"SOMETIMES
      THEY GET IT
      RIGHT"

      by quig






      THE FIRST TRAFFIC STOP

             So it's Independence Day celebration in Hollister and I went over with a couple of friends to see if I could purchase a "DOT approved helmet" to satisfy the needs of some of the cops out there . . . one as safe as the one I own (you know, the one everybody seems to think is a baseball cap?). First the lights, then the siren, and then the traffic stop. History in the making.

             This traffic stop was short and to the point. My hat's off (no pun) to San Benito County Deputy Sheriff Somavilla. He's the first one to get it right, right out of the gate. I think it had something to do with the fact that he wasn't so bound up in what he thought he knew, and was secure enough to want to find out what he didn't, that he conducted the traffic stop absolutely in accordance with the instruction from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, not even knowing it was there. He's got every right to be proud. (The transcript and audio recording of the stop are available here.)

      THE SECONDTRAFFIC STOP, AND TICKET

             I got to town in great shape, and joined the parade of bikers riding down the main street of Hollister.

             As I rode, many officers looked on -- some smiling, some giving me the stink eye. It wasn't until I reached the end of the parade route that I was finally stopped and eventually cited.

             I'm guessing that the officer that stopped me was not from Hollister, but rather from one of the larger cities in the Bay Area. His attitude was initially pretty aggressive -- he didn't think I was moving fast enough for his purposes. After a brief explanation of the situation, as in "I don't know what's buggin' you officer, but I think you'd better cool your jets. I'll park the bike and take the ticket, but there's no reason for either of us to be rude, okay?" he settled down. (There was a recording of this one, but you can't hear anything with all the background noise.)

             As the officer was issuing the citation, a sergeant from the Hollister PD approached and asked why I wasn't wearing a helmet. He wasn't quite prepared to accept hat my headgear (which, as I said, looked very much like a truckers' cap), but when the officer wanted to press the issue as to correctability, the sergeant informed him that, in fact, a helmet ticket is a correctable equipment violation and made the officer issue it as such.

             The sergeant wanted to know why I didn't just go ahead a purchase a helmet while I was at the rally. I informed him that as a mattter of fact, that's exactly why I was there. That I had heard that somebody over there was selling "D-O-T approved" helmets, and I wanted one. That when I found one, I was absolutely going to buy it. (He did finally figure out what I was saying when we talked later, and wished me luck in taking out the statute.)

      THE COURT

             While the struggle in Santa Cruz County continued with a judge who obviously doesn't want to follow the law, a light appeared on the horizon -- the San Benito County Traffic Court, the Honorable Judge Steven Sanders presiding.

             I went to court in Hollister on September 28, 2001 to deal with the ticket I picked up there over the 4th of July weekend celebration they have every year.

             The reason I had to go to court was that the clerk I had called to mail in the signed-off citation told me that according to their computer, a helmet ticket was not a correctable violation . . . that only the judge could override their computer. I said, "Okay."

             When the judge called the case (yes, they have a real judge hearing traffic in Hollister) and read the charge, he asked me what plea I wanted to enter. I explained, in essence, that I had not come to court to enter a plea . . . that I had come to help him fix their computer.

             I explained what had happened, and about the conversation with the clerk. He broke out his copy of the vehicle code to verify my contention that helmet tickets are, in fact, correctable.

             After about a five minute review of the code, he said, "I would agree. It's correctable." He wouldn't get off charging me a "correction fee" of $10, but gave me four weeks to decide whether I want to go to trial on the issue of whether the citation should have been issued at all. (The recording made of the hearing can be heard by clicking here (assuming, of course, you have RealAudio).

             I had already explained that I had substantial experience with the statute because my helmet has the appearance of a baseball cap, and many police officers don't understand that there's nothing in the law that says that a helmet cannot look like a baseball cap. He nodded and asked me what I wanted to do. I told him I'd like to think about it.

             Well, I did think about it, and sent a letter to the clerk asking for a trial date.

             My thinking is that if the Hollister court is going to follow the law, I could get a decision from there that would absolutely fly in the face of what has been going on here in Santa Cruz; and that that decision could be used to take the vagueness argument up to a court of record.

             The next time I heard from the court, it was to notify me that the case had been dismissed -- no fine. Justice is such a satisfying conclusion.

      later,
      quig