Violation : Speed Contest

"passenger was gathered to spectate an illegal speed contest"

Basically, my friend was driving his 1990 isuzu pickup and I was riding passenger. We drove by a street race area and because were young , we obtained these tickets. Anyone else ever had one similar and how did that go for you ?

I'm so upset, we literally didnt see anything and just got into this mess

 

When you say drove by, do you mean you literally drove by, or were you actually looking for some street races to watch?

If the former, you can always try & contest it in court that you were in the wrong place at the wrong time.

 

We knew it was going on , but we were on our way back to a car meet they have every wednesday in a parking lot. a legit meet that cops are always at and know about, lunch trucks, dj, normal meet . Just happened to be driving too close to the races and got forced into a trap .

 

I didn't know THAT was illegal. Usually, they hit you with illegally parking, or impeding a public thoroughfare, or some crap like that. Not spectating. Dang. Sounds easy enough to get out of if your recollection of events is true. Especially for a passenger.

 

That's what I'm saying . The cop said it was a g felony, but the interwebz says misdemenor. It has traffic marked on the ticket. Justice court (which I heard is worse than municipal).

I'm just hoping it doesnt go against my record as I'm a felon for this ?

 

Misdemeanor with a fine of $1,000.

Were you in San Diego county?

 

Go to court. There' s no way they can prove you were there to watch the races.

 

Burden of proof is upon them to prove INTENT to watch a race.

 

Go to court. I bet the cop doesn't show.

 

If you have a clean driving record it will more than likey get thrown out. Just go to court, don't Bitch to the judge that the cop is a Dick or anything like that. Tell them you were passing through there to get somewhere else, and that it was just wrong place wrong time you had no idea street racing goes on there

 

wow. frikken police state!

 

LOL America

 

I wouldn't laugh too hard. Canada has some seriously messed up rules regarding 'hate speech'.

 

No Las Vegas, Clark County.

Everyone I've spoke to has said there is no way it can be a felony.

I have a squeeky clean diving record + I was passenger.

 

So much land of the free...

If driving by street racing makes you guilty of participating, then driving by the scene of a murder must make you an accomplice. What is this country coming to?

 

I'd heard about this law in the media for quite some time.....just never heard of anyone actually being cited for it until now.

 

Your squeaky clean drivers record is your best friend right now. But if you're only 17 or something then the record won't hold as much clout with the judge. Good luck bud but definitely fight it.

 

A passenger? Damn yeah you have nothing to worry about. Again no proof. Go to court. Don't stress it.

 

I'm almost 19, so almost been driving 3 years with a clean record, full time job, good credit (not that that matters lol)

Thanks for the help guys and recomendations, October 31 is my court day .

I had one ticket for running a stop sign about a year ago, but the judge dropped it cause when I went to court i showed her pictures of the "intersection" where there was no stop sign. Basically construction put the signs up in the morning, forgot to take them down and took them down the next day. I just so happened to be driving by that night not paying attention and getting a ticket for it. Cop was just waiitng for me, pulled me over 5 houses away from home

 

Burden of proof is on the state. They need to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that you were either street racing or organizing a street race. Simply driving by does not work.

You mention that it was a known street race area. Where street races going on at the time you were ticketed? Where is this road located? Is it a major thoroughfare?

If its some back road around warehouses, you may have harder time proving that you were just driving through, but if its a regular road, I really don't see how this ticket will stick. What sucks is that its still money out of your pocket, since you'll have to pay court costs.

 

they were "scouting the area/hooning up the street"said the cop, but the cop said only a set of street bikes went at it and thats enough to swarm everyone. We were on a freeway uhhh offramp I guess that takes you right past where they race apparently , we were on our way to a car meet and we got passed by a turbo supra and like 7 cops. Than as we were trying to make our way to the car meet we got roadblocked.

Warehouses ? Eh, buisnesses and a elementary school ?

If you wanna google maps it Morgan, go to nevada and do "durango and spanish ridge" . We were cruising down Brent Thurman on our way to the meet and than got forced to the roadblock at spanish ridge and durango , when we were on our way to tropicana street originally.

Either way, we had no intent on staying to check it out, we were on our way to the legal event. And can you really race a 90' Isuzu pickup ? good luck on that

 

Im somewhat familiar with the area. My sister doesnt live far from there and my father used to live in Henderson.

Thats a bullshit ticket. Just go to court and explain your route, why it was changed, where you were going and exactly what the cop told you.

Just because two motorcycles were allegedly racing doesnt mean that everyone in the area is doing the same thing.

 

I have gotten a ticket like that once for driving a fast looking car while there were cars around me racing on the highway.They whooshed by me, I don't know who they were or where they came from, but I was minding my own business. Fought it in court and they dismissed the case because the cop couldn't prove a damn thing...That might be because I had nothing to do with it!

So if you got that ticket, what did your driver friend get, the same ticket, or something with even more nonsense?

 

Nope , Identical ticket same court day.

It's something when you're speeding and you get a ticket. Than you tell yourself well darn maybe I shouldent speed !
When you didnt do anything and you get a ticket for it

 

Reminds me of the ticket I got not to far back for "wreckless operation on private property". I was driving on a county owned dirt road that runs behind my house after a rain storm and inadvertently got stuck in some really loose mud. Luckily my neighbor owns a tow truck and came around to help me out, but by the time he came around a neighbor had called the cops and they surrounded me with 4 squad cars (two of them getting stuck in the process). long story short, they cited me for that wreckless operation crap and i took it to court and it was wiped clean

 

Ticket to passenger not seatbelt related, in a '90 Isuzu pickup related to racing.. yeah, that's a no-brainer.