ticketing officer didn't show. I was called up second.
The trooper walks up and gives his testimony. He goes on to talk about how he saw two bikes approaching at a speed he estimated to be 72mph, me being the first bike, then verified the speed by LIDAR, blah blah blah. Once he was done giving his spiel came my turn, and I began to cross-examine him. The night before I prepared a large list of questions to ask him (which I'll include at the bottom of the post) - the questions were mostly based around LIDAR functionality, the circumstances of the road/where the bikes were, and whether we were profiled/targeted. The judge was really enjoying my cross-examination, and about half-way through I could already tell that he was going to side with me. It went on for about 10-15 minutes, and I made the trooper look pretty silly (he didn't even know what the acronym LIDAR stood for). The judge was grinning almost the entire time as I was grilling the trooper, and even the trooper himself was trying to conceal a grin by the end of it. When I was finally done cross-examining him and made my closing statement, the judge said that if I'm not a lawyer, I should be one. He said that it was a pleasure to see a young man display such a level of professionalism, observing of tradition, and eloquence, and even though he believed that I was exceeding the speed limit, he ruled me not responsible for delivering such a great performance. Then as he handed down the "Not Responsible" verdict the entire court room started applauding . Then I proceeded to exit the court room with a huge s**t-eating grin on my face. When I was walking out of the court house I even overheard some guy from the court room speaking with a group of cops about how "the guy got off and everyone started to applaud."
Here is the list of questions I wrote up which I used as a guide when cross-examining the statie, I probably ended up asking about 60% of the stuff on the list, and improvised some other stuff along the way.
LIDAR SECTION
How many bikes were there?
What were the colors of the bikes?
Which bike was first?
At what distance did you take target the bikes with the LIDAR unit?
What is the width of the LIDAR beam at X feet?
Do you think that you could accurately hit a motorcycle traveling at 72mph at a distance of X feet your firearm?
-Yes
Very impressive.
-No
When you were trained to use the LIDAR gun, were you instructed that it's best to target a reflective surface on a car, such as a license plate?
-Yes
Are you aware that motorcycles do not have a front license plate?
Which part of the motorcycle did you target?
Officer Bakey, could you please tell us what the acronym "LIDAR" stands for?
-No
Could you please describe how the unit measures the speed of the target?
Do you agree that when a motorcycle is traveling around a curve at a high rate of speed, that it must lean over in order to turn, and thus decreases the visual target area for the LIDAR unit?
-Yes
I would like to introduce these photographs of motorcycles in motion around a curve as evidence, to illustrate the concept. <show photos>
ENVIRONMENT/SITUATION
How many lanes was that ramp on which the motorcycles were traveling when you took the speed reading?
Were the motorcycles traveling in separate lanes?
Which lane were the bikes traveling in?
Did you issue a citation to both motorists?
-Yes
Did you get a speed reading on both motorcycles with the LIDAR unit?
-No
On what grounds did you issue a ticket to the motorists who you did not get a speed reading from?
-estimated
You estimated? So, you issued a citation to the other motorist based purely on an estimate, having no concrete evidence of the rate of speed at which the motorcycle was traveling?
Do you believe that it's humanly possible to accurately estimate the speed of a moving object while it is moving around a curve towards you at a 45 degree angle, at the rate of (look at paper) 72 miles an hour?
-Yes
If people have such a keen sense of estimating speed, then why do law enforcement agencies use devices such as LIDAR?
-No
Then your speed estimate could have been inaccurate, yet you still chose to issue the citation?
-yes
Lidar description - Light Distance And Ranging:
A LIDAR gun emits a highly focused beam of invisible light, in the near infrared region of light, LIDAR calculates speed by observing the changing amount of time is takes to "see" reflected pulses of light over a discreet amount of time.
PROFILING SECTION
Officer Bakey, how long were you waiting at the site where you targeted the bikes prior to making visual contact?
And when you pulled us over and walked over to the motorcycles, what was the first question you asked us aside from "whether we knew why you pulled us over?"?
-Don't remember
Do you recall asking us "Are you the bikes that have been doing the illegal passing around here?"?
-Yes
-No: That's peculiar, because I seem to recall that rather clearly.
Does your department employ the use of an undercover cruiser in the form of a red dodge?
And was there an officer operating in a red undercover dodge in the area when you pulled us over?
Did you receive a communication by radio prior to targeting the motorcycles, warning you that we were approaching?
-yes
Was it the trooper in the red dodge who radioed you ahead?
CLOSING STATEMENT
Your honor, I believe the reason we were pulled over is simply because we matched the profile of some trouble-makers in the area. As I recall, it was an unusually nice day out for that time of year, and there were many motorcycles on the road. In fact, earlier during that day we even witnessed some bikes pulling wheelies in traffic and displaying the sort of hooligan behavior that gives a bad image to those of us who enjoy this hobby responsibly. The behavior of a few bad apples causes law enforcement to subscribe to a false archetype, and attach stigma to any sport bike they encounter. We matched the profile; we were pulled over, and issued citations based on inconclusive evidence. I kindly ask that this citation be dismissed as it has already cost me $200 to take the day off from work to clear this matter. That is all, your honor. Thank you.
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Originally Posted by Qfactor
as long as you don't act like a tool in court, I've gotten more breaks in the court room than out on the road
