URGENT - HUSBAND ARRESTED

greenfire

Thu, Sep 17 2009, 10:03 am

p.s. my dd got her license suspended even before she got one ... simply because she was truant ... so the state and dmv can do whatever the hell they please ... once she turned 18 she had to pay a fee in order to get a permit ... even though she was in school ... go figure ...

glad he is home - he should NOT drive w/o a functioning license ... and you should all have a good trip ...

make sure someone opens your mail to notify you of the court date - and if you're still out of the country - put in a request for change of date due to business out of town ...

Mama Bear

Thu, Sep 17 2009, 10:13 am

ss321 wrote:

Mama Bear wrote:

On a related note, is there any way to find out if one's license is suspended? My dh got a traffic ticket and I tried to pay it online numerous times but the ticket number is 'invalid'. I'm terrified his license shouldnt ch'v be suspended because he hasnt paid this ticket (which we cant find online), and he shouldnt ch'v get pulled over on an erev yomtov! I'm really scared! where can we check out if his license is suspended or not?

nahhh... the ticket number sometimes comes up as invalid for up to THIRTY days after the "traffic agent" (NO they are not cops) issued it.
Pay it, even if the ticket number on the right hand side (written vertically, like 10 numbers or s/t. B"H havent gotten a ticket in a while so I dont remember exactly) comes up as invalid. MAKE SURE to PRINT YOUR RECEIPT and a CONFIRMATION that your CC payment has been received.

I think if your DH has valid registration and insurance and a car under his name, well, the insurance company wouldnt re-issue his insurance/registration papers (which is an annual thing) if the license was suspended.

Im sure you can call the DMV but IDK that is the only government agency that is harder to deal with than the USPS. (Wait I take that back...State Dept is a pain in the butt too. And NYS dept of finance. try calling them, you wait on hold for literally 45-50 minutes before speaking to an inept, barely able to speak english assistant up in buffalo or something. office of professional licensing is bad. but is that federal or state? IDK they are all pretty bad. )

My dh doesntw ant to pay the ticket, he wants to plead not guilty. and the number isnt coming up online/.

I tried calling the DMV and could not reach a live human being.

I'm really scared. I begged him to drive super carefully now so that he doesnt get pulled over on an erev yomtov or something!

queen

Thu, Sep 17 2009, 10:19 am

How is the OP going to know when their court date is if they are leaving town for three months??????
As earlier posters have written- DO NOT MISS THAT DATE. NO MATTER WHAT.
You will need to give a friend your mail key and have them look out for the letter while you're gone.

gold21

Thu, Sep 17 2009, 10:39 am

mama bear, this has happened to us. the ticket doesnt come up at first. then after like a month it showed up online and we pled not guilty. I dunno, dont rely on my info, but this scenario has happened with our (numerous, unfortunately) parking tickets. I suggest you call 311 to be directed to the correct phone number in the DMV. regarding the OP's story: extremely fishy and missing a lot of info. I dont understand what you or your DH was thinking.

amother

Thu, Sep 17 2009, 11:25 am

Just read this. OP, what kind of accident was your husband involved in that he got a suspended license and such a big fine? That's really unusual without a DWI. Even with a DWI its not usually so severe. I've never heard of anything like that. I"m wondering if he might not need a lawyer just to deal with the situation, because it sounds very serious. Either he's being overpunished, or there's more to this situation, but either way, he should get good legal advice.

ss321

Thu, Sep 17 2009, 11:33 am

Mama Bear wrote:

ss321 wrote:

Mama Bear wrote:

so this this happened to me relatively recently - I posted about it on here.

In the end, it was Dismissed B"H, after first they wanted to settle (pay like 37.50 or something like that, and well call it a day) and I stood my ground and said no way am I settling when they made a mistake and I have tons of documentation and proof. It took about 3 months (actually, almost to the day, now that I am looking at this thread! it was the end of july that I got the final answer from a judge in the mail) until it was dismissed, but that entire time, if you read the small print, NO that is not held against you as a non-paid ticket. I was EXTREMELY nervous about that.

If when you say TRAFFIC ticket you mean STANDING VIOLATION (in an orange envelope) for double parking, meter - greedy meter idiot workers on commission violations, then I think he is really safe, and you shouldnt be scared! as long as it is in the process of being contesting. If it is a MOVING VIOLATION (handed to him by a real NYPD cop, usually handwritten on that thin carbon paper, cop keeps one, gives u the other, I think you keep the yellow one), then I really dont know how it works with contesting it, but I assume you still have this 90 day leeway too.

Hope that helps.

frumluv

Thu, Sep 17 2009, 11:46 am

Glad to hear that your husband was released & passport wasn't taken.

Shana Tova!

Mama Bear

Thu, Sep 17 2009, 12:09 pm

No, it was a moving thing, I think it wa\s a cell phone infraction.

bnm

Thu, Sep 17 2009, 12:20 pm

Mama Bear wrote:

No, it was a moving thing, I think it wa\s a cell phone infraction.

shomrim every once in a while has a place that you can go to check you license statues. ask them, they can help you.

ss321

Thu, Sep 17 2009, 12:48 pm

Mama Bear wrote:

No, it was a moving thing, I think it wa\s a cell phone infraction.

OK MB, I went through this a while ago. I also pleaded not guilty successfully, arguing that it was an emergency call (it was- I was paged and had to return the call, loaner car because our car was being repaired hence no bluetooth, was on FDR where there is nowhere to pull over, undercover cop behind me! talk about bad luck)
I remember this exact situation happening to me-Ill PM you.

Barbara

Thu, Sep 17 2009, 2:47 pm

amother wrote:

Whew. That's a relief.
And to those who think it's so suspicious that someone has his license suspended - it's not all that unusual. The same thing happened to my husband (license suspended) through no fault of his own. The DMV messed him around and now he has to go to the supreme court to get things fixed (We are in Israel). Don't always just assume the worst of people. I agree that it's stupid to drive without a license and risk getting caught, but please - lectures about a car being a weapon etc. etc. are really superfluous.

You must have missed the part where the OP stated that her husband caused an accident* while driving a car without insurance. He was fined $20,000 (compensation to victim?), which he's failed to pay. THAT's what resulted in him losing his license, not some bureaucratic snafu or forgetting to pay a couple of parking tickets.

*Actually, she said something to the effect that the court found that he caused the accident, which I presume means that he disputed it.

Barbara

Thu, Sep 17 2009, 2:51 pm

Mama Bear wrote:

No, it was a moving thing, I think it wa\s a cell phone infraction.

Is there a place on the back of the citation for him to check *not guilty*? If so, AIUI, he needs to do that and return it within a certain number of days.

miriamnechama

Thu, Sep 17 2009, 3:36 pm

we were stopped about 2 years ago, for dtiving with extra people in the back and I wasn't seatbelted in.

they were gonna give us a court date but the cop decided because it was pesach he let it go, but we still got fined, oh and then there were like 5 cops staring into the car.. was really embarresing.

I have no idea what happens in NY but in israel they can call you to pull over with a megaphone.... we happened to have passed them as were we driving, and obviously the cop saw us and pulled us over right way.

since then I'm extremely makpid, tey called me out for questioning as well, which is not what I would want to go through again, but I'm extremely makpid on how many sit in the back etc....even though I don't have a lisence and can't drive, I'm the one who runs around paying the fines, . also now when dh went out to uman, I warned my mil, not to over do things, because in teh end all teh tickets and stuff come to us, and we have no interest in paying something if dh was out the country.. though we could probably prove that.

I iyh hope tostart totake drivinglessons after succos... it's beena major decision even thoughi use busses alot and don't have much access to teh car, but I though it would be handy.

I really am gonna make sure to be a good studant and keep my phone off, a video I saw recently really put thingsinto perspective.

bubby

Thu, Sep 17 2009, 5:04 pm

I got a $90 ticket last year for driving while using a cell. My stupidity & I paid it. It was a costly lesson. The cop was really nice because I didn't try to weasel out of it & he explained to me exactly how to pay it, what to check off, & how to check on line it was cleared.

I bought a Bluetooth, but when I was rear ended it flew off (glasses & a sheitle doesn't keep it over my ear) & I couldn't find it on the floor or use my cell manually until eventually I picked it up. So I don't have anything any more & I just leave the phone on the seat so I can see if the call is important. if so, I have to pull over. Very frustrating.

It's amazing how just swatting a bee can be so dangerous. I know someone who "killed" his wife when he swatted a bee while he was driving & crashed his car. It was a terrible tragedy. Texting, talking on a cell, putting on make-up, shaving & nursing (yes, I know someone who did this!! shock

) when driving are no-nos.

gold21

Thu, Sep 17 2009, 8:28 pm

bubby im sure you didnt mean it that way, but to say a man "killed his wife" by having a car crash while he was the driver is extremely harsh. even if the word "killed" is in quotes. I can just imagine now what everyone yammered about after this womans death: "he killed her" ouch. "he was trying to kill a bee and the car lost control" is the proper way to put it.

queen

Thu, Sep 17 2009, 9:10 pm

bubby wrote:

nursing (yes, I know someone who did this!! shock

) when driving are no-nos.

I know a woman that lost a child while in an accident - she was nursing her baby... happ'd more than 30 years ago

miriamnechama

Thu, Sep 17 2009, 11:48 pm

yes and my driving instructor told me to wait with starting lessons till once my cast is off,. because driving with a cast on is also a nono.. absolutely illegal.

so I'll be starting after succot.

btw about the passport thingie, I wrote about this in another thread.

a fam member of mine jumped bail years ago and fled the country, which is an offense before a court case... he told the judge that his mil was sick and had to go and visist her so that's how he got his passports back.

now he can never enter that country or he'll be arrested on teh spot.

but in israel I don't think you can try to flee... usually once you get to the airport, your id no will tell if your allowed to leave or not.