Cops Took My Bike. What Now?

First,Don’t speak to the judge , it is too late by then. Speak to the prosecutor before court. (you can call the court and see who it is or call the prosecutors office . you will need your docket number and some ID
The prosecutor makes the deal. the Judge just rules on it.
Bad news , you will most likely have to pay to get your bike back. and the quicker you do it the less it will cost. so bite the bullet and pay the impound and tow.
If you have your bike and all of your Liscense /Insurance ducks in a row by the time you get to court you will be in far better shape with the Judge. If money is tight or it is too big of a task, ask the prosecutor if he/she will agree to a continuance so that you can. It means another court date but is in your best interest to do.
The system can be horribly unfair.. and you most often do not get a fair shake, that is the reality. I’m so sorry, Been there. it sux.
Lastly, Cops are Cops..Who knows what was really going on there. But he won’t change his story (or be proven wrong) so let it go..
The faster you get out of that syetem, the better for you long term.

Best of luck.

***You'll need info from the DMV dated on or after the incident date, not a month or two earlier. The cop and judge is/will go by their info from the DMV. Go to the DMV and see what they say.

***Drive on the possibly expired, suspended, revoked license with your truck and it too may wind up parked next to your impounded bike with you in jail. Again, the cop and judge is/will go by their info from the DMV. Go to the DMV and see what they say.

That license in your pocket doesn't say anything about it's validity. It's valid until it isn't. It doesn't change color or sound an alarm. All this talk about hiring a lawyer right off the bat makes me laugh! Take the easy route first. Don't go and hire a lawyer, don't go to the court house(like a judge will drop what they are doing and talk to you anyway) and don't talk to the DA((like they will drop what they are doing too)...go the the DMV!

This is not why people are shooting cops. What a stupid thing to post!

It's beyond stupid...

Just playing Devil's Advocate: What happened 9 blocks ago to get you noticed? Between there and when he lit you up, how did you KEEP his attention? Ergo, if you KNEW he was there, why would you go faster than the speed limit...

Did you committ "Contempt of Cop" if you mouthed off in anyway and based on all the issues you had at time of stop the officer was well in his right to haul your bike. You will get it back but you will have to deal with the tow company not the Judge and the tow company has your property legally so show up with money and quickly the storage fees are a killer.

There are no prosecutors in California for a ticket, and likely no judge but a Traffic Commissioner.

If the Judge/TC is not letting people off at all, ask for a continuance, hope for a better J/TC.

Mistakes do happen at the government offices like once I got a letter that my license was being suspended because I was uninsured which was incorrect. I got that straightened out by a call to my insurance company of 30 years. No sense getting your panties in a bunch,just deal with it in a proper manner.

FYI if you are in CA
http://www.courts.ca.gov/selfhelp-smallclaims.htm
Sue the officer to get your towing and impound charges back if you are ruled in the right when you go to traffic court. That will correct his conduct better than anything.

Also if CA
http://www.courts.ca.gov/selfhelp-traffic.htm

Could it be possible that because you have a common name, that when running your license by name and DOB it came back no good because the result is actually for the other guy?? Maybe he didn't run it by the number?

Buliwyf, as a recently retired public safety professional (FF/EMS), I take offense at your amazingly insipid, incendiary and dangerous comment! Not surprised given your similar input on the "how do you deal with dogs that attack" thread (here: http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1046041&page=12). You sir are the kind of internet poster that mother's should warn their kids about!

Then he told me to go lean against the wall, hands against it. I did not comply and I told him why. He didn't seem to have a problem with it, but did not like it.

Did he tell you to lean against the wall before he said he was going to impound your motorcycle? A cop friend once told me it is common practice to trump up charges if someone did not comply with instructions. He said they can usually beat it in court but it may cost them several thousand dollars.

At a traffic stop a cop behaves a lot like a wife...remember a few cliches and you have a better chance of getting out of a ticket.
1, A happy wife makes a happy life.
2. You can be right or you can be happy.
3. If momma is not happy NO ONE is happy. If daddy is not happy who cares.

Sometimes the cop is just being a jerk of filling their "revenue enhancement" quota and nothing will get you out of a ticket.

I assume he is a little kid, he has a few accounts on toy car forums. He certainly acts like one of those "mall ninja" pre-teen boys.

What a horrible thing to say what he said in this thread. I am all about having fun on forums and being a smartass but that is just ridiculous. There is nothing funny about suggesting someone get shot.

I'm sorry that you feel that way. I obviously don't approve of that behavior, but you have to see it coming. People are getting pissed. You are putting words into my mouth I didn't say. And are assuming I agree with the facts at hand. I don't.

Keep on impounding peoples bike for no reason and let me know how it works out for you guys. You can see bright people, as well as stupid people getting really jumpy about such things around here. That hasn't worked in the past, and it won't work in the future. You can't just go around shaking honest people down.

Sounds like this guy was railroaded if he's telling the whole truth. And why would he lie to us? Poor guy has to be freaking out right now. Impound lots and random tow trucks can do a ton of damage to a perfectly good bike. They don't even use flatbeds and straps around here. They hook it.

You really like to make ASSumptions. Maybe you should stop. You obviously do not know WTF you are talking about!

This is the core of your main question. He could/would not let you ride away, or push it out of sight and then ride away, because he had reason to believe you did not have a valid license. Once you get your license squared away to the satisfaction of the police you can go down and collect your bike after paying fees for towing and storage.

If you believe the officer was in error you will need to follow appreciate legal procedures to challenge it. A good attorney will know the process but it will cost you. You can file a lawsuit but that is a lot of work and takes years. A less skilled attorney will cost you but not get the results you want.

<-- Another CA motorcyclist. I have had a lot of tickets. And I used to fight some tickets when they were wrong.

First, if the posted speed (or unposted) is 35mph and you admitted to going 36mph to the officer, you will lose in court. Your admission of riding over the speed limit becomes evidence for a traffic offense.

Remember this when you get pulled over. The officer WILL ask you how fast you were going. Your best answer will always be the truth. Why?

1) Telling the officer "I don't know" means the judge sees the officer's reported speed as the only witness. Guilty. But it usually won't piss off the LEO.

2) Telling the officer you were going 35mph if you were going faster means the officer knows you are liar during the traffic stop. Expect him to crawl up your ass at that point. Does your horn work? How's all your lights? Sound level? Etc. And the judge weighs the LEO testimony vs yours, and normally sides with the LEO anyways.

3) Telling the truth will sometimes have the LEO write a lower speed on the ticket, saving you money. They do this to have 100% unbeatable ticket. He writes 5 over the limit, you admit to 10 over, you are never going to beat that one.

I have only successfully beat "radar speed trap" tickets when written for speed. It doesn't matter if you admit to speeding if the ticket was unlawful to begin with. All the officer's testimony is removed, including your admission.

Once, I was cited for riding on a suspended license. I was allowed to push my bike into a gas station. My license was not suspended, because the suspension had ended. Somehow the DMV had it wrong. The prosecutor and judge go by what their printout shows, even if it's incorrect, and you have proof it's incorrect. I had the DMV correct their mistake prior to court, and showed it to the prosecutor. It did not matter. I was probably going to be convicted of driving while suspended. Instead, I plead guilty to riding without a license instead of on a suspended license.


In the end, I ended up realizing the traffic court system is set up for quick processing and 100% conviction rate. It's not that they are evil, they are just efficient.

A traffic attorney runs about $450-500 flat rate in western PA. Even if they don't show, the courts are still made by lawyers for lawyers. We've noticed that they're easier on you when you pay a lawyer. Even if they lawyers hands are tied because you're pleading guilty or did something that can't be argued.

In this case, I likely would just go through all the red tape, pay the fines, and pick up the bike. The damage is done. There's not much point in fighting and stretching this out further with a lawyer or anything. As long as you do get your bike back.

They've let some of my peers go home with an expired license. It's all recorded in my area. If you get caught again, they'll know you were already warned.

On of my friends did get lippy once for an expired tag. They impounded the car and threw him in jail to cool off, until his family picked him up. I think it ended up costing him about $350.

Concerning Impound. Get it out ASAP. We had a truck stolen. I went to the recovery site, which was off-road, and realized it could not be driven out. It was towed to Impound. In 24 hours, there was more stuff stolen off it, and more damage to it.

More precisely, it is proof you had a valid license at the time of issue. The minute after you walk out the door, DMV may receive information that causes them to invalidate it. That may be information from insurance that your policy is expired / cancelled, a returned mail that you don't live at the address provided, a court order... any or all of which can be wrong. Or someone in a back office somewhere in the chain made a mistake so that information hit your record.

1) Go get your bike out of impound, NOW. Daily charges aren't cheap.
2) Go figure out the DMV situation, fix anything that might need fixing, document that if needed, get a new DL issued.
3) If the cop was wrong, deal with that.

your DL is expired according to "the computer"

But your DL (paper) says otherwise.

I guess it would be up to the cop.

but yeah it is SOP to make you stop driving/riding there on the spot. kind of sucked they impounded too

If you were an illegal immigrant ......you would have been given leeway. that is just how fucked CA has become.


what agency pulled you over?