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thetrucker.com
Perspective February 15-28, 2019 • 15
Traffic ticket to teen could prevent
him from driving career as an adult
Jim Klepper
exclusive to the trucker
Ask the
Attorney
My 17-year-old son and a friend were
racing their cars on the city street and were
stopped by the cops. The cops wrote both
a ticket for racing but only my son was
charged by the Prosecutor’s Office with
racing on a public street, reckless driving,
speeding, failure to keep in his lane, failure
to obey a traffic control device and resisting
arrest. The other kid was just charged with
racing. Granted, my son has had a problem
with the cops in the past and more than one
speeding ticket before this, but I think they
are picking on him. Is it fair they are only
punishing my son? What can I do?
— James B.
Life is not fair nor should it be. Everyone
is, or should be, responsible for his or her own
actions. Your concern about fairness would
be better directed toward educating your son
and keeping him alive and well.
You are not alone. Many children (like
most sons), have to push the envelope until
they reach the edge and it looks like the cops
here are helping him reach that spot quickly.
Based upon your limited information, it
appears the officer acted properly in stopping
the kids. To make a legal stop or arrest, an officer
must first have probable cause to do so.
Probable cause can be established by observations
like sight, sound or smell, such as seeing
your son racing; by factual evidence such as
chasing your son and his friend at a high rate
of speed; by circumstantial evidence such as
a wrecked car; by police information from a
witness such as the call to the police that cars
were racing; and by police expertise such as
judging your son’s speed using the officers’
experience and training.
When and only when the officer has probable
cause can he take action. If a judge later
determines the officer did not have probable
cause, then any evidence gained without
probable cause is not admissible in court.
Prosecutorial discretion is given to each
officer and prosecutor in the country. The
decision of which, if any, criminal charge to
make determines how a case will be handled.
In your son’s case, his actions after police
contact such as lights and siren will usually
influence the officer’s opinion on which
violation to write the ticket. Your son’s past
contact with officers, maybe even the citing
officer in this case, may weigh on how he is
charged. The prosecuting attorney will review
those charges (racing on a public street,
reckless driving, speeding, failure to stay in
his lane, failure to obey a traffic control device
and resisting arrest) as submitted by the
officer to see if they fit the law or if more or
less charges would actually better portray the
events leading to the arrest/ticket. Officers do
not have to charge or arrest you if they decide
not to do so and the prosecuting attorney can
elect not to file those charges with the court
for any reason; that is prosecutorial discretion
in a nutshell.
What can you do? My advice as an attorney
is if your son is looking at possible jail
time, loss of his license or even significant
fines, is that you should explore hiring an attorney
to defend him. A good defense attorney
may be able to get some or most of those
charges dismissed or reduced unless there is
more to this story than you listed. Every case
is different and your attorney may be able to
negotiate a plea bargain to reduce your son’s
potential sentence, reduce the fines, amend
some of the charges and of course provide
an objective view of what would be best for
your son.
My advice as a father is to ensure your son
realizes what he has done and how it could
affect him not only now with such issues as
auto insurance, his license or even large fines,
but the future affect should he look into any
kind of job where his driving is required. Human
nature is such that unless there are consequences
for your actions there is no reason
to change those actions.
Your job as his father is to make sure he
survives long enough for his brain to catch up
to what his body can do. It’s very easy to race
down the road but common sense tells us it is
not safe for the driver or anyone on the road.
Use this error in his judgment to teach him
survival.
Jim C. Klepper is a lawyer who has made
his living dealing with transportation issues.
Interstate Trucker represents truck drivers
throughout the 48 states on both moving and
non-moving violations. A former prosecutor,
he has focused on the trucking industry in
particular.
For more information call 800-333-DRIVE
(3748) or go to interstatetrucker.com and
driverslegalplan.com. 8
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