Not me who got the ticket....my wife in the maxima

I was not with her. It was at a 4-way stop, she told me she did stop (She told me she came to a complete stop), looked both ways and then went through the intersection.

Couple blocks down the road, a cop flied up behind her and pulled her over. My dad, my 2 relatives visiting from out of country are all in the car. The cop did not waste any time and wrote her a ticket ($130!).

When my wife presented the registration, she mitakenly gave him the old one (my moms', I had just change the registration and title to my own name). The cop did not even check the license plate and on the ticket he wrote down the old license plate number which I already returned to DMV just last week (professional, eh? )

Anyway, anyway to fight this? How does the cop proves to the judge that she did not come to a complete stop? She does not have to prove her innocence, the cop has to prove her guilty, correct?

If there is no way to fight it, then I am either gonna
1) on the court date, ask for traffic school and reduce it to a non-moving violation (My wife has a PERFECT record, no violation of anykind)
2) Ask for PBJ (probation before judgement)

Any advice?

*****RANT ON*****
I know if you break the law, you pay for it. But I think in this case, my wife is simply a victim of the monthly quota! I know Mayor Bloomberg has a tight budget, but it does not mean honest citizens like us should be the target of extra income for the city budget.
I wish the cops were this "diligent" ALL the time.
- How about 5 years ago when my house was broken in and was completely trashed while my parents were away and I was in school, huh?! The cops came and said "yeah we will look into it"

- How about 3 years ago when 5 houses on my block (including mine) were broken in on the same day?! The cops came and said "yeah we will look into it" Again, never heard from since

- How about a few months ago when my house alarm went off and the cops came by during the day and no one was home. They simply determined the alarm was unneccessary. I called three times to the precinct trying to get hold of the officer who answered the call, yet I was brushed off and never heard from them... I guess we little people just were not important enough to them

Note to the Queens precinct: Why dont you guys go bother the punk kids who flies up and down my block in their POS civic with a coffee can exhaust? Why dont you guys go bother those little gangs who hangs out in front of the pizza place at 12 midnight? Maybe I am just asking too much for my hard earn tax money???
*****RANT OFF*****

 

Ask where the cop was at the time, and why did he stop her couple blocks down (not at the same block or at most the next one)? And the most you can say that the cop who pays so much attention to his job that he didn't even bother to check her reg. could of mistaken her car for the some one's else passing trough that stop. I got a bigger problem same ticket, but the cop was standing in an undercover car right at the stop sign, and he stopped me half a block away so I can't say that I just made a turn to this street and never even passed that STOP.

 

In NYC????? Its $70 its says on the ticket itself. In any case was it E16th and Ave W?

 

maybe I read the dollar amount wrong...it is red light for $130 (including surcharge). There is no charge for stop sign so I figure it is the same as a red light...

anyway we sent the ticket back...plead NOT guilty

It was on Springfield boulevard in Bayside Queens

 

man, $130 for a red light over there... it's like $300 in calif

 

"The cop did not even check the license plate and on the ticket he wrote down the old license plate number which I already returned to DMV just last week "
If he wrote the wrong number i thought you would get out of it automatically since they have to log this ticket into the database. With the wrong number they cant fine you? Does this seem logical? I ws under the impression that is how they track you, via plates. If they were to log the old plates it woul dbe pointless...any other ideas on this?

 

I've always thought that it gets thrown out because it creates reasonable doubt in the case.

 

I agree with Malaking, try to drag it out and throw as many legal obsticles as you can. If you try to be a nice guy about it they will take ( way too much of ) your money.