Weight: —
Okay, this may appear to be really catty, but I’m doing it to make a point, so bear with me.
How does a guy who is large enough such that the cops stopping him for multiple traffic violations didn’t write his weight on the ticket fit into what appears to be a sedan with his wife, his four kids (one of whom–now 5–would have been in a car seat in 2005) and one of the AUSAs who works for him?
Because that appears to be the story Chris Christie is now telling about his traffic stop in 2005.
The reason the cops now give for letting Christie drive away in an uninsured, unregistered vehicle is that he had his kids with him.
[Lambertville Police Director Bruce] Coccuzza says, "He indentified himself."
Why was Christie allowed to drive away despite having no proof of insurance and no valid registration card? Coccuzza says, "He said he had insurance and he’s a person that produced federal I.D. credentials so you could probably assume that what he was saying was the truth……..is it consistent with the policy? No, but you do have special circumstances."
Coccuzza says the "special circumstances" were Christie’s children in the car not his job title. He says the fact that Christie was U.S. Attorney probably didn’t even register with officer at the scene, "From what I recollect I think she (the officer) even said at the time, ‘If wasn’t for the fact that you had a car full of children this car would be towed.’"
Of course, they would presumably have already seen the kids when they called the tow truck, but set that aside for the moment.
I’m more interested in how seven people (presumably including at least one car seat) fit in in a 4-door car.
Now there are several possible explanations. Perhaps only some of Christie’s kids were with him. Perhaps they left the then-one-year old and the then-four-year old at home with a sitter and brought the then-eleven and then-nine year old. Perhaps the car was an SUV–a five door car that fits seven apparently described as a four door.
But couple that question (and the oddity about the tow truck) with the reluctance on the part of Christie’s spokesperson to admit that Michele Brown was with Christie (not to mention the seeming implication that all the kids were in there).
Asked who was in the vehicle, [Maria] Comella said Christie’s wife and kids were. Comella balked when asked if Michelle Brown was also in the vehicle. She questioned the relevance of that and at first refused to answer. Comella finally agreed to ask Christie and called back minutes later to confirm Brown was in the vehicle.
Once you get up to all seven people in the four door car, things begin to get suspicious.
Then consider how scribe’s explanation of how the three violations turn into two lesser violations. This set of tickets would make sense, according to scribe, if Christie were able to show that the car in question had been insured and registered at the time of the traffic stop.
This is a common resolution of this constellation of tickets. Go to a random municipal court and you’ll see this two or three times a week.
The gist of the “failure to exhibit documents” being a resolution of the “no insurance” and the “unregistered vehicle” is that you do have to show up in court and bring the documentation with you to prove that (a) you did in fact have insurance on the date of the ticket and (b) the vehicle was in fact registered to you on that date. The elements of the “failure to exhibit documents” charge are that you did have the required insurance and registration (or whatever document you were missing) but you did not exhibit it to the cop at the time as required. This, as opposed to you did not have the insurance or registration.
Thing is, Christie’s people admit that the car wasn’t registered at the time of the stop.
Coccuzza says Christie produced a registration card, but even Comella admits the car was not registered at the time of the stop. The registration had expired almost two months before the incident.
Which makes this resolution less common.
Now add this detail (also noted by scribe). There’s a note–apparently written five months later when the tickets were finally resolved–saying,
Pros to discuss w/D [?]
increase fee because 2nd unsafe driving
So you’ve got a guy who was getting hot enough with the cops that they wrote "NO DEAL" on the tickets themselves. A guy who had already had at least one unsafe driving violation. Allowed to drive away from the scene of the traffic stop, ostensibly because he had his wife, subordinate, and kids (potentially four of them) in the car.
But those four kids wouldn’t fit in the car with the three adults alleged to be present, certainly not for the hour long trip to the Delaware football game and certainly not with everyone in the appropriate car seat or seat belt.
And that entire story is the alternate explanation, you see, for why Christie was allowed to drive away in an unregistered car with no proof of insurance. It wasn’t that he had told the cops he was the top federal prosecutor in the state, you see. It was because there were seven people in a car that probably fits just five people.
Jeebus. Having kids in a car without adequate restraints is reason enough to have the car towed.
Child endangerment, much?
You’re assuming he had all or any kids in the car.
I’m suggesting that wasn’t possible, not if it was really a 4-door.
Which suggests there was a different reason he got let go.
Or maybe Mrs. Christie was home with teh two youngest and Brown was in the car with the two older kids.
I failed to add the snark tag. If there really were kids in the car, this scenario is absolutely implausible because of child endangerment. It’s the lever which should be used to pry on the cop(s) involved.
Logistically speaking, it’s a pain in the ass to even try to squeeze in one thin child as a sixth passenger in a 5-passenger sedan. Might work for a few blocks, but not for an hour.
Lamberville’s a quaint little town on the Delaware River, the kind that would have cozy B&B’s. Is it really on the way to the state of Delaware?
The talk radio that first reported this said the site might make sense. I guess if you’re taking back roads to get to the game?
Look at googlemaps and you’ll see it’s out of the way for any trip to Delaware. It seems more a destination in itself, but who am I to say how people should get their kicks. I grew up further up the river on the Pennsylvania side. It’s very pretty!
I should have rephrased that: I didn’t mean to imply Pennsylvanians don’t know how to get their kicks.
I see that. It’s not TOTALLY out of the way between Mendham and Newark, DE, assuming you choose not to take 287 all the way to 95 and instead go the back way.
Of course, if you had intended to go 287 but then took the back way instead, it might explain why you were going 18 MPH over the speed limit, bc you were late for the game.
I may be incorrectly assuming it was a home University of Delaware game and not somewhere else.
It is TOTALLY out of the way, though, if you’re going to Delaware. Why would you get on minor roads and then drive down the river through Trenton to get back on the interstate?
And again, as a destination the region up and down the river on both sides is quaint.
L’ ville is the connector between 202 ( North Jersey) and I-95 via NJ 29 which is 45MPH between points or the fastest way to connect. I-95 is a direct route to Delaware.
You have to watch your ass in L’ville about a square mile with a little private army who are everywhere w/ Vascar. NJ has a license front and back so if you’re from a state with only rear license ,like PA next door, it’s like driving around with a flashing sticker on your forehead screaming TICKET ME.
Yeah, having a MI plate like that works the same way in OH. Funny how they can even make that out when you’re going 75 on the OH Turnpike.
Oh, and the zone in question was 40 MPH. He was going 58.
Oh baby, I have PERSONAL knowledge of that speed zone, it’s for suckers or those who pay taxation without representation. It goes from 45 to 35 to 25 to 35 to 40 to 45 in about a mile and a half and now I know EXACTLY where their jurisdiction ends, which unfortunately is Hopewell Twp which I unfortunately I have personal knowledge of their enforcement procedures also.
Which makes the plea deal even a little more dubious. The usual speeding ticket is a 4-98. This is a two-point ticket. what the cop will ordinarily do is write you a ticket for 14 miles per hour over the limit (regardless of what you were actually doing) because a 4-98 is for speeding “up to 14 mph over the limit”.
IF, OTOH, you are doing between 15 and 29 mph over the limit, you should be getting a ticket for violating N.J.S.A. 39:4-99. This is a four-point ticket, carries a heavier fine (By about $30), and most importantly, those additional points.
The ticket shows he was clocked at 58 in a 40 zone, i.e., 18 over the limit. Ordinarily, the cop would give a guy the 4-98 and mark it as 14 over even though it was 18 over. But, here, the cop neither checked any of the little boxes showing how many mph over the limit, nor did he give an appropriate ticket – a 4-99.
So, Christie made out that way, because judges and prosecutors are ordinarily ill-disposed to accept an attempt to plead a 4-pointer down to a driving while stupid 4-97.2. Two pointers, they do all the time.
You can look up the motor vehicle point system at N.J.A.C. 13:19-10.1 (That’s New Jersey Administrative Code) For those of you who care, that also sets out how much of a suspension one can get for accumulating points.
I’m curious what the penalty is for a left turn. Or trying to fill up your own tank at a gas station.
Improper turning is 4-123 (improper right or left), 4-124 (improper turn from approved turning course) and 4-125 (Improper u-turn) and each of those is a three point offense.
Improperly passing a frozen dessert truck is 4 pointer, and improperly passing a school bus is a 5 pointer, so you know where the priorities lie.
The penalty for allowing someone to pump their own gas goes against the station owner, not the driver.
You mean you just have to sit and wait behind the dessert truck until it thaws out? Oh, I see what you mean. Is it true mafia construction contractors are responsible for jug handles?
As to the jug handles – no. It turns out those are the most effective and safest way of accommodating left-turn and U-turn movements. It separates the turning traffic from the straight traffic and then allows the turning movements when the lights change.
Works.
As to the mafia subcontractors – you can’t stand for more than a day on any construction site in Jersey without running into a mobbed-up guy somewhere in that day. Someone who’ll take your bet or point you to a buddy who will, etc. It just is a part of the landscape.
scribe, I have also plead no lo contendere [sp?] in new jersey, that was quite some time ago but they offered that plea I didn’t ask for it
now I understand that’s pretty much a guilty plea but they didn’t assign points just fine
There was a football game that weekend, at least.
The law is “different” for those at the top?
Mathematics (how things add up) is “different” for those at the top?
The laws of physics (two objects CAN occupy the same spot at the same time) is different for those at the top?
Those children certainly came in handy (assuming … no child left behind).
There is a perfectly logical explanation for all this. But we can’t tell you because it is a secret. A “top” secret.
Wait, wait, don’t tell?
Don’t ask.
Wouldn’t that be “Weight, weight, don’t tell?”
Wouldn’t a citation give a tag (License plate) number? Couldn’t that be checked?
Here’s another hole in his story.
He’s en route one way or another to the University of Delaware?
OK. Per UDel, the football game on 9/24/05 was with UDel hosting Holy Cross in Newark, Delaware. Game time: 7 PM.
So, he’s taking the kids to a game which won’t start until 7, will likely conclude sometime around 9 or 9:30, and then will drive home from Newark all the way to Mendham?
The thing is, he’s going the cockeed way to get there. The stop was, per the ticket, a radar trap on Route 29.
You have to understand the lay of the land in the Lambertville area to get this. Route 29 is a state highway which follows the east (Jersey) bank of the Delaware River from south of Trenton north to Lambertville and thence hard by the river to little, picturesque burgs called Stockton (named after a signer of the Declaration, some of whose familial descendants still live in the area) and Frenchtown.
If you’re going from Mendham to Newark, Delaware, you do not use Route 29. It is, for the most part, two lanes, choked with turning traffic, and winding. Newark, Delaware is west of Wilmington, hard against the Maryland-Delaware line. You’ve got a ways to go.
The two “best” routes from Mendham would be either down the Jersey Turnpike to US 40 (south of Camden) and then across into Wilmington (without even touching Pennsylvania) and thence to Newark. Google maps tells me 132 miles, 2 1/2 hours. Or, one could go down 287 to 202, then across on 202 into Pennsylvania above Lambertville and New Hope, then along 202 to various bypasses around the northwest side of Philadelphia and thence to Newark DE. Google maps says 123 miles, 2 hours 45 minutes. No tolls on the 202 bridge, last I checked.
To be fair, there is a cloverleaf connecting 29 and 202 just north of Lambertville. The one (202) passes over the other (29) on a seriously-space-age-design early 60s bridge. But do Lambertville cops patrol 202, let alone radar trap it?
Why save 9 miles and go an extra 15 minutes (really, a lot more time than that)? (And we all know google Maps’ times are … wildly optomistic)
Maybe he was used to this way from going back and forth during college?
Maybe he wanted to save 10 bucks on tolls?
Maybe because the NJ Turnpike would have caught his EZ pass (if he had one on the car). There would have been a photo image of the car passing through the toll booth. And you can’t really speed on the Turnpike b/c your toll ticket or EZ Pass will show it – elapsed time through the booths.
Getting your image snapped or your EZ Pass recorded when your registration and insurance are gone … kinda establishes the case.
But, one more question: was he headed home when the cops tagged him? Or, when they let him go, did he go to the game anyway?
One more point about all this.
If no insurance or registration was shown at the traffic stop, there is no proof that the car was–as Christie claims–his wife’s car or even his own.
If I were a wealthy finance gal like Mrs. C, the only Chevy you’d see me in (until the Volt comes out) is the Suburban (particularly if I had 4 kids). But hell, if I were affluent enough to loan my husband’s subordinate $46,000, then I’d probably drive an Escalade or a Navigator (I don’t think there was a hybrid American SUV at that point, aside from the Escape).
But if I were a prosecutor with a hubby with financial problems and no kids of my own, I might drive a 4-door Chevy.
The plate would trace back to the registered owner, and (in this instance)would show the registration as expired. Unfortunately, getting to the plate number-owner name database is not possible for the general public. Cops regularly get fired (1 or 2 a year) for running plate numbers for someone.
Do they do that in NJ? Give you tickets based on your times between EZ Pass booths? I know they don’t in Texas. I used to have 110 mile (roundtrip) daily commute and about 70 miles of that was on a toll road. Back then, I drove an Audi TT that really preferred to hum along at 85mph when you were in sixth gear (and down here in Houston 85 just means you’re keeping up with traffic in the left lane). I remember getting my first bill for the tolls and realizing that they captured the exact time you passed through booth. Never got any tickets from that (nor did any of the thousands of other scofflaws on the toll road).
They haven’t yet. I do the PA turnpike on EZ Pass everyday and nobody does the speed limit. They could make a bonanza that way. We do jersey turnpike a bunch as well.
They can. They don’t necessarily do it, but they can.
I don’t think it’s plausible that someone would be so paranoid/calculating about tollbooth photos unless he were on his way to commit a murder. It seems more like he just wasn’t going that way.
Or dropping anthrax in a mailbox–I can’t help but remember the last time we were talking in this much detail about I-95 we were talking about whether the FBI’s story about Ivins made any sense at all.
I remember and I was going to attempt a joke about it.
Keep it in perspective – he’s the US Attorney and, FWIW, gets agitprop drummed into his head that he’s a terrist target. So, he’s always looking over his shoulder.
And, if he’s up to no good – be it just avoiding being tracked, trying to go somewhere without being noticed, or something else – he would very likely be thinking along those lines. Remember, as US Attorney, he would have access to and knowledge of all the different types of surveillance which we civilians have no knowledge of. We go blithely on our way being surveilled without knowing about it, so we don’t notice it. He knows about it, and can only be paranoid.
Well, and I have to check the date. But he may have already been on the firing list for the USAs. If he was on that list for the same reason as Margaret Chiara was–for giving preferential bonuses to his perceived favorite–then he might not want to be discovered with that favorite on his way to a recreation event like, um, football.
Which one of them is the Delaware graduate?
Both CHristie and his wife are.
hmmm – you think the car was Brown’s??
Like scribe was saying, the area in question is really a destination of its own. You wouldn’t go there unless you wanted to hang out for awhile. Either there are on the PA side in New Hope. The cops along both sides of the river are real pains, they are out in force. The jersey troopers have a training academy on the north side of Trenton and they teach them speed trapping along 29 and I 95 around there. There are a ton of DUI’s given out around there.
Did they actually get to the game? And what time did the ticket get issued
The ticket was issued at 4:something PM. Game time, per the UDel schedule, was 7 PM. In Newark, DE.
Another note. From my house Just west of trenton in PA to newark de usually is right about an hour without traffic. If you go jersey turnpike to delaware bridge its a little longer 1:15. My wife goes down to wilmington de a lot for the us bankruptcy court down there (doing a lot of business this year)
Okay. This is interesting. As I understand it, Christie’s people sort of ‘fessed up to him having had 5 accidents and 7 speeding tickets.
That’s a lot.
That’s a lot to still have a license at all. Or are rules different in NJ and dangerous drivers like this are allowed to stay on the road regardless of teh number of violations (mind you, having driven in Jersey, I’d believe it).
And might that explain why he wasn’t driving on the Turnpike?
Depends on the timing. If they all came in a short period he would have been suspended. But, if that’s his lifetime record – err, not so bad.
5 accidents.
7 speeding tickets
Heck, even the 88 year old that still has her license in our neighborhood doesn’t have that bad a record.
Who gets in five accidents, except a drunk (one with a sense of impunity)? And heavy drinkers tend to be overweight.
You’re stretching it. See mine upthread at 36.
There’s one other rationale, and that’s cell phone use. If he’s on the phone frequently for work, it could be a problem.
Could also be a bigger problem depending on whom he’s yacking with on the phone at the time of the accident, too…
That sounds pretty plausible. You people are like piranhas, piranhas with powers of deductive reasoning.
Maybe it’s like “Crash”, though, with Christie serving a dual role as airbag.
Pirahna with powers of deductive reasoning?
Or a mother who is mid-course with a first-year teen driver, now practiced at delivering the do-not-ever-EVER-text-or-call-while-driving lecture?
[edit: freshly delivered that lecture AGAIN this morning after a particularly hairy turn which could have been deadly had the teen’s attention been distracted…]
Ooh, fancy schmancy: Lambertville advertises itself as the “antique capital of New Jersey”. And check out this swanky place: http://www.martincoryellhouse……agodDny0mw
Someone ask the gentle innkeeper — “Portly gentleman and a nervous-looking blonde? Sure, lots of times…”
Sorry for the silliness — this thread has me in stitches.
Only because I used “weight” in the title, I’m sure. Nothing else silly here, move along…
Why dontcha google fine dining Lambertville NJ and see how many really swanky places you cough up?
Responding to cue
Oh, and one more thing I didn’t note is that there was video taken of the stop. It was destroyed, as is routine, apparently, after 120 days.
Which would mean the tape was destroyed before the tickets themselves were resolved.
Can THAT be routine?
It was a document case, not a DWI case, in which event it would not be out of the norm for it to be destroyed. That, and it’s a small town and I wouldn’t be surprised if Deputy Fife were in charge of video retention and recycling.
Fair enough. But I guess it’s a lot easier to ignore the “No deal” on the ticket if there is no longer evidence of why the cop on the scene was so pissed at him in the first place (but still let him drive the car away).
Maybe it wasn’t that Christie was “hot” with the cop; maybe he tried to use the power of his office.
ot: still awaiting dna test results, but appears 11 year old girl kidnapped in Lake Tahoe 18 years ago just walked into the Concord Police Dept. Two people in custody.
story
Were any of the speeding tickets related to the accidents? Over what period of time did he aquire this record.
I’ve been driving for 30 years. During that time, I might well have earned 6 tickets and I’ve been in one accident as defined by the state and two others as defined by my insurance company.
But currently my driving record is clean and I get my insurance companies best price because nothing has happened in the last three years.
In this state, they always cite someone if there’s an accident. They may cite all involved. The tickets are commonly speeding, failure to maintain distance, failure to signal.
So if that’s a lifetime record, the ticket count isn’t horrible. He’s averaging a ticket every four years in a high ticket state.
Boxturtle (If thats his ACTIVE driving record, he would have lost his license in Ohio)
This incident becomes easier to understand once you realize that Christie wasn’t actually driving on public roads. He was motoring down the Appalachian Trail, a thoroughfare much beloved by his colleagues in the Republican Party. Thus, the usual traffic rules of the state of NJ do not apply.
OT –
http://www.law.com/jsp/article…..s=newswire
The 9th circuit issued an en banc opinion yesterday re: search & seizure in the digital age in connection with the steroids investigation.
I guess where the gov wants to willfully disregard something, it should be a FISA statue and the 4th amendment, since not getting a warrant at all has proven to be a pretty safe way to go.
Yes. This is the investigation into Barry Bonds and BALCO (and eventually Roger Clemens) that I have been screaming about for years now. It was out of control and acting in a rogue manner almost from the start, and it was all sanctioned by the Bush appointed USA up there, Kevin Ryan. He was really the one USA fired by Bush that deserved to be fired unequivocally. He was headhunting for a high profile case on Bonds and exercised absolutely pitiful control over the investigative team, which was taken over by a disingenuous IRS investigator named Novitsky. Shit will be hitting the fan on this whole mess for years. Just wait till they try to crank back up on the trial track of Bonds or actually file charges against Clemens. It will get very ugly.
The guy was doing 58 in a 40? In one of those tiny NJ/DE/MD towns?? That’s criminal stupid.
I was a Cali transplant down there and I learned VERY quickly that you OBEY those signs as soon as you see them. They have every electronic device known to science to detect, record and fine everything you are doing wrong.
With that driving record, I smell an arrogant IOKIYAR douchebag.
I like that this reporter had the moxie to ask about Brown.
All due respect, I don’t think that any of Chevy’s 2004 passenger car products would have been remotely comfortable for a fellow Chris’ size to drive. Behind the wheel of an Impala? It certainly would not have been comfortable for an outing over to Delaware.
http://www.roadandtravel.com/r…..vrolet.htm
Well gosh, it was his wife’s car, not his. He prefers to take the car without registration on a trip.
I’m 300 lbs and I drive a Ford Escort. People think it should be small for me, but it’s paid for.
And you would probably have 1) the good sense not to squeeze 4-plus adults and 2-plus children in that vehicle, and 2) you probably wouldn’t use your position as top law enforcement officer in the state to weasel out of tickets.
O/T, with apologies, but if you share my feelings about Jonathan Chait, you’ll love this. Lanny Davis gets some due, too.
THURSDAY AUG. 27, 2009 10:28 EDT
Even The New Republic now calls for a party purge of corporate-owned “centrists”
Glenn Greenwald
“While it’s lovely that The New Republic has now joined that movement and decided that corporate-owned “centrists” need to be purged from the Party, Chait is laboring under complete blindness about the reasons these problems have arisen. Chait accuses me, Dan Froomkin and “liberals” generally of “confusion” because we believe that the Obama White House bears some of the blame in the dominance of corporate interests generally and in the health care battle specifically. Chait echoes the facially absurd excuse of the most hardened Obama loyalists everywhere: namely, that Obama, Rahm Emanuel and friends are just helpless, impotent observers who wield no influence over the health care debate and can do nothing but sit back and hope and pray that the Senate will pass a good, progressive health care reform bill free of excessive servitude to the health care and drug industries. If the Congress refuses to, well that’s obviously not Obama’s fault — a President isn’t in the Congress and can’t really influence what it does, so this excuse-making goes.”
More.
O/T, or back to torture.
INTERVIEW-CIA probe must go to highest level-UN rights boss
27 Aug 2009 18:33:43 GMT
Source: Reuters
* Investigation should establish responsibility at top level * Navi Pillay urges countries to resettle Guantanamo inmates
* U.N. rights boss marks first year in office on Sept. 1
By Stephanie Nebehay
GENEVA, Aug 27 (Reuters) – “The U.S. prosecutor’s investigation into alleged criminal CIA interrogation techniques must go right to the top political level, the chief U.N. rights official said on Thursday.
“U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, 67, in a wide-ranging interview with Reuters, urged European and other countries to resettle Guantanamo detainees so that President Barack Obama can close the U.S.-run prison in Cuba by year-end.”
More.
Ain’t gonna happen
Why, it’s ALREADY happened! With the documents already public, responsability is firmly established at Bush’s doorstep along with additional documented players too numberous to mention.
Boxturtle (Do I need to add the /s? Didn’t think so)
For more from EW on Christ and Michele, see her August 18 thread. Very helpful refresher.
http://emptywheel.firedoglake……ele-brown/
“From what I recollect I think she said at the time [but I wasn’t there]” means he must have seen the tape.
Does the Police Director watch all tapes of routine traffic stops? If not, why did he Watch this one? After watching it and knowing the tickets were not yet paid, why did he let it be destroyed?
Does not paying a ticket yet mean that the driver hasn’t yet pled guilty or innocent? If yes and if the driver hasn’t paid the ticket yet, then is it normal to destroy tapes? What if the driver decides to fight the ticket – wouldn’t the police want that tape in court?
I’ve done some reading on the Police Director and he sounds like a stand-up guy. I apologize to him for implying otherwise.
What was the weather like? Was it raining?
you’re right, you’re being a bit catty here
I was once pulled over for a faulty headlight. I didn’t have a license, and I used a week old ticket as ID. The passenger in my car was drunk and belligerent. And did I mention that I was under the influence of LSD at the time ???
and the cops let me go
they didn’t want to stick around to tow my car. they decided that since my passenger was too drunk to drive, and I appeared sober, I should leave, quickly
some days, you’re just a little more than the cops want to deal with
and if you ain’t a danger to yourself or others …
PS, the vehicle was unlicensed and uninsured, btw
Meh, I don’t even know you any more; you have ceased eating crunchy things that wander in. Left us in quite the lurch you have.
I gots meat world responsibilities now
summer time is my busy season
an I still don’t have my own working computer
sides, it’s an off year, there ain’t any campaigns (and I remember teh summer of 2005 in the innertoobz, that wasn’t pretty)
so I been avoiding the innertoobz
right now I got a sick relative and a sick dog, so life is complicated
and the turtles are a part time job too …
Well that sucks. Best to the relative and the dog. Get em well; then get back to killin munchys. If there is anything we can do, let us know.
Ah, but see the difference?
You’re happy to tell us just what happened, unlicensed vehicle and all.
Christie, not so much. l
He’s STILL in trouble!
Gee, Chris Christie sure gets treated better than Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan. He must have some bigfoot!
You might just have stumbled onto why the tape was destroyed. It was a humanitarian gesture to destroy it if Christie was channeling Britney and Lindsey and going commando…
I have been pulled over under similar circumstances and allowed to drive on.
In a case like this, I wouldn’t really bother to try and find a “conspiracy” or “special privilege” because it’s really impossible to know. You all are coming off a bit fascist in my view.
I honestly don’t think anyone should be towed for lack of registration or proof of insurance. Write a ticket, set a court date, and let the person take care of it. Every law-abiding citizen will be able to straighten out their paperwork without the state needing to uselessly confiscate their property (and without due process, imo). If the person doesn’t show up or pay or whatever, then I think it is appropriate to issue some kind of warrant or whatever.
And I have had many clients who were ordered to secure the vehicle at the scene and either have it towed or obtain an official limited trip permit before moving it. It really depends on the law and custom of the jurisdiction; so for you to wander in here and blithely start demeaning motives and accusing people of being fascist is completely asinine and out of line.
Other than that, heave ho; nobody like squeals and snitches.
Having your car impounded or “secured at the scene” for lapsed registration is something that no free people should put up with. I wouldn’t wish it on anyone, including my political opponents.
You’re missing the point.
Go home, get your registration. Fine.
But if you didn’t HAVE registration to have it completely dismissed?
To have someone harassing the cops and then STILL get off easy?
I am not missing the point.
Twice in my driving life I have been pulled over with lapsed registration. Both times my car was not impounded. Once was in CA, the other time was in UT. If I remember correctly, I received “fix-it” tickets both times, which entailed paying a $10 fine and showing or mailing proof of registration acquired subsequently.
I doubt very many police officers would impound your car for two months-lapsed registration. Especially if you were traveling with kids. Cops are like that.
I love your blog and read almost daily, BTW. I just think this particular issue is really a non-issue. To try to turn it into a scandal seems a bit like selective prosecution. Fox news-type stuff in reverse.
Indeed he may have pulled his “privilege and position” card to get out of it. If there were any actual evidence of that then it would be a story.
Precisely what I said. There are different laws in each jurisdiction and what you experience doesn’t necessarily have squat to do with the jurisdiction where Christie was stopped. You don’t know; heck you don’t even seem to really know the law where you were stopped. Many jurisdictions, including mine, do contemplate the vehicle either being parked or towed depending on any number of circumstances; NJ may or may not, but you don’t know. Yet you have the audacity to impugn our motives and lob out the term “fascist” simply because we have the discussion? Whether you or I agree with the law is irrelevant; and in either regard, Christie was allowed to proceed. It is, however, a valid discussion to inquire and reason out what happened to Christie and why.
I see cars being towed every week or so in downtown LA, because, while they were legal when they parked, they were still there after the ‘no parking’ hours cut in. Some of them are pretty nice cars, too. (They have tickets stuck under the wiper blades, too. Parking Enforcement doesn’t mess around.)
Ever notice how the f-word gets used more frequently by people who don’t ken its real meaning?
The regular commenters here are dedicated to political dissent against a political faction which would shut down all dissent for the purposes of furthering corporatist aims, and yet we draw the f-label?
Huh.
squeal
Tell me what you don’t understand about this?
NOT IMPOUNDMENT
Dismissal of registration citation in spite of fact that registration citation was correct
See?!?!?! Two different issues!!! One is impoundment. One is dismissal of the correct citation altogether. Are you suggesting (really?) that driving without registering your car if you’re a law enforcement officer should not be punished? Really?
Get it? I know you’re obsessed about the impoundment. I’m not. And that’s not the point I’m making no matter how many comments you make that assertion in.
Also, towing of cars tends to be nothing more than a racket for the city involved. That’s probably the largest factor in determining whether you will be towed for this or that violation in a certain city or county.
Places like Malibu. Hard-up for cash and towing every poor fucker with his/her toes (tires) over the line. It’s crap.
All I’m saying is; don’t fight fascism with fascism.
OK I realize this is mostly OT, but I’ve got towing on my mind. I’ll let you figure out why……
Marcy,
That last image of the ticket (”Pros to discuss w/D”) looks like short hand:
Pros (prosecutor) to discuss w/ D (maybe an O instead of a D? “With Deputy” or “With Officer”?)
That would presumably refer to “Defendant” – i.e. Christie.
Pros to discuss w/D [?]
increase fee because 2nd unsafe driving
Marcy,
This says: “Pros. [prosecutor] to discuss with Defendant. Increase fee because 2nd unsafe operator.”
Ah, you’re probably right. The question mark was because of the weird shape of the D–it almost looked like they had redacted part of it, but mostly the shape of the D.
But that would make sense.
Actually NJ is really anal about insurance and would never allow any vehicle without proof of insurance back on the road. I lived there in the early 80’s