136 (1) (a) - Fail to Stop: My word vs. officer's...

This afternoon I was pulled over in Milton. When I saw the lights in my rearview, I pulled over honestly believing he was going to go past me to some incident. I was shocked when he pulled in behind me. I had no idea why I was being pulled over.

I was stunned when the officer told me that I failed to stop at a stop sign. I told the officer that I had, but he said that my "brake lights didn't even light up." He said that I had slowed down to a rolling stop, looked around and then proceeded (it was a 40 zone, so I'm not sure how he felt that had I slowed to a rolling stop without my brake lights going on, but I digress). I am absolutely certain that I had come to a complete stop and respectfully told him so. He told me that he could have given me two tickets because he claimed I did this at a second stop sign a short distance from where the offense took place. He only ticketed for one intersection.

I have been driving for over 22 years. I have had the odd speeding ticket, and every single one of those I deserved. I have never fought any of those because I knew I was guilty. I have never had any other type of driving infraction. This ticket today, I do not believe I deserve. I even had my 3 year-old daughter in the car, which always has me on heightened awareness of my driving.

I am always very respectful of police officers and I apologized to him for this violation, even though I was still certain I did nothing wrong. I was just stunned. He explained that they are cracking down on drivers blowing the stop signs at that intersection, which I am all in favour of, but I truly believe that this officer was overzealous in stopping me.

So, my dilemma is that I wish to fight this, but on what grounds? It boils down to his word vs. mine. I have no way of proving that he is wrong; I don't know what "proof" he could have that I did, but I have to assume that the Court would side with the officer's version of the events.

My other question is if I do fight this and lose, what additional risks am I taking? Could the Court or Officer claim that he "let me off" on the one intersection, could they now add that to the charge, too? Will the fact that I apologized be on record as some kind of admission of guilt? I only apologized because I was very surprised and confused and being respectful (not to mention hoping he wouldn't ticket me.)

I was so surprsied in fact that I never even thought to ask if demerit points came into effect. He didn't mention it and I drove away thinking it was just a fine.

I apologize for the lengthy post but I don't want to leave out anything that could be relevant. Any advice anyone can provide would be very greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

He might have a dash cam that may or may not help your case. Your word against the officers isn't necessarily a guaranteed conviction. The officer is only a witness just like you. If you are confident you stopped fight it, a stop sign conviction is pretty minor. Get disclosure see what they have against you. At trial you are going to get a chance to cross examine the officer, you can bring up the brake light/rolling stop issue. Might help if it is in the notes.

I'm gonna say based on 25 years experience that a lot of people think they stop when they don't....what happens is they begin stopping, continue stopping, slow down, get to the stop sign and...go...

I've had more than one motorist call me every name in the book (I let them vent) then I show them the video, they are actually dumbfounded when they see the footage...Sadly your belief that you stopped may just be that...while I agree the officer's word doesn't guarantee a conviction, I also hardly think the average copper has nothing better to do than create offences that didn't occur.

Just a thought...

ynotp wrote:

He might have a dash cam that may or may not help your case.

Honestly, I would be fine with it if he did. I'm that confident that I did stop completely.

ynotp wrote:

If you are confident you stopped fight it, a stop sign conviction is pretty minor. Get disclosure see what they have against you. At trial you are going to get a chance to cross examine the officer, you can bring up the brake light/rolling stop issue. Might help if it is in the notes.

I appreciate the advice. Thank you very much.

FyreStorm wrote:

I'm gonna say based on 25 years experience that a lot of people think they stop when they don't....what happens is they begin stopping, continue stopping, slow down, get to the stop sign and...go....

I've had more than one motorist call me every name in the book (I let them vent) then I show them the video, they are actually dumbfounded when they see the footage...Sadly your belief that you stopped may just be that...while I agree the officer's word doesn't guarantee a conviction, I also hardly think the average copper has nothing better to do than create offences that didn't occur.

Just a thought...

I agree in that I don't believe for a second that the officer was targeting me and creating an offense when one didn't occur, however I do believe that he was simply mistaken... and of course, I could be as well. If he had a video, I wish he showed me. If one is shown if I take it to court, and it clearly proves that I am wrong, I will not hesitate to apologize to the court and to the officer for wasting their time.

Thank you for your comments.