Back in December I was t-boned by a police officer in Albany NY. The police officer was responding to a burglary around 10 am. The police officer was driving extremely fast and ran a red light through an extremely busy intersection. Traffic was driving smoothly and I did not see or hear the officer coming. I was almost through my green light when I look over and a police officer smashes my car in. Where he was coming from, there are very tall buildings so there was no way I was going to see him. No other cars were stopped and he came close to hitting other cars and a person as well. I did not hear any sirens all though he stated he had the lights and sirens on. I don't have the money to hire a lawyer but through my own investigating I think at the very least he wrote the wrong ticket. I was issued a ticket for a 1144-A which states this....
搂 1144-a. Operation of vehicles when approaching a parked, stopped or standing authorized emergency vehicle.
Every operator of a motor vehicle shall exercise due care to avoid colliding with an authorized emergency vehicle which is parked, stopped or standing on the shoulder or any portion of such highway and such authorized emergency vehicle is displaying one or more red or combination red and white lights pursuant to the provisions of paragraph two of subdivision forty-one of section three hundred seventy-five of this chapter. For operators of motor vehicles on parkways or controlled access highways, such due care shall include, but not be limited to, moving from a lane which contains or is immediately adjacent to the shoulder where such authorized emergency vehicle displaying one or more red or combination red and white lights pursuant to the provisions of paragraph two of subdivision forty-one of section three hundred seventy-five of this chapter is parked, stopped or standing to another lane, provided that such movement otherwise complies with the requirements of this chapter including, but not limited to, the provisions of sections eleven hundred ten of this title and eleven hundred twenty-eight of this title.
Well this isn't a highway, he was not stopped, he was speeding through an intersection at a busy time of the day with people heading into work. I believe the ticket he meant to issue was an 1144 which states.......
搂 1144. Operation of vehicles on approach of authorized emergency vehicles.
(a) Upon the immediate approach of an authorized emergency vehicle equipped with at least one lighted lamp exhibiting red light visible under normal atmospheric conditions from a distance of five hundred feet to the front of such vehicle other than a police vehicle or bicycle when operated as an authorized emergency vehicle, and when audible signals are sounded from any said vehicle by siren, exhaust whistle, bell, air-horn or electronic equivalent; the driver of every other vehicle shall yield the right of way and shall immediately drive to a position parallel to, and as close as possible to the right-hand edge or curb of the roadway, or to either edge of a one-way roadway three or more lanes in width, clear of any intersection, and shall stop and remain in such position until the authorized emergency vehicle has passed, unless otherwise directed by a police officer.
(b) This section shall not operate to relieve the driver of an authorized emergency vehicle from the duty to drive with reasonable care for all persons using the highway.
Do you agree and if you do can he change the ticket? Even so I still don't believe I am guilty because of the tall building blocking my view, also it states the this does not let the officer drive with unreasonable care, which my opinion he did and very easily could of injured or killed me, him self or other drivers or walking pedestrians. I have pictures to bring to court of the accident as well as they do to prove the buildings are just to tall for me to see the officer for 500 feet. I really don't want to settle to a lesser ticket if I am truly not guilty of doing anything wrong. I had minor injuries from the crash i had to pay a $500 deductible rent a car, I think i have dealt with this enough and to be honest, I might even have a case to sue them but I don't want to bring it that far. I just want it dropped.
What do you think my chances are?????|||Chances are pretty good. Although my LE (Law Enforcement) experience is on the West coast (mostly California), emergency lights and siren REQUEST the right -of-way here, they do not demand it. You as a driver are required to be able to hear the siren and see the lights (i.e. no headphones, excessively loud music (very subjective), or extremely tinted or obstructed windows) However, it is MY responsibility (as the officer) to drive my emergency vehicle SAFELY, especially at intersections where I have a red light, and the other drivers have the green.
You will have to make the case to the judge (witnesses are VERY helpful, if there were any) that you were driving legally, showing due caution, and obeying all laws. The officer cited you for the wrong crime (so you are NOT guilty of THAT infraction at all), However, should the judge find that you WERE guilty of those other things ( unable to see lights due to obstructed windows, unable to hear the siren due to loud music or headphones, reckless disregard for others safety, etc), he can find you guilty of the traffic infraction that you DID commit, even though the officer did not cite for that.|||Clearly you should have been charged under second section. That is a clerical error and will not make the case void. You will need to present evidence that the officer violated (b).
Photographs of the area taken about the same time off day as the accident should help.|||Yes definitely If you Gotta good lawyer and these days The more tickets a cop hands out the better he gets paid check with your DMV
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