The not so good new year

southernpride · Jan 27, 2010

miconn said: ↑

I am still curious as to where this was at......
I had an incident in Chandler, AZ. Got pulled over by a female DOT cop, upon checking my logbook (just straitened it out in Eloy), she decided that it just looked too good to be true. She said she was going to search my truck, I told her "not without a warrant you're not". She then cuffed me, put me in the backseat, then tore the interior of my truck up. She tore out wall panels, cut my mattress, popped the headliner out, broke the seal on my load.....all she could find was a sealed trip envelope. She tore it open, found one receipt that missed my book by an hour, and came back to the car smiling like crazy. She told me she got me, falsification,and proceeded to tear my butt out of frame for every fatigued trucker on the roads today, her mission in life to get us off the roads, blah blah blah......She then told me I was under arrest. I said BULLSHT!!! she said said falsification of logs was second class misdemeanor, and my ash was going to jail.
I was booked and placed in a holding cell with about 30 other people in Maricopa County Jail. I bonded out the next morning and had to take a cab to get my truck from the impound, $400.00 for a 15 hour impound!
They never set me a court date, but I kept calling to find out. One day they told me there was a warrent for failure to appear. I tried to tell them that I was never notified of a court date. They said it was my responsibilty to find out. (I had been calling every week). I had to go back to Chandler to the courthouse (in the strip mall) and see the judge. He was pissed that I didnt show up for court, but after I explained that I was never notified, he seen on the citation that there was no appearance date, he dropped the warrant and fee, and set me a new court date.
When I showed up for court and told my side of the story, the judge got more and more pissed. My actual charge was "failure to maintain duty status, and failure to maintain the previous 6 months logs. " I explained that the second charge was a company requirement, not mine, and also explained the illegal search of my tractor and included pictures of the destroyed interior, as well as the fact she broke my seal and failed to sign the bills indicating so. He was also pissed that she arrested me and had the truck impounded when she should have just issued a citation. Both charges were dropped, and he tore HER ##### out of frame.
Unfortunately, he explained that I could not sue the state for damages, but he would give me 1 hour head start to get gone.
The judge was pretty cool, but the cop was the most hateful LEO I have ever encountered.
When I got home I told my boss I needed another truck, (we had very distinctive Pete's) I ended up in one of our older trucks that wasnt quite so flashy.......
I guess my long winded point was that AZ state dot cops have a serious chip on their shoulder and sure dont mind taking things overboard......

...............so I do feel for you SP, its a jungle out there.......
Click to expand...

like i have ais many times before THE DOT IS NOT YOUR FRIEND AZ is bad but there are other states just as bad like FL and TX just depends on there mood at the time. all need to read your story and take head it happens every day. good luck to you my friend southernpride

123456 · Mar 12, 2012

Yes, I know, it's an old post.

Maybe some new member would enjoy it.......

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