Reckless Driving

[Yppej]

My son was pulled over yesterday, not ticketed, but told he would receive something in the mail. He believes he will be charged with reckless driving, a misdemeanor, but still a criminal offense.

Has anyone faced this? My guess is since his record is clean with 5 years of driving he may get a fine, probation, community service, temporary loss of his license, and the case will be continued without a finding for a period of time. I doubt he would get jail although in our state 14 days is possible.

I assume as he is no longer a minor and not a dependent on my income taxes he would qualify for a court appointed attorney.

He admitted to the officer his wrongdoing and is willing to accept consequences including jail so long as he does not have a criminal record that will follow him the rest of his life and impact his future employment. He is walking distance from his college if he loses his license.

This was a "dry" reckless, no alcohol or other substances involved.

[sweetana3]

Each state is different and what the officer tells someone may or may not be accurate.

I did a quick check online and found that many states have a whole section that can be researched for ticket info. The California one lays out penalties which are standard statewide, fines (which are different by county), other penalties, etc. You did not give us enough info for an specifics.


My state and CA assign points to your license with some actions being more serious. He might get a point, we dont know. We used to live in NC where any infraction involving "school bus" could automatically involve lots of points and loss of license.

Tell your son to review the penalty section of the state law online and learn from his experience. (Could be the officer was scaring him.) Who knows.

[Tradd]

I have to ask, what did your son do? I can’t believe the cop let him go without a ticket, yet said he’d receive something in th mail.

Did your son receive any sort of paperwork from the cop?

[Williamsmith]

If you are to understand what is going to happen, if anything, learn some important facts:

By whose authority was the officer acting to enforce what law? Was he an agent with local, state or federal jurisdiction? What specific law is it alledged that he violated?

From there, one can begin to minimize the impact on his future. You are making some assumptions that would lead me to believe your son needs a competent attorney to look after his interests. This is not disrespectful to the authority making accusations, this is proper. You can then root out prejudices in the law, improper applications, over reaches, heavy handed sentencing and mistakes made that impact his life.

He must however, do these things for himself. And the reason this happened must be evaluated so that it doesn’t happen again.

[Tybee]

Yppj, I am so sorry this happened. I had three sons and one flipped his car coming home from prom. It was a also a dry offense and we went right to a lawyer to deal with the charges which might have included reckless, I don't remember. It was terrifying and traumatic as his mom. He needs to get a lawyer, and it is odd that the officer said something will come in the mail--is this proper or normal, Williamsmith? Did he get arrested? I am confused about how he let him go but said something will come in mail?

If no one was hurt, then yes, this is an important learning experience, and prayers for you both, things will be alright in the end, and I'm sorry you are going through this.

[Williamsmith]

Yppj, I am so sorry this happened. I had three sons and one flipped his car coming home from prom. It was a also a dry offense and we went right to a lawyer to deal with the charges which might have included reckless, I don't remember. It was terrifying and traumatic as his mom. He needs to get a lawyer, and it is odd that the officer said something will come in the mail--is this proper or normal, Williamsmith? Did he get arrested? I am confused about how he let him go but said something will come in mail?

If no one was hurt, then yes, this is an important learning experience, and prayers for you both, things will be alright in the end, and I'm sorry you are going through this.

I can think of some circumstances where rules of criminal procedure permit he filing of a criminal complaint at a later time perhaps after the officer consults with the officer of the district attorney. Perhaps he may have been driving without regard to other pedestrians in the area in a fashion that a person should reasonably know they endangere other people. Just an example. So yes. But rather than inventing scenarios, one needs the know the specifics and it sounds like the son has not provided all the specifics.

[Yppej]

He was speeding, crossed a double yellow line passing someone, and it was in a school zone though in the middle of the day when all the students were indoors. It was a town police officer. I also think he has to check with the assistant DA. My son received no paperwork from him.

[Williamsmith]

He was speeding, crossed a double yellow line passing someone, and it was in a school zone though in the middle of the day when all the students were indoors. It was a town police officer. I also think he has to check with the assistant DA. My son received no paperwork from him.

Curious what speed timing device your police are using. He should have been able to issue a citation or two on the spot. We have a vehicle code violation called careless driving that would be more appropriate. Or he could issue a specific speed limit citation and no passing zone citation or an Obedience to traffic control devices citation based on signage. Is this police officer experienced? I’m thinking he whole school zone thing has him hesitant in his decision making.

[Yppej]

He said, "This is a bad day for you, because I'm a lieutenant and you did ..." He claimed a speed of 60 in a 30 mph zone. My son does not know what his actual speed was at the moment, but finds it suspicious that it was supposedly exactly 30 miles over when that is the point at which it can be considered reckless regardless of other offenses.

So I believe the officer was experienced given his rank. It's a small town with not much crime to fight.

[bae]

He should make the investment of hiring a lawyer who specializes in this sort of thing.