JC France back on track

If you are an officer of the law, then you should be able to arrest an obvious threat to public safety anywhere at all.

"As a general principle, police officers of a municipality have no official power to arrest an offender outside the boundaries of their municipality," Kennedy said in his order. "Obviously, there are exceptions to that general principle; however, none were offered or could be applied to this case."

Wow. Sounds like there is a pretty obvious course of action if anyone tries to pull you over in Florida then...

JG Pasterjak wrote: I wonder if the judge who threw out the arrest has box seats for the Daytona 500 for the next few years? jg

Many years ago, before I became a magazine potentate, I thought I wanted to go to law school and so after college, I worked for a law firm in town. I quit that job and went in a different direction because I realized I did NOT want to be around shiny happy people all day.

At the time, the firm I worked for was notable because the partners were named Kennedy and Nixon--get it? He he. Now it's notable because my old boss went on to become a tool for the cogs that "run" this town. Yep, ole J.C.'s judge is the same guy. (To give you an idea of what kind of guy he was, he drove a 318... automatic. And constantly talked about his "Beemer.")

Only job I ever quit outright without another prospect. I'm still glad I did.

Margie

Marjorie Suddard wrote: Only job I ever quit outright without another prospect. I'm still glad I did. Margie

We, subscribers, are glad you did too.

TJ wrote: I wish that were more surprising. Does he drives for Brumos? he is not mentioned on their website. I wonder how much he pays for his seat? If it's not Brumos who is it? I'd like to write them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._C._France

wikipedia said: He is currently co-driver of the #59 Brumos Porsche-Riley Daytona Prototype with João Barbosa[1]. He is son of Jim France, nephew of Bill France, Jr. and grandson of NASCARs founder Bill France. He was involved in a fistfight with rival Chris Bingham after the two collided at the 2006 race at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City[2].

I don't believe he has driven for the red white and blue porsches since the incident in question.

they have more class than that.

JoeyM wrote:

TJ wrote: I wish that were more surprising. Does he drives for Brumos? he is not mentioned on their website. I wonder how much he pays for his seat? If it's not Brumos who is it? I'd like to write them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._C._France

wikipedia said: He is currently co-driver of the #59 Brumos Porsche-Riley Daytona Prototype with João Barbosa[1]. He is son of Jim France, nephew of Bill France, Jr. and grandson of NASCARs founder Bill France. He was involved in a fistfight with rival Chris Bingham after the two collided at the 2006 race at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City[2].

Here is that shining moment...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bH_89Au8xL8

Did he try to shave the rebel alliance into his face?

Marjorie Suddard wrote:

JG Pasterjak wrote: I wonder if the judge who threw out the arrest has box seats for the Daytona 500 for the next few years? jg

Many years ago, before I became a magazine potentate, I thought I wanted to go to law school and so after college, I worked for a law firm in town. I quit that job and went in a different direction because I realized I did NOT want to be around shiny happy people all day. At the time, the firm I worked for was notable because the partners were named Kennedy and Nixon--get it? He he. Now it's notable because my old boss went on to become a tool for the cogs that "run" this town. Yep, ole J.C.'s judge is the same guy. (To give you an idea of what kind of guy he was, he drove a 318... automatic. And constantly talked about his "Beemer.") Only job I ever quit outright without another prospect. I'm still glad I did. Margie

And I thought my flashbacks were bad ("..BEEMERS are the bikes! The berkeleying cars are BIMMERS!..."). Margie, I'm glad things turned out the way they did.

Thanks for the story, though..even though it reeks of the same kind of nepotism I've witnessed in the small Southern towns where I grew up. Are you a Florida native? Back when y'all started the magazine, we all kind of knew that Tim was a "Yankee" transplant..I guess I figured you were some girl he'd persuaded to move down South with him.

Appleseed wrote: Did he try to shave the rebel alliance into his face?

His tribute to the late Jek Porkins

In his defense I'm pretty sure every Lamborgini has a baggy of coke in it somewhere.

In reply to friedgreencorrado:

Yeah, I tried to explain the difference between Bimmers and Beemers. It... wouldn't take. And I'm not exactly a Florida native--my parents moved here the summer I turned 13--but I'm not a Yankee. (I grew up in Ky.) My parents were fairly horrified when I brought one home to meet them.

Margie

Hmm coke in the car and drunk, get your comp license back in 6 months. Twice with pot (Shane Hmiel) and life time ban.

I'm pretty sure if his last name was Hmiel or Mayfield he'd still be out.

Marjorie Suddard wrote: In reply to friedgreencorrado: Yeah, I tried to explain the difference between Bimmers and Beemers. It... wouldn't take. And I'm not exactly a Florida native--my parents moved here the summer I turned 13--but I'm not a Yankee. (I grew up in Ky.) My parents were fairly horrified when I brought one home to meet them. Margie

Sorry for making you tell the tale twice, Margie! I posted to this thread before I saw your posts about Appalachia on the OT forum.

OTOH, I had a younger friend of mine at work the other day (he's been looking at an old BMW K75 bike on ebay) ask me about the whole "Beemers" vs. "Bimmers" thing the other day. It seems that it's not just your own kids who seem to be listening to you when you least expect it...

aircooled wrote:

"As a general principle, police officers of a municipality have no official power to arrest an offender outside the boundaries of their municipality," Kennedy said in his order. "Obviously, there are exceptions to that general principle; however, none were offered or could be applied to this case."

Wow. Sounds like there is a pretty obvious course of action if anyone tries to pull you over in Florida then...

Yikes! "Run for the border!"

Sounds like some Depression era "Bonnie & Clyde" type BMW E36. Of course, I sadly admit..seeing the judge's ruling causes me to believe that we here in the South haven't yet purged all of that old-style corruption out of our system yet..

Anybody else watch the Grand-Am race at VIR this weekend? My blood started to boil when I heard one of the three announcers (can't remember if if it was Lee, Calvin or Dorsey) mentioned that it was good to see JC back in a car taking some laps during practice. No mention of his incident whatsofreakinever. I would have loved to see one of them call him out, but then they probably wouldn't be announcing for long.

car39 wrote: Hmm coke in the car and drunk, get your comp license back in 6 months. Twice with pot (Shane Hmiel) and life time ban.

We used to race against Shane Hmiel, nothing good at all to say about him. Every race he and his crew would pick a fight, usually because he ran over someone and them blamed everyone in sight for the incident. not too many people liked to be around him or his crew. I do remember the entire team getting a race ban or two. He had a lot of other issues besides a little pot. he was a talented driver though, so it was a shame in that respect.

Ok,

Here's an update of what happened told to me by a local lawyer friend of mine.

A report came in that JC and Van were racing up the Mason St. bridge heading West. This report did not come from the police, but was directed to them. No cop actually saw JC breaking any laws. The Daytona cop was waiting at the bottom of the bridge, and pulled JC over. This was on the North side of Mason which is technically Holly Hill. Because no cop actually saw the men racing, there was not sufficient cause to pull JC over. What happened after the stop is irrelevant. (drunk, coke, etc.)

Van (brother in law) was caught speeding, so the charges stuck with him, as they actually had a reason to make a stop. He ended up striking a plea, but will still have some serious fines, and B.S. to deal with.

So as it turns out, it isn't quite the horrible backwoods justice we thought. Instead it looks like JC was VERY lucky, and of course had a very good lawyer.

In reply to Joe Gearin:

Hate to admit it, but if no LEO observed it, that's the right (or at least legal) call. That rule's what keeps us from being pulled over every time some idiot going 10mph under the limit on the Interstate calls 911 about "some damn sports car" passing them with a 15mph speed differential. He's a lucky son-of-a-biscuit-eater indeed. And still a complete dou...er, I mean "cleansing"bag.

Sounds like there's going to be some very angry cops in Daytona. Lil' rich boy better buy some new street cars, because there's probably big 8x10 glossies of everything he currently owns posted in every police station for 150mi. around the place.