smoked headlight legal trouble...again

[Cody]

A while back, i got a citation from a CHP officer Garcia for the blue oval industries smoked headlights i have. He had stated on the ticket that they were "painted headlights", which was incorrect, and it ended up being a correctable anyways (even though he said it wasnt).

Lately the lenses have gotten all scratched up and oxidized, so I broke out the buffer and polished them back to life, detailed my car, and was ready for a fun evening. On my way to my friends house, i see a CHP officer at the stoplight im at, but stopped at the light perpendicular to me on the right. He sees my car, pulls to the side, and waits for me to turn, flips on the lights, and pulls me over.

Out comes Officer Garcia (once again). He comes over, scolds me for having the headlights still on there, makes me roll up my windows, cites me for tint, opens my hood, checks all my carb stickers, etc. He tells me that i am going to get a fine, that the lights arent correctable (which he had told be before, and they ended up being correctable), and that whenever he sees me he is going to pull me over and look for every single thing wrong with my car.

So once im able to leave, i head to my friends house, but i look at the ticket to find that, once again, i have been incorrectly cited for something that isnt there. He cited me for "headlight covers" which i dont have. My entire headlight assembly is lightly smoked, and most definately doesnt have covers.

My thinking is, if i am cited for the wrong thing, wont i just get off fine free?

Also, driving home at 1am just now, i was pulled over again by a PD officer, but she didnt hassle me much and just let me on my way.

Two times in a day being pulled over, being pulled over by the same cop twice for the same thing, hmmmm.... bad luck for me and the batmobile!

[Julie GT07CS]

You def have had a run of bad luck Cody! Might want to think about swapping the headlights to save you more grief.

As far as this:
"My thinking is, if i am cited for the wrong thing, wont i just get off fine free?:

I have no clue.

[Glenn_03Cobra]

Me thinks Officer Garcia is jealous and wishes he had smoked headlights on his patrol car :mrgreen:

Your ride is a cop magnet, when it is so blacked-out and you're still a kid. Plus, Officer Garcia is watching for you now... you're screwed :(

[Powershift03]

Hey Cody... post a picture of your car. It's either your car is standing out to them, or your driving. Sadly, I agree that you have Officer Garcia's attention. You need to get off his radar for a while. If that means swapping in a set of more clear headlamps... ya might have to. I have a new set of clear '99 lights at home you can borrow. But, I'm nowhere near home right now. LOL

[blind]

sell the smoked lights and run a cobra set like I've got, cops won't even look twice.

[sbca96]

I fought the Law and the Law won, I fought the Law and the ... Law .. lost?

Rarely, and its not really worth it in the end. Garcia obviously has a boner
for you, and perhaps a rainbow sticker should be added to his patrol car in
the spot above the "There is no excuse for domestic violence" sticker. I bet
that Matt would do it for a beer.

I doubt there is a "mistake on the ticket, get out of jail free clause". On my
recent ticket the officer wrote down the wrong code, they sent me a letter
in the mail with the correct number ... still cost me.

If you have blue bulbs, put white ones in, if you have white ones put in the
brightest white you can buy, might offset the light tint, or as was said earlier
just get some stock lights and conform. State wants money.

Tom

[ntsqd]

The CHP has been educating their officers about all manner of things that don't meet the VC. Like SRE/SB based steering and suspension parts and E.O. stickers for aftermarket parts. They must have Probable Cause (PC) to make you open the hood, and it is entirely within your rights to, POLITELY, ask what his PC is. If they do not have any, it similar to a search without a warrant.

Used to be that if you contested it in court and the wrong VC number was cited that the judge would throw out the ticket. Which usually resulted in the officer being even more on the look-out for you. The part about the forcing you to roll up the windows, what PC did he have to ask you to do that? LEO's must have PC to ask for such things. Given the local temps lately I think that you could have that part dismissed, but again you're going to incur more of officer's wrath. The advice to disappear from the officer's radar is the best advice.