No-English Traffic Ticket

Posted by Alex in Car & Vehicle, Crime & Law, Politics on October 25, 2009 at 11:11 pm

Can’t speak English? You better not be pulled over in Texas … Nearly forty people have gotten "no-English" traffic violation tickets:

The Dallas Police Department said it was embarrassed by what it calls a mistake by rookie Officer Gary Bromley after he stopped Ernestina Mondragon for making an illegal U-turn.

In addition for being cited for the U-turn violation, Mondragon received another ticket for being a "non-English speaking driver."

Dallas Police Chief David Kunkle issued an apology:

"We don’t have abilities to determine proficiency in any language, and we shouldn’t be doing it in the first place," Kunkle said. "I apologize to the Spanish-speaking Hispanic community."

After a review of the records, Kunkle said about a half-dozen officers had issued a total of 38 similar citations. He said police would recommend to the courts that any pending cases be dismissed.

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Don't Mess with New Jersey: Paying with Pennies Got Man Into Trouble

Posted by Alex in Crime & Law, Money & Finance on December 17, 2008 at 3:19 am

Frank Gilberti thought that his traffic ticket was "non-cents." He noticed that the Bloomfield, New Jersey, municipal court accepts cash to pay the fine, so he decided to pay with real cents: $56 in pennies!

That’s when he got into more trouble:

"I went to the bank and got $56 worth of rolled pennies and went down to the court house and they refused to take it. They had told me to bring cash. I was under the assumption this was cash."

Non-cents? Not really. Pennies are legal tender. In fact, at the courthouse WCBS-TV found a sign saying cash is accepted. That’s why the Nutley resident said he fought back, calling the court and convincing workers there to take his pennies.

But the 22-year-old said there was a condition — that he write his driver’s license number on each roll. "I simply asked them if I would have to do just this if I were handing in $56 bill. Would I have to write my driver’s license number on each bill? They had no response," Gilberti said.

And even more shocking he said: "Then I found out there was a warrant out for my arrest."

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