My mom got a speeding ticket last week. She was driving up a hill on a lonely stretch of highway between here and New Mexico, and someone was tailgating her, so she pulled into the right-hand lane, but somehow she still ended up in front at the crest of the hill, and she was the one who got the ticket.
But it wasn’t her fault, and it wasn’t fair, of course. She told the cop that, too. She asked what she was supposed to do if someone was tailgating her and he said to pull over (but there was no shoulder) and in that case to call the Highway Patrol (we don’t have cell phone driving laws out here in the Wild West).
Two things about my mom. First: she is the most scrupulously honest person I know, and second: she was completely flabbergasted by the injustice of this $185 ticket. So unfair! Not her fault!
Frankly, it sounded like a case of “you speed, you get a ticket” to me. Whatever else was going on at the time doesn’t really matter in the eyes of the law. But I didn’t tell her that. I made soothing noises and “uh-huh” head bobs as she told me the story. (Twice.)
The last time I got a ticket it wasn’t my fault, either. I fought it in court; I felt one hundred percent in the right, and also almost-debilitatingly intimidated and aware that the cops and judge had all the power.
While I don’t personally know that many people who have been arrested, just about everyone I know who is of driving age has received a ticket of some sort, and I can’t honestly think of one case in which it was actually the fault of the person getting the ticket. It’s never our fault.
Mr. Bennet and I were evicted from our apartment in Harlem when I was eight months pregnant with Sally. It was a sixth-floor, one-bedroom walk-up with an amazing cross-breeze and deafening reggae music from the childrens’ birthday parties that lasted into the dawn in the summer. We were so grateful to have that apartment. Renting in New York City, on a student budget, is a little hard.
We went to the city court building with the gold statue on the top and spoke with some of the smarmiest individuals it has been my pleasure to meet in a cheap suit. Basically it was Kafka in The Trial without Germanic philosophical epiphanies. Turns out we’d been illegally subletting (from that respectable man in the expensive suit who collected our $825 a month but couldn’t be bothered to pay the city-subsidized rent of $250 — for nine years).
It was December in New York City, I was three weeks away from my due date (did I mention that? First baby? No clue? Twenty-three years old? Family over 2000 miles away?), we were beyond poor and the unsympathetic lawyers wanted “help nailing this guy.” I couldn’t take the stress, so we walked away, and Mr. Bennet found us the first floor of a nice little Archie Bunker house in The Bronx.
And then there’s my friend “Annie.” Remember her? The responsible, caring mother who had to appear in court, get lectured by a snooty judge, and pay a fine because she left her kids in a warm, locked car in December for twelve minutes while she ran into a store? She cried, and was terrified, and felt guilty, and didn’t think it was fair. (I didn’t either.)
The system — made up of cops and judges, lawyers and sheriffs with eviction notices is unfair; it’s unsympathetic. Some people get off light, some people get harassed. Some people get parole, others get convictions that DNA will overturn in fourteen years.
Some people get arrested in their own home after what appears to be a break-in.
Professor Gates and President Obama want to say this is all about race, all about black and white, but I’m just not buying it.
Surely there are cases of racial profiling that shame us all. But what about my friend, who would never endanger her children, being made to feel like a criminal? What about my own heavily-pregnant self? Thrown out into the snow by an uncaring city machine?
Either the police are out to get us all and actively try to view us as suspiciously as possible (and in “us” I include myself and my friend — middle-class, college-educated white girls) or,
OR,
They (police and judges, all cogs in the “system”) are, for the most part, doing the best they can. They strap on a gun if they work a dangerous beat, they go undercover if that’s what’s called for, they work overtime, they put themselves into situations that no sane person would enter, and they try to do right.
Do you want to be a police officer? I sure don’t, though I did take an Auxiliary Police training course in Manhattan.
But I’m still scared of the police, I’m scared of the power they wield.
When I was seven years old my younger sister threw a tantrum about setting the table so she was told to take herself to the backyard while we ate. Several minutes later two cops knocked on our front door. My dad was in the Navy, a family practice doctor doing a medical residency at Camp Pendleton, and the cops made him feel like dirt and insisted on seeing for themselves that my sister was physically unharmed.
(My father is white.)
I bet just about everyone (black, white, and in between) has a tale of judicial injustice. The way our society is set up, where humans are fallible and not everyone knows everyone else, and no cop knows the whole story behind the set of circumstances that brought you here, the system is completely imperfect and probably un-perfectable.
And the problem is, as much as I distrust the system, as much as I fear the imbalance of power between uniformed and un-uniformed, there is no other country on earth that I would rather get arrested in, even if it were for breaking into my own house.
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Good job, Jane. I think you nailed this.
jennie w. Reply:
July 26th, 2009 at 6:59 am
I have gotten two tickets in my life–both last year (I’m 38), two months apart. I deserved both, and frankly I’m surprised that I haven’t gotten more. But I think this is a sign that the cute young me is completely gone (the cute young me that used to get out of every ticket she’s ever been stopped for.)
My husband was a victim of police brutality at the Phoenix Airport a few years ago (My husband called the guy directing traffic an idiot. Next thing you know he was surrounded by six cops, was thrown on the ground, handcuffed and led off to jail while I was left standing there with four crying children trying to figure out what had just happened.) I consider pretty much everything the police do as brutal, because their general mindset is that of a bully.
Ever since then we have had a terrible fear of the police. Except for a trial I don’t see how this differs from Russia.
Jane Reply:
July 26th, 2009 at 1:04 pm
Jennie,
I am so sorry to hear of your family’s experience. It sounds like an absolute nightmare, and — if I still vividly remember the night police came to our house because my sister was screaming in the backyard, I’m sure it is (unfortunately) something your children will always remember too.
My next question for you would be: what race is your husband? Did you feel the incident was racially motivated? I’m guessing that maybe police at airports are a little more tense ever since 9/11, and while I can’t (and don’t wish to) make excuses for them, it’s probably smart on our part to be even more deferential in places of high security.
And I purely hate being deferential — so I don’t say it’s right that we should be, but that it is smart to be.
My other question for you would be — have you been to Russia? I haven’t, but I have lived and/or spent time in Egypt, Japan, Mexico, and several European countries, and been treated for medical emergencies in those places and observed police response to public riots (especially in Egypt), and if that is any indication, then I stand by my inclination to face the system in America.
(I thought about adding “besides Canada” to my post, but thought that would kind of ruin the gravitas at the end.)
Jane Reply:
July 26th, 2009 at 1:04 pm
Oh, and thank you for sharing your story. I hope you share it often; police brutality is not something that should ever be swept under the rug.
steff Reply:
July 27th, 2009 at 12:17 am
I have been to Russia. When I was 17. There are a lot of ways this differs and I cannot begin to explain it all but you could feel the difference in the air as we crossed the lline into Finland. It just flat felt free-er. We were yelled @ by soviet police for things like putting our sunglasses in our pockets while standing in line to see Lenin, my film was confiscated because I took pics from my hotel window of a protest against the US….
we may have some issues, but we are so far ahead of much of the free world we still need to count our blessings.
Steff
Jane Reply:
July 28th, 2009 at 9:56 pm
Thanks, Nancy!
I’ve been pulled over once in my life for speeding, and it was completely my fault. I didn’t slow down enough while going through a little town. When the officer pulled me over, I said as much–that it was totally my fault, I was sorry, and I wasn’t going to try to talk my way out of it.
He didn’t give me a ticket.
He also asked me, “Is that your boyfriend’s truck?”
Um, no, it was mine. And I’d been married about 8 years at that point.
Jane Reply:
July 26th, 2009 at 1:06 pm
Well, besides your taking responsibility for speeding, it was probably your baby face and good looks that helped get you off the ticket.
I confess I once got out of a ticket when I was pregnant with my third. My second (20 months at the time) was screaming in the back of the minivan, and I had to PEE. The officer took pity on me and told me to slow down, which I did, at least for several weeks.
listen, Jane, thanks to the slowing economy, the are budget deficits in every city, county, or state treasury. they have to get their money somehow, so they ticket innocent people like your mom. like you said, it’s just the system we live under, and it still is the best system in the world…
Jane Reply:
July 26th, 2009 at 1:08 pm
I think the concept of innocence itself is pretty interesting. My mom, in general, is certainly an “innocent” person, but I think it’s fairly clear that she was “guilty” of speeding when she was ticketed. There might be extenuating circumstances (which is why we have trial by jury in more serious cases), but that really doesn’t matter. (Except when it’s me getting the ticket.
.)
I think there are civil injustices all over the country. I am sure there is racial profiling incidences all the time. However, the law is color blind in many cases and unfortunately just BLIND sometimes.
I am sorry your mom had to deal with such crap. Next time we go to Chick-Fil-A remind me to tell you about Brian’s run in with the crappy law man.
I think it is a matter of race AND male pride. Gates, is a respected scholar and defender of African American rights. By all accounts, he is an honorable man who has witnessed and fought against racial profiling. His senses are probably heightened in that regard – which can be a negative among the many positives. Sgt Crowley, by all accounts, is first rate police officer with a strong record. It does seem ridiculous that a senior citizen who has to use a cane and did produce identification was arrested on his front porch for ‘disorderly conduct’. Gates also should not have mouthed off to an officer. Obama later stated after his initial comment, “My suspicion is that words were exchanged between the police officer and Mr. Gates and that everybody should have just settled down and cooler heads should have prevailed.” I think this is probably the exact correct attitude that should have taken place between Gates & Crowley. Obviously, it didn’t. With regard to Obama’s first response, I would say that he spoke unwisely as the Commander in Chief. As a close friend of Gates, he probably responded the same way any of us would have responded in defense of a friend in a similar situation. He just needs to watch his tongue a bit more. At least his verbal snafus are not as abundant as those of his predecessor.
P.S. Gates age might have enhanced the issue…my grandfather (who I greatly love) seems to carry this attitude that the younger generation should be indebted to him. Although in most respects, I agree, his presumption ticks me off! I wonder if Gates used this attitude with Crowley?
Courtney, Give Mr. Obama some more time, I am sure he can catch up to the verbal gaffes of his predecessor.
Mr. Gates, and in fact Mr. Obama (and while I’m at it, Jesse Jackson) remind me of the boy who cried wolf. If they keep shouting “RACIAL PROFILING’ every time a black man is involved with law enforcement, they are going to desensitize the nation, which will be unfortunate for those who involved in actual racial profiling.
“I consider pretty much everything the police do as brutal, because their general mindset is that of a bully.”
My husband has been with UHP for 11 years and I can tell you he is not a bully. I find this view of people in law enforcement infuriating. Yes, some cops are bullies as are some doctors, lawyers, or teachers, etc. Most of the men or women I’ve met over the years are just people who are doing the best they can at a job they like, that they get paid very little to do. I know my husband does it because he wants help people. Might sound cliche but it’s the truth. You would not believe the abuse he takes on a daily basis nor would you believe the ingratitude. I will also tell you that in the 7 years he was a road trooper he never, ever had a ticket quota he had to fill. I’ve been stopped twice in the last few years for speeding and both times I was in the wrong. One time I had a very nice officer and one time I had a total jerk. Cops are just people and some people aren’t nice.
I think it is pretty easy to judge other people and look at situations from a black and white perspective (no pun intended) when really there is a lot of gray area. I am merely stating that both parties seemed to have overreacted. President Obama spoke unwisely but he also probably spoke from a place of experience…growing up as a African American man who has experienced various forms of racism. It would tend to put a chip on one’s shoulder and often, we all respond to situations according to our own experiences. I know I certainly do.
This whole Gates/Crowley situation has been blow out of proportion and Obama has admittedly stated that he didn’t help the situation by defending his friend. He should have stayed neutral. He has apologized to law enforcement (which he should have) and the matter should drop. We all have put our foot in our mouths at some point. I think comparing Gates & Pres. Obama to Jesse Jackson is a little unfair as well. Jackson uses completely different tactics and speech styles than Gates when it comes to racial topics. They are two very different men.
In response to Shea: I would agree entirely that law enforcement is under appreciated and that they are human…some are wonderful and some not very nice.
As far as Bush, I don’t think Obama could ever achieve the amount of verbal diarrhea that Bush managed. Bush cornered that market…says the Texan! HA!!
My sister was pulled over for speeding a couple months ago. The officer told her she was going 65 in a 55. When she pointed the sign she was beside showing the 65 limit, he wrote the ticket for 75 (in a 55, still). She went to court to fight the outright lie and the judge told her she would have to make another appearance, she would still have no say, and her license would be suspended. I have had to follow my sister in the car before. Believe me, she doesn’t go a mile over the speed limit. Talk about feeling helpless.
As far as Gates, he had just finished a long flight (Paris, I think?)& had to break into his own house(jammed door). Probably not in the best mood. Too bad he snapped the way he did, because I think it did make the whole situation into a Crying Wolf type story.
Interesting… I’d like to see the report where Obama did apologize for his comment. As far as I’ve seen reported he has very carefully NOT apologized, while saying he should have chosen his words more carefully. That tells me the meaning behind the words is the same even though he realizes he sounded very unstatesmanlike when he spoke them (is unstatesmanlike a word? It is now!).
I’ve had my fair share of run ins with the police. And sometimes I need to remind myself when I see police around that I need to show my children they are here to help us. But I stand by the statement that both Mr. Gates and Obama were crying wolf. I also reiterate that it is a common practice of J. Jackson to seize upon any slight situation involving a black person and the police and call it racism. Did I go to far comparing Gates and Obama to Jackson? Maybe… let me take that little back and change it to say that in this one situation, Gates and Obama acted very Jacksonesque (another doozie of a word huh?).
In response to j: I am sensing a theme…you don’t care for Pres. Obama very much. Or Jesse Jackson. I’m not a Jackson fan myself. HAHAHAHA! But, I do agree that Obama’s comments were ‘unstatesmanlike’ or that he spoke unwisely, as I said previously.
Obama spoke too quickly without having in all the facts and it was Jacsonesque, but truly whether we want to admit it or not racial profiling is alive and well in the US…while there is much training to get beyond it, in many areas it cannot be helped. think of the case at the beginning of the summer in New York where the Black police officer off duty was chasing a white theif who had stolen HIS truck and was killed by two on duty officers who shot him 14 times as he was trying to show his ID.
It happens everyday and as black men they are probably hyper aware of this.
As someone else said there are bullies in nearly every profession,
but for what we pay the cops to risk their lives on a daily basis it is actually amazing there aren’t more bad apples in the bunch.
Steff
Embarrassed to admit that I’ve received a plethora of tickets (I know “plethora” has become a cliche’ since 3 AMIGOS, but it’s still a fun word). I’ve been guilty in all counts except one that I also fought as you did, Jane, back in ’07. (Mine was a fender-bender in 1965; the officer didn’t show, BUT I was still asked to defend myself, which I did like Perry Mason himself – whose steps I wanted to follow – and WON!) Since that time, I’ve had more than my share of fender-benders (11 in 2 years when I drove a mammoth Ford Club van back in the ’70s, and whom I would christen Manny if I drove it today.) I now drive “Cream Puff,” the PT Cruiser who can barely get up to 55; nevertheless, I managed to receive a ticket in a school zone (no flashing lights, whew!) going 37 mph in a 25 mph zone (when lights are NOT flashing), and I was a mere 10 feet from the 35 mph sign when the nice policeman pulled me over. He graciously wrote the ticket for 30 in a 25, thus reducing the fine I’d have to pay. (I haven’t been cute enough to EVER get off with a warning, BUT he did apologize for HAVING to give me a ticket when I am a poor educator whose wages have been recently reduced.) Fortunately, it has been a little over 3 years since my last speeding ticket when I drove a Dodge Caravan that we bought from our son so he could buy his Expedition to pull his boat. (Did I mention I HATE vans, and celebrated the day the transmission went out for the 2nd time in the van’s lifetime, and I had a good reason for buying my sweet Cream Puff?) To put an end to this therapeutic, stream-of-conscious comment, I have been permitted to take the on-line traffic school course (which costs even more money but keeps the incident off my driving record and from my hubby’s knowledge) for the second time in 5 years.
I’ve never been brutalized by police nor know anyone who has, and I deplore the thought of that as much as I hate the idea of a few teachers who sexually abuse their students – destroying public trust is EVIL! And I pray that bullying policemen are in the minority as exploitive (is that a word) teachers are in the minority. (I’m not sure what the statistics are b/c reported incidents constantly show up in the media with every sordid detail.) Nevertheless, like Jane, I am grateful to live in a country where I can complain about, protest, and march on city hall.
Now I’m going on my walk! And I’m not even going to proofread what I’ve written! How’s that for English teacher rebellion?
I wish I would have proofread my post. Please take the “ing” off abusING and substitute with an “e”. And you might correct a spacing error on the 9th line as well. Thank you. BTW, I feel like I did a pretty fair job of mimicking Jane’s fun writing by throwing in some parentheses and expanding the subject to address something very important – public trust. : ) Love ya, Jane (aka Shannon, Mrs. Bennett, Friend.)
Okay, I was reading the comments and got a little lost and sidetracked in what I was going to say, but I think, once again, this is a brilliantly written post. I agree with you totally (boring, I know, maybe one day I’ll disagree). And I’m almost afraid to say this because I might jinx myself but I’ve never gotten a ticket.
Can a post ever hit harder home? My husband and I are in this massive dispute with our landlord. Morally, we are in the right. But legally, we are in the wrong. It makes me want to scream. My husband, who is very much a person who insists on right triumphing, can get rather militant about it. But I keep reminding him that the law isn’t necessarily working in our favor and that I’d rather be out x amount of dollars as opposed to a lawsuit stacked against us.
Jane Reply:
July 28th, 2009 at 9:53 pm
I think it’s doubly hard when moral and legal are different, and when there are gray areas — again, why we have trial by jury instead of just laws, but, as you say, might be easier/better/cheaper to not go to court.
I’m so sorry. Good luck!
[...] received my first ticket when I was 16, but I beat that one in court – I was a wannabe Perry Mason back in ‘63, and that victory fueled my desire … [...]
I just have to say, my experience with police has been very fair and forthright, though I know there are experiences out there that make anyone cringe. But there are a lot of really good guys out there enforcing our freedoms.
Also, I’ve deserved every single ticket I’ve gotten except one. Wait, that one I did deserve too; I caught myself speeding and slowed down, not knowing a policeman had also “caught” me speeding, and probably thought I slowed down when I saw him. He caught up with me a few blocks later when I was going the speed limit.
I should have many more than 4 or 5 tickets, though (I have a lead foot and I weave. Yes, you can hate me now). And sadly, I’m a strategic speeder. I speed in groups (“I was going with the flow, occifer!”), I push the speed limit carefully depending on the area and the possibilities of getting a ticket, and I slow down near on & off-ramps and small towns where policemen lurk.
However, when Rob got his first ticket ever, a camera ticket that came in the mail because he ran a red light by just barely mis-judging the yellow and getting a pic snapped of his car one foot from crossing into the intersection (meaning in real life, he was in the intersection less than a fraction of a second later), I felt it wasn’t fair for him, because he’s like your mom–a very conscienscious,(sp?) safe, wise driver. If anyone should have gotten a $400 ticket for accidentally running a red light, it should have been me. But again, I am strategic if I decide to run a yellow, and I only push a yellow if there’s no camera. And usually make it, anyway. But not always. Poor Rob.