Personally, I still think they're going to have a hard time proving Reckless Driving and Speeding without a witness testifying as to how you were driving. You could be driving under the speed limit and still lose control of your vehicle. I'm surprised they don't have a "catch all" in their motor vehicle code such as Driving Too Fast For Conditions or Failure To Reduce Speed To Avoid an Accident. Your best bet is to get an attorney and let him/her sort it out. Good luck.

 

Get a lawyer for sure

 

Fight it . . . even if you were wrong. Sats show you will either win or minimize the consequences significantly.

Just read a news piece on the subject. It said never pay a ticket. Never admit wrong. And fight it. You will be far better off.

Craig

 

Am I missing something or are we talking about basically tire tracks/ruts in a yard?
If so I find it disturbing that someone can call this a collision or leaving the seen of an accident with property damage being tire tracks. Hell how many yards have been run thru we exiting or entering an alley?
The cop was an *** plan and simple and the neighbors are ***'s too for dodging the guy when they NOW know he clearly wants to be responsible for his actions. There's no way this would have been my reaction to yard damage. Yes in hind sight you should have left a note but damn.
For the Leos on here, theres no way to justify the cops actions, he should have gotten both sides of the story and then explained the situation to each party and the problem could have been solved; instead now you have a situation where the people will proabably end up disliking each other over something stupid.

 

If a person intentionally drives over someone's lawn here in Illinois, they can be charged with Criminal Damage to Property. If the damage is unintentional as a result of an accident, they can be charged with Damage to Property. There doesn't have to be a "collision" in order for it to be classified as an accident, just property damage. While I don't agree with the officer's actions, I can see where he might charge the OP with leaving the scene of an accident. I'm not making excuses, but I can't begin to tell you how many times I've investigated hit and run accidents where the driver told me he/she was going to report it later. In many cases, it gives them time to sober up. (I'm not insinuating the OP was intoxicated.) Secondly, we have no idea what the witness told the officer. Maybe he/she told him the OP was driving recklessly at a high rate of speed. The witness may have also told the officer they would appear in court to testify.

I agree that it sounds like an over reaction on the officer's part, but again, we're only hearing one side of the story. I'd also question why the officer didn't arrest the OP at his residence. In Illinois Reckless Driving is a misdemeanor and an arrestable offense. To me, mailing someone tickets under these circumstances is a "sneaky" way of doing things. Why not write the tickets on the spot or at least tell him he was going to be cited? Maybe that's the way they do things there.

The OP thought he was doing the right thing because of the early hour and minor damage. Perhaps the officer thought he was doing the right thing because of what the witness told him. I don't know.

 

I question why he mailed me the fines as well he sat there in my driveway for probably an hour lecturing me off and on as he did paperwork. I thought in that hour I should have at least received the fines or something.

 

It sounds like it's because he was not sure WHAT to write you for and was thoroughly pizzed at having to do all that terrible paperwork. Instead, he goes back to the cop-shop, consults with his buddies and/or Sergeant as to not only WHAT to write you for but HOW MANY to write.
Like I said earlier, if this guy let's his emotions dictate this much of what he does on the job, he has NO BUSINESS wearing a badge and "serving" the fine folks of Pottstown. He may very well be a walking Federal civil-rights law suit for his department in the future too.

 

For some reason I think the neighbors have seen you take that turn fast before. I think it was their opportunity to make a point.

All the tickets are ridiculous. Maybe if you committed manslaughter but comeon, you ruffled a few blades of grass? Who knows, the car before you could've lost some oil on the roadway and you hit it and lost control. There were no witnesses, right? Its a he said- she said. Go to court.

My dad lived just around a curve. For 30 years about once every three months a car would lose control at the curve, hit the curb and jump the sidewalk into his fence and front yard. (Once one hit his house!) The only ticket they might have got was a DUI. Their insurance companies paid to fix my dad's yard, over and over and over but that was it.

Did I say the "accidents" at his house always happened after 2am? Coincidently, that's the time all the bars close.

Good luck. Get an attorney.
..rickko..

 

I think you're making an assumption as to why the officer wrote the tickets. You're assuming that the officer wrote the tickets because he was pissed off. You don't know that and I don't know that. As a retired police officer reading your comments, my assumption would be that you've received a ticket or two, or that you've had some kind of negative contact with the police. Is that a fair assumption on my part? I don't think so because I don't know anything about you. Terrible paperwork? An accident like that is a "one liner" at best. As a retired sergeant, I often had officers ask me what citations I thought would be appropriate under the circumstances. That's why they called us supervisors.

Civil rights violations? If you tell me that you observed a car drive over your yard, you sound credible, and there's evidence to substantiate your claim, how am I violating someone's civil rights if I write a ticket? If the witness embellished his/her story, shame on them.

I think you might have hit the nail on the head. I'm guessing that the witnesses house is located on a corner. Maybe they've had vehicles drive over their yard on a number of occasions and this was the straw that broke the camel's back. Maybe they did decide to take out their wrath on the OP. Maybe there are other people who speed or drive recklessly in the neighborhood and this is their chance to even the score. The only person who knows what was said is the police officer who spoke to the witness. We're making assumptions without knowing all the facts.

It sounds like the OP is a nice guy and was trying to do the right thing. Unfortunately, the victim (witness) didn't see it that way and called the police. Do I think it sounds like the officer got carried away with tickets? Yes, but I have no way of knowing (nor does anyone else on this forum) what the officer was told. To say that he got carried away with his emotions or that his buddies told him to write the tickets is ludicrous in my opinion.

 

Any decent lawyer will make this so-called civil servant look like a complete idiot(which he is) in a court of law.

 

That in itself may be a difficult task. Sorry, I couldn't resist.

What's the difference between a good lawyer and a bad lawyer? A bad lawyer can let a case drag out for several years. A good lawyer can make it last even longer.

 

There are 3 sides to every story: Your; Mine; and the TRUTH. We are hearing only one side. That said, I would contact a lawyer and let him do the talking.

 

This is an unfortunate occurance and I hope you are able to have those tickets and fines reduced but I am always entertained when one of these situations pop up and the inevitable legal debate pops up.

 

The public watches to much CSI and expects it to often in real life situations. That's entertainment and much of it exists only in the minds of the writers.

 

You mean they didn't call out the Major Crime Task Force to collect grass and dirt samples from the vehicle in question?

 

Whatever.

OK, hypothetical situation........you live down the street from me, I call the law one morning at 5 am and say that I saw you looking in my windows and touching yourself. The LEO shows up and, his wife having been the victim of a peeping tom, is really pissed off. He carts you off to jail, you lose your job, your wife leaves you, and you have to register as a sex offender.......just because I said. No need for evidence, that's just silly TV stuff.

This is the same situation as the OPs. He said, she said.

 

Sounds like you've received some good advice. On the other hand, some of you have no clue.