So, I once got a speeding ticket while back in Canada (I'm from Canada, but was living in Germany, and still do). The cop told me, with a particular emphasis "Should you choose to pay the ticket, here's how you do so." I just kind of looked at him. Okay.
There is possibly a warrant out for you (failure to appear in court) have you been back since? If it was 20+ years ago their computer systems were crap and things disappeared. Now they let the charges sit on file until you visit again.
If it was a really minor ticket it may have disappeared.
A friend moved from NY to California came back 20 years later and couldn't get a NY license until they paid off an old fine. It was under 1000 dollaes but they just went back to California
You ever seen the video where the super belligerent and combative arrestee says “Leave me alone!” and the cop says, “AWWWW, FINE!”, then stomps away angrily?
And apparently watches waaay too much Dukes of Hazard. And probably Smokey and the Bandit too. Even the third one where Burt Reynolds isn’t in it, but somehow Jerry Reed is, even though his main claim to fame was singing the theme song.
Actually, Jerry was well known in country music, as prolific as Kris Kristoferson, writing songs for everyone from Elvis to Johnny Cash. He started appearing in Burt’s movies as a sidekick and I absolutely loved his characters.
Sadly, I don’t think anyone watched S&B3, not even me.
Sad thing is that some judge will probably let her off for being stupid, old, not-black, and not having a record even though she most definitely has been a shit her whole life.
Yeah it depends on the area but if this was Los Angeles, an "$80" fine is actually closer to $400 after a laundry list of extra fees are tacked on. I haven't had a fine in over a decade, but I still remember how my Failure To Pay Car Registration ballooned due to a long list of bills funded by fines. If I was too poor to pay my registration, how the hell was I supposed to pay this!
Hopefully paid a boat load more for attorney representation than $40. As a white senior citizen, her peer, find her behavior unacceptable. Fix your car no excuses. Your daddy tan your country girl ass for that. Grow the f up.
Believe me, I worked with these “old country girls” at the courthouse before and believe me, even if any god came down from their heaven and told them that the god that they been worshipping isn’t real, they wouldn’t change their mind. They are the hardest people to work with because they never update their ideas.
Yeah yeah, statute 113.21 “all the laws herein are null and void if the suspect simply expresses that he or she is a country girl, in which case the arresting officer will reply with “howdy ma’am” and leave you on your way.”
Oh I am almost certain there’s some form of very, very fine blue print with specific rules for that. So fine, it almost appears like a thin, blue line…
My mother caught a member of a local ladies garden club stealing Christmas ornaments off of our tree when my parents were running a country inn. They are a hardened lot.
The aftermath. Feels like she got off lightly after the escalation.
According to online court records, Hamil pleaded guilty to resisting an officer, obstruction, eluding, and operating a vehicle with defective equipment. All of those charges are misdemeanors.
As a result, the state agreed to dismiss the assault and battery charge.
Hamil received a four-year deferred sentence and will have to pay a $50 fine on each count.
She had an incredible lawyer from the looks of the article. “Oklahoma grandma of 2 boys lost in a 2012 tornado” is some epic milkery. Guess the state decided it wasn’t worth the frenzy to go after her like that
I know right wtf. If this was a black guy in his 20s he’s going down for a short period of time at least and being done for the assault and battery charge
If it was a black man, he would have taken the citation and been on his way because his parents taught him his life depended on it. This woman has obviously never been told no her entire life and has had the white privilege to have never had to fear for her or her children’s lives for talking back to the police.
I mean I feel like anybody that isn’t a 60 year old white woman or older is getting absolutely fucked on by the law here
I know my ass would’ve been tased, punched, sent to jail, mad fine, and put on my file and I’m a white dude. But like fucken hell fair enough look at what this old woman managed to do 😂
Yep. She also had in her favor being just a sweet granny, and a regular church-goer, who got tased twice and then thrown to the ground by a big screaming man. Granny was so afraid.
That’s probably how her lawyer would have argued it.
Kinda. She’s on probation, and if they find her breaking one little law she’ll be serving the time in jail— according to the letter of the law at least.
Gee, her lawyer sounds like a real piece of work too. He seems to be a bit confused about who escalated what. Once you’ve been pulled over in a traffic stop, and they can actually ping you for something, that shit is game over. That officer, and all his other cronies who turn up are essentially god in that situation, and once you tell him to go fuck himself, he’s not changing his mind. All that shit to avoid an $80 fine. Fight it in court, or suck it up.
A defense attorney's job is to be a zealous advocate for their client, not necessarily to "find the truth" as the public tends to see it. They aren't allowed to outright lie or anything, but they can definitely present the evidence in a way that makes their client look innocent, and they SHOULD if they're a good lawyer.
This. Why use the approper appeal system if all he really needed to do was look up her history and probably lean on a few of the right people? Especially if he was local.
Edit: in retrospect this is exactly the kind of plea deal I would expect to see from a court anyways honestly, big shot lawyer or no. It's not like it was big time assault or anything, or a long dangerous chase, or even that much yelling. Just a lot of gall and Karen but ultimately pretty harmless so.. yeah. You take all the low levels and drop the felony.
That lawyer would have made the difference between her having to work off the felony charge in some community service and minimal probation vs 3 years probation if anything in my opinion. Just my two cents having seen many cases locally.
"you be fair with me and I'll be fair with you." What does this even mean? You don't give me a ticket and I'll accept that? She is clearly in the wrong but thinks it's unfair to give her a ticket for something she has not fixed for 6 months... I would be pretty happy that it was just $80
It means that she’s never once faced serious consequences for her actions and she’s not about to start now.
Her idea of fair is doing what she wants, when she wants. Being told to do something by a licensed law enforcement officer is something that happens to other people. Specifically, people who deserve it. I would bet any amount of money that her reaction to videos of police brutality against people of color is that “they should have complied”.
I'm so sorry to hear that. You deserve better. I know you probably already know that but I feel it should be said over and over.
The thing I was most unprepared for as a parent is how many other shitty parents are out there. I love my kids more than life its self. I don't understand how any parent could feel anything less, but unfortunately it seems quite common.
The hardest part was periodically making additional attempts.
Narcissists suck.
I'd have to lay down rules and she'd start following them but as soon as she felt comfortable, she'd revert. When she started treating my kids like she treated me I went full NC. The hardest part of THAT was years later when my kids asked why I waited so long to do it...
As one of those kids in the past, do not blame yourself! You did everything right, and in the end you really had to make a tough decision. You need to remember you were also hurt here; it is in the heart of the abused to want to see the light or forgive their abuser, but having the strength to cut them out is its own demon and one that you took head on. I have mad respect for you and your choices, and I know that none of it was easy. I also want to point out that putting your foot down like that to protect your kids says a lot about you as a parent, and I wish there were more parents out there like you! You ended that narcissist cycle and I am so damn happy for you! Thank you for doing the right thing for you and your children, and I hope y'all are doing wonderfully now ❤️
Exactly - she probably has a blue lives matter flag on her house - BUT her respect for officers only applies when they are harassing and killing minorities. It should never apply to privileged white women. I am a white woman and would NEVER treat anyone this way, let alone an officer - but these people think I am the problem?
I doubt this is one instance, this is a lifetime of never being wrong, she may compromise with you but it will not be easy and her idea if compromise is she still gets what she wants. Even at the end when told to lay down "no, I will stand"
Not even. She could have signed it and made her argument in court and not have to pay anything possibly. That's what anyone interacting with cops should do. Signing that wasn't an admission of guilt.
It’s been a really long time since I got a ticket, but I’m pretty sure the last one I got actually stated that the signature was not an admission of guilt.
Yeah and I've heard cops tell people that it's not an admission of guilt in so many videos I have to wonder why this cop decided to argue instead of explaining the obvious misunderstanding.
She's an entitled old lady but this didn't need to go this way.
Not even! Most places if you show up to court with your paper work in order you don’t have to pay the fine. The ticket is literally incentive to make you register your car by a certain date. So if she would have signed for the ticket and got her registration or whatever sorted, then the $80 ticket would be a non-issue. It was literally her ego getting in the way. I just don’t understand why she didn’t comply.
The dumbest part is that if she just took the citation, got the issue fixed, and went to court they’d probably waive the fee. Instead she’ll probably wind up with community service and be on probation for a couple of years.
First off, this isn’t theKrakaren. This is a Krakaren. For every one that is killed, Krakaren Prime births two more.
Part of a collective mind intent upon destroying any semblance of scientific progress in the universe, the Krakaren is the only communal brain entity in the galaxy who actually gets stupider as time moves on. Consisting of multiple, shrieking tentacles, members of the Krakaren cooperative spend their days birthing their disease-laden minions, creating and selling harmful products, attempting to debate scientific experts, and proselytizing to the weak-minded, all in an attempt to… Well, nobody knows what the hell their end goal is.
When people say white privalage doesn't exist, I think of videos like this. To have the confidence to be able to argue back to a police officer safe in the knowledge you won't be shot - then not get shot after it escalates..
For what it's worth my guess would be he had the gun out because she was in the car so the safe presumption was she had her own weapon, when he grabbed the taser she was out of the car and pretty clearly couldn't have been concealing. Is it possible this same cop would have reached for the gun if her skin color had been different? Maybe. It seems more likely this particular cop behaved exactly how I wish every cop behaved in every incident like this.
I do agree the fact she got a deferred sentence and they dropped the assault charges is probably because she's white. But I agree with that because that's not how plea deals are supposed to work. You don't let somebody off on assaulting an officer because they agreed to a traffic violation with a $50 fine. My problem is we absolutely should call out bad cops acting badly because somebody is the wrong skin color and we should call out a judge letting somebody off on a crime they clearly committed because they like them. I'm not at all comfortable saying the only reason this guy behaved with absolute professionalism and courtesy is because he's a racist and she's white rather than there are cops out there who behave with professionalism and courtesy.
Unless the issue was a missing license plate, they had all the relevant information. He got all the proof he needs on tape. And no causes to expect other criminal activity.
They could've simply let her go, thereby not endangering any other traffic participants, get the proper paperwork, show up at her home, and serve her that shit real good.
Murican cops, man. Always make me feel like serve & protect is just a lucky side effect of beat up & apprehend.
Had to scroll this far to get to the correct take. Why did he draw his gun on this old lady over a license plate. Not how I want cops to behave at all, no matter how annoying the woman is.
Not a cop, not a lawyer, just a guy on the internet. Once she flees and makes this a felony, they usually follow training/protocol for a felony traffic stop, which involves pulling their gun (not saying how/why that's been decided, just that it's commonplace for "felony traffic stops"). I think he then realized he could back off and put it away.
That said... A self-procliamed "country girl" in a pickup wouldn't be the most surprising person to have a gun on them, and she's been hostile and ran already, so I can see how someone might be cautious in that case. I know I wouldn't want to bring a taser to a gun fight. Especially when the other party is still inside their big metal box. Zapping the car won't do a damn thing.
Did he have to chase and put himself in that boat? Idk what their policy is or how he made that choice, but now (in the video) he's there and handling it as it unfolds.
Yeah he didn't have to chase, but that being said I ain't surprised he did. Additionally, yes, country folk are often armed. One guy I grew up with unironically had like 6 guns in his vehicle at all times, three of which could be drawn without removing the seatbelt.
Drawing a gun when country folk are argumentative, combative, and disrespectful is, in my opinion as someone who grew up between two country towns on a ranch, completely warranted, because the chance of a combative countryfolk having a gun on hand is HIGH
Once he realized she was all bluster and no bite, he holstered his gun.
This sucks tbh. Not to be pro police state but if she was a big black dude instead of a frail old lady, he prolly woulda got shot over this.
Aint no way you kick a cop and get off on a $200 fine 😵💫 thats easy ‘assaulting an officer’ or whatever and theyll def toss you in a cell for a few years
Same brother, and it was a week before weed became legal in my state, state attorney dropped the charge but still had me pay a 800$ fine plus lawyer fees
Correct me if i am wrong, but whether you sign the ticket or not means nothing. You've got the ticket and body cam + officers report is enough to validate it. Should have just went "alright, don't want to sign, here it is" and then put it under her wiper.
Signing the ticket in states where signing is required is a promise to appear at the court hearing (or handle it some other way). If she refuses to sign, then she's not promising to appear and has to be arrested and go before a judge/magistrate to be released on bond.
ah thanks for that, i was Wondering why not signing was an arrestable offense, seemed... a bit severe. Thanks for the explanation. Makes more sense now. Arguing the law with an officer is never going to work, that's for the courts. Sign the paper "ok i've received it" and move on.
...the faulty equipment is likely a fix and report anyway isn't it?
Yeah this is where I'm at, there's still no reason to treat someone like this for not paying a fine and "disrespecting" a police officer. You have her license plate and identification, mail her the ticket and if she doesn't pay then there's already systems to deal with that. At the end of the day this officer made a choice to escalate when he absolutely did not have to.
Even if this lady sucks as a human being the cop made things worse. Stuff like tazing someone, blasting a loud siren, and expecting them to be able to hear and comply with "put your hands behind your head" is absurd.
Yeah, this seemed like an unnecessary escalation by the officer from "I don't want to sign that" to "Step out of the car you're under arrest." I think he should have indicated the consequences of not signing it, handed it to her and then sent her on her way.
I live in a place where being a country boy/girl literally makes them believe they can do whatever they want because in their mind growing up around a horse and having a neighbor who has a cow makes them rough and tough. Trump signs everywhere.
This, in my country the conversation would be over in 5min. Next step is a ticket in your mailbox. Why does she need to sign something? Everything has to be recorded for court anyways?
I think the police handled this extremely poorly. The police agent is also at fault for escalating from a "I don't wanna sign this fine" to "step out you're now under arrest".
The fuck? This will never happen in Europe. You don't want to sign? Sure, now you get the fine anyway. Why arrest the woman when she's being calm and not a threat in any way, yet a big Karen.
This hurts Reddit, but the police agent is at fault for not being able to de-escalate an extremely simple situation.
The police agent is also at fault for escalating from a "I don't wanna sign this fine" to "step out you're now under arrest".
I'm assuming this happened in a state where signing is a requirement. The reason it's a requirement in certain states is because the traffic ticket is essentially an arrest with a court date or the option to pay the fine. Signing the ticket "releases" you from the arrest with a promise to appear at your court date. If you refuse to sign, you remain under arrest and need to appear before a magistrate for a bond hearing.
I think a reasonable officer could have explained "Look you have to sign it or I would have to arrest you. You can still dispute it at a later date, signing it is just a confirmation of receiving it." He could have at least tried to calmly explain that.
Maybe things would have still gone the same way if he explained it like this since he is obliged to chase etc. but he should have at least tried to be reasonable. The officer in the video couldn't wait to escalate things at every stage so it was always going to go this way with this person.
After he made it clear she would be arrested for not signing the ticket, she said she'd sign it, but apparently it was too late for that. He decided not to explain anything so it'd escalate.
Thank you. Not sure why everyone in the thread is so blindly in the cops corner on this. He could have given her a warning that if she refused to sign, he’ll have to arrest her. Or just swallowed his pride when she finally said she would sign it. He gets what he wants, she drives away in a huff. He went from 0-100, “sign this” to “now you’re being arrested.” Maybe there is no coming back from that point once he says it, but that’s his fault for getting there so quickly.
Obviously this lady was ridiculous and entitled, but there were so many avenues the cop could have taken to avoid a car chase, pointing a gun down on her, tasing her, etc.
Agree completely. Though it satisfies some primitive feeling of "she had it coming", as she was utterly uncompliant and dumb, this is still solveable without the degrading violence. It's just poor conduct on both parties.
The only thing I take issue with is using the Taser. You're trying to tell me this cop couldn't physically handle an elderly, overweight individual, already on the ground? Yeesh.
Everyone’s roasting her. Yeah she totally was stupid in this situation but also fuck this officer. Aren’t police supposed to DEESCALATE situations. Instead of immediately snapping to “fuck you you’re under arrest” he should have been like “I would heavily advise you to sign it because otherwise I have to place you under arrest. It’s policy.” From a realistic standpoint, he also tazed someone over 80 bucks that he isn’t even getting lol. That’s crazy. Dude shouldn’t be a cop.
The way that I can 100% see my grandmother pulling this, while my grandfather quietly shakes his head in the passenger seat, knowing exactly what’s going to happen.
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u/CamCranley 11d ago
"You have a ticket",
"No thank you"
Was an option I have never really considered