Distracted driving ticket court case - did i win or lose?
I figured people would enjoy this but its a long one.... I got pulled over in a small town by the RCMP for distracted driving. I didn't say a word during the stop. During the stop i had my dash cams rolling the entire time. During the stop the officer claimed i made the turn at the intersection without any hands while holding my phone and that i should be thankful i didn't get a dangerous driving ticket as it would have been double the cost of a distracted driving ticket($287). I plead not guilty, requested disclosure and requested a trial where i could play the dash cam if needed.
Fast forward 6 months i get to appear in court. I'm as prepared as I can be with all sorts of dash cam videos and photos. Sitting in the court room was nerve wracking. The prosecutor is mad. Hes on a major power trip. He is telling anyone who decides to go to trial on this day that they risk having their fines tripled. He tells everyone that they dont want to go to trial and lose as the fines get crazier and people typically leave more upset. He keeps telling people if they waste the courts time with a BS excuse that he will make an example of them. He makes it clear that the first one to trial during the day will get it the worst. As the morning progresses through all the first appearances he keeps reminding people. Slowly those there for trial start dropping like flies.
An hour and half later we went from 100 people in the court room to 8. During a recess i chat up a guy who decides hes not going to risk having his fine tripled that he's changing his plea. I say i'm contemplating the same thing just to avoid this crazy tyrant. Why risk a quick trial if it means my fine goes up to $1000. I mention my dash cam videos and that i have a legitimate defense that i wasn't using my phone as the rcmp claimed in my disclosure. He encouraged me to fight as i had video evidence of things. Only issue was it only showed outside my vehicle not inside.
Trial comes. The first rcmp guy takes the stand. He starts talking about the traffic stop with details that didn't happen. He is remembering things that happened that never did. He is so far off on what actually happened that i'm shocked. When i get to question the officer i confirm that his recollection is 100% correct. I confirm every one of his details one more time that happened. I confirm that in no way shape or form is he remembering things incorrectly. Next the second RCMP officer takes the stand. He too is remembering things wrong. He's making stuff up on the fly. Its beyond ridiculous at this point.... at this point i tried to offer the officer multiple ways out of his lies. At the end i gave up and thanked him for having such a vivid memory and recollection of the events as his testimony is very important.
Then it was my turn to take the stand. At this point i asked to play my dash cam video as it would show the RCMP officers lied about everything on the stand. The prosecutor went ballistic. I got accused of creating a fake video. I got accused of not informing the court i had a dash cam. I was then told the court didn't have the equipment needed to play the video. Shit got really weird for 20 minutes as i argued with the prosecutor and the judge. I explained i requested the court room be able to play a dash cam video in case i needed to submit some evidence. I requested this with the prosecutors when i booked the trial so they were aware this may happen. I then said i brought my own equipment in to play the videos in case the court was not prepared for this request, which they weren't. The judge took a 20 min recess as the prosecutor tried hooking up the equipment that was there.
During this mini recess i told the prosecutor he should withdraw the charges as his officers lied and the video will show this. He continued to yell at me and tell me i shouldn't be talking to him. I was trying to inform him that once the video is played it is evidence of the lies the rcmp officers told. Well he didn't listen. Court was brought back into session. I took the stand and i played the video. As it turns out dash cam videos are really good at catching lies that the RCMP or police say during the trial. The entire testimony of the RCMP officers were shown to be a lie. I took the stand and explained i cant drive a 1 ton truck with no hands, nor can i do so and make a fast turn at an intersection as they claimed and that its impossible to use my knees to drive a truck as this was also proposed by one of the officers. I walked the prosecutor and judge through the dash cam videos and pointed out every single lie shared on the stand.
After i was done sharing the prosecutor grilled into me. Accused me of many things. At one point he wanted to bring the court house out to my truck in the parking lot to make sure there wasn't a dash cam facing inwards into my vehicle. It got pretty heated and i expressed my disgust towards the prosecutor and the questions in general. Eventually he stopped questioning me. After this he brought one of the RCMP officers back to the stand. Showed him the video and asked if he wanted to add anything to his testimony. He said no. I got to question the officer and confirm every detail of his testimony was wrong based on the video evidence that was submitted. He agreed that everything was wrong.
The prosecutor then rested his case. We both gave closing statements. The judge took all but 10 seconds to come to a conclusion. She started with grilling into me for a few minutes.. she mentioned i got a bit defensive on the stand. She agreed the officers testimony was so specific and detailed that its evidence is over whelming but.. then she said the video evidence can not be ignored. That the video shows a vastly different version of events. It showed the officers version of events didn't happen at all and that there was extreme doubt in almost everything that happened.
At this point in her speech she must have apologized to the RCMP officers 5 or 6 times as she eventually announced that she had to withdraw the ticket. I WON!! I WON!! But WTF did i just go through???
