Ticket for saving your child?

http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2012/05/father-ticketed-for-saving-son/

I'm going to reach back into my old-school D&D playing days and say that the actions of the police officer were, at best, lawful neutral. Sticking to the rules exactly as they were written when clearly there were larger issues at play in the situation.

What really galls me is that if dad goes to court and loses, his insurance might not pay for his car.

The insurance card is no biggie. Show proof and it disappears normally. Although at that juncture, it is salt in a wound, IMO.

Now, the other for failure to set parking brake was only issued because an officer was called to the scene and most likely an accident report generated.

I believe, even as pissed as I would be, would just pay the fines and move on with life.

How does a 5 yo jump out of a car when dad is parking it? Maybe he should have ticketed the dad for not having the safely strapped in a car seat.

In reply to mguar:

Asphinctersayswhat?

Otto Maddox wrote: How does a 5 yo jump out of a car when dad is parking it? Maybe he should have ticketed the dad for not having the safely strapped in a car seat.

Some 5-year-olds can unstrap themselves. They shouldn't be able to open the rear door from inside if the safety locks are turned on, although I've known of one child who figured out how they worked and would disable them before getting in the car if his parents weren't looking. He was older than 5 though.

mguar wrote: The more complex and crowded a society gets the more rules are imposed.. Failure to impose those rules results in anarchy

Really so not setting a parking brake so you can grab your son before he hurts or kills himself is going result in anarchy?

Shoot man, my four year old is unsnaped and out of his seat the moment the front tires hit a parking lot. His momma lets him get away with things I wouldn't and she shuttles him around 95% of the time. He knows better than to even think about touching the door handle unless one of us is waiting on the other side.

Some people are jerks.

Some people are cops.

Some cops are jerks.

Astonishing.

Eh. I am not sure how I feel about this one.

Its not like it takes an agonizingly long time to throw your car in park or set the brake. Not even close to 5 seconds as the cop sarcastically suggested.

Do you think the father would be any less responsible for his actions if his Jeep hit someone else's car, instead of going into the water? He sure as hell would have got a ticket for it.

Or killed someone? Sounds to me like unfotunate parenting decisions(child locks, allowing him to unstrap) resulted in a need to take action that resulted in a ticket. Dude needs to man up and own his actions and those of his son. I'm glad his son is safe, no one else was injured and his jeep can be replaced.

I was thinking more along the lines that the insurance won't pay if he is found guilty of not setting the parking brake.

No matter how you look at it, son > car, though.

I think there's an argument to be made that, not only did the driver have and produce the insurance card, he actually went to the trouble of having it retrieved by a crane, under very difficult conditions, and specially provided to Officer Unfriendly.

I think this one needs to go before a judge who can do his Judge Stuff and bring order out of the human chaos. And the kid should be there too, for a little lecture on parking safety.

civic wrote: [Something about anarchy.]

If you want to pull the thread that direction, yes. I think you know what he was saying. Next someone will be saying we live in a socialist society. The behavior of the public has caused the use of discretion to be used much less than it used to be.

The father probably overreacted. That's not a crime. In fact it beats hell out of the other side of this coin: the idiot who leaves Junior strapped into the child seat on the roof and drives off.

IMHO the cop should have pointedly said something about being more careful next time, but tickets? Particularly the insurance card which was in the drowned vehicle? (FWIW, I keep mine in a plastic pouch on the driver's sun visor of the Trooper, a plastic pouch in the Jensen's console and in a plastic bag under the seat of the bike.) No, he was just being a dick.

In reply to Curmudgeon:

Agreed. I don't feel I would have reacted the same as the officer unless I had to. Just to put it out there..m

What would you do? Well, back up 5 years and I would have raised my kid correctly so that he wouldn't jump out of a car and ran towards a huge cliff! The father is at fault here, for being an idiot and not properly securing his child in the car, not teaching him to listen, and not teaching him about personal safety.

Plus, 5 seconds to apply a parking brake? Is it padlocked or something? Securing a car from rolling away keeps it from causing another emergency, and takes .125 seconds. Grab the handbrake as you are jumping out!

If I were the cop, I would have added child endangerment, littering, and being an idiot in public.

pinchvalve wrote: being an idiot in public.

I wish they could give tickets for that. Thinking about it a bit more I don't blame the cop for ticketing him. I mean he had to come out the scene because the guy didn't do a good job teaching his kid.

Maybe the cop was angry at the dad for being a E36 M3ty parent. Angry cops tend to write tickets.

There's a story about some scientists who wanted to see how a chimp would escape from a cage. So they set up 4 ways for the chimp to get out, then sat back and watched to see which one the chimp would choose.

The chimp found a fifth way out. That's what kids do.

The point is, no matter how well you try to raise your kids, they will occasionally do stuff that just makes no sense. You should have been at the beach when my daughter insisted on going WAY out, out to where I was getting a little spooked so I turned around and started taking her back to shore. The headstrong little brat didn't want to go in so she popped out of my arms almost instantly and started heading back out, that scared the schitt out of me. And this was a typically level headed/well behaved kid of about 4.

Maybe dad is a dumbass but maybe we don't have all the facts either. I still think the kid disappeared instantly, dad panicked, jumped out after him and then the car went in the drink. That's a bad day in any parent's book. Now Mr Super Cop has to write him a ticket for no insurance card? That's plain dickish. I can sorta undertand the no parking brake ticket, but even that one is a little on the extreme side.

Tell you what, to all you guys who say Dad got what he deserved: the next time you get a ticket for speeding and you were, it might be best to remember this and not bitch about it. After all you were in the wrong regardless of conditions, the nice officer is only doing his job.

Right?

Some times you don't do anything wrong yourself but still end up with a E36 M3 sandwich of a day. That it was this guy's day is only remarkable because it made it into the national news. Prove you had insurance, pay the other ticket, and move on with your life.

@Curmudgeon: I don't bitch if I get a ticket I deserve. I pay it and move on. Of course, I haven't had a ticket since 1996, so ... oh crap I just cursed myself didn't I?

There's a LOTTA folks busting this guy's balls saying how he deserved the tickets etc but if OTOH they were busted for 5 over and got a ticket for it they'd scream and kick and hold their breath till they turned blue.

Here is a different scenario, but i think it can relate to the "failure to use handbrake" charge.

If you lose control of your vehicle in poor road conditions, like ice or snow, and crash your car into a tree/ditch/whatever, you still get a ticket (at least in VA). The charge is called "failure to maintain control of vehicle", and from what I have heard, its completely normal.

Is that a dick-ish charge? it sure is if you ask me, but apparently its the law and they will charge you with it if you get into a 1 car accident. even if there may have been circumstances that you as a driver feel are completely beyond your control.

It's New Jersey.

Mguar, I just don't know what to say.

It's New Jersey.

Mguar, I just don't know what to say.

mguar wrote: In reply to Brett_Murphy: It's a complex society. Many of the freedoms we had as children no longer exist. When I was born the countries population was less than 1/2 of what it is now and the country didn't get twice as big.. The more complex and crowded a society gets the more rules are imposed.. Failure to impose those rules results in anarchy Daniel Boone moved when he could see the smoke from a neighbors chimney.. Do pretty much whatever he wanted, kill nearly anyone and get away with it.. On the other hand average life was 35 years death in childbirth was the norm, Bears, wolves, hostels, slavery, most people never ventured more than 20 miles from home.. We may not like it but that's the reality.

I'm not even sure what this means.