Advice needed on how to fight a citation.

[OHRoadwarrior]

As someone who has faced a similar situation in the past, don't rely on the officers assertion that there was an impartial witness that gave that statement. I was cited for an "accident", I was not involved in. When I appeared, with my attorney, the charges were dropped before the case even started. It turns out the "witness" was the hubby/bf of the person in the car that said I caused her to crash. He had actually refused to give a statement and neither of them showed for court. They were very upset, when they had to pay for the damages to their own vehicle.

 

[ecmst12]

I would not be convinced by a witness statement as vague as this one supposedly is, but I'm not sure you've gotten an accurate account of the statement. Hopefully the witness' information is on the police report and your insurance company can get a statement from them directly.

 

[DaytonMomof2]

More info:

Even though the officer said we could just pay the fine, there is no dollar amount listed anywhere on the citation. Weird, huh?

And reading the 'fine print' on the citation, it says if hubby decides to plead not guilty, the hearing will be rescheduled. I am assuming that means that they don't bother to subpoena the witness(es) for the court date listed on the citation. It also means that Hubby has to take time off work twice instead of once since he has to show up to plead not guilty. Argh.

 

[Free_Advice]

As someone who has faced a similar situation in the past, don't rely on the officers assertion that there was an impartial witness that gave that statement. I was cited for an "accident", I was not involved in.

I believe you .. officers do not care about justice, they are just looking for the quickest way to get back to the donut shop. Plus they CAN LIE .. what kind of system do we have? A pretty poor one.

 

[DaytonMomof2]

Update

I have been able to view the actual police report including the witness statements.

My husband's statement obviously says our light was green.
The other driver's statement says "stop at red light light turn green heading south on marshall when we hit. we were going 5 miles per hour". Yes, that is a quote.
The passenger in that same car says "stoped [sic] at red light going south on marcial [sic] + started south then got hit by a van going west". He doesn't specifically say the light changed.
The witness statement does not say anything remotely similar to what the officer at the scene told us he said. It says, "I was stopped at marshal [sic] to turn right at stroop. The car in the lane to my left entered the intersection and was struck by the car traveling westbound on stroop. I had been waiting to make a right turn because of oncoming traffic."

I also spoke to the insurance adjuster who was extremely nice. She has not yet made a decision and is sending someone out to the intersection to check the timing of the lights. She told me that the witness seems very cooperative and very honest. He told her he didn't want to know which driver she represented. He said he cannot honestly say what color the light was. He just knows he did not turn because he didn't have the right of way yet. She also said that the other car's passenger did not see the light and said they were deep in conversation when the accident occurred.

Hubby is seeing a lawyer today for more help with fighting the citation.