Question about Stop Sign Ticket in New York

[Austin3600]

Hello all,

I have been looking around for advice and this seems like the perfect place to get that advise. I live in New York and recently I was pulled over around the corner from where I live. The police officer said I ran a stop sign and gave me a ticket with the description "Failed to stop - Stop Sign" and he wrote down that I broke Section 1172 Subsection A of the Vehicle and Traffic Law. This sections says:

"Every drive of a vehicle approaching a stop sign shall stop at a clearly marked stop line, but if none, then shall stop before entering the crosswalk...."

So, in order to break this law, I must have seen a stop sign, and completely run/rolled through it. However, this is not the case. I LIVE on this street and there has NEVER been and NEVER is a stop sign in that location, nothing. When you approach the end of the road, there are no markings, no signs, no anything.

So my question is; If I bring this to court with pictures showing there CLEARLY is no stop sign, will this be dismissed? Thank you VERY much in advance.

ALSO: He wrote down the wrong license plate number. He dropped a number and added one that doesn't even exist and moved everything else around... last 4 digits 2897 became 2792.

[SgtScott31]

Getting the license plate wrong doesn't mean anything...

It's hard for me to believe that an officer would write a ticket for the hell of it when there's absolutely not a stop sign anywhere. Are you sure it's not somewhere else on the street listed on the citation?

All we can tell you is to take it to court. We were not there, nor do we know where the location is, so an educated answer is not likely.

[Austin3600]

I am VERY sure. It was a county police officer, not a local, and you don't find them around here very often. So, I'm sure he isn't use to the area. He assumed there was a stop sign, there is not one. He Wrote down exactly what intersection this was at, and there is NO stop sign there. He pulled me over much further down the road, so he wouldn't be able to look around and see there was no stop sign.

It couldn't have been any other intersection because he pulled me over immediately after I left my house. I didn't go to far since I started the car, and he came up to me and told me I ran a stop sign, which I KNEW I didn't.

[wannabeenytrp]

Did the officer say what you were pulled over for? Were you doing something else? Did you produce your driver's license and registration?

Most agencies in NY have or will have a system in place where you registration is scanned so no errors can be made. And that is all it is an error, a scribe error...

By all means take your pictures and go to court. I am just wondering was a stop sign the lesser of another infraction... Either way the officer should be in court and can always amend the ticket if he so chooses... If he is wrong then he was wrong...

[Austin3600]

Yes, the officer specifically said "You ran a stop sign back there." On the ticket, he wrote "Failed to stop - stop sign" There were no other infractions as I JUST started up my car, drove to the corner of my street a few yards from where I was parked, turned around the corner, and was pulled over. The registration/license is error free, and the ticket was all hand-written, nothing automatic.

But no, he didn't give me a lesser violation of something else I did. I yielded at the end of my street and left, he was on top of the hill I was coming out onto, and took off after me.

EDIT: What do you mean when you say "the officer may amend the ticket if he so chooses"? Thank you.

[jakflak]

This is going to sound a lot more rude than I mean it, but if you think you're innocent, fight it. There's never any harm in trying. However, getting police officers to help you fight it is simply not going to happen. That's what lawyers are for.

[Austin3600]

I do understand that very much and no, it didn't sound rude at all. :) However, I am not seeking advice on how to approach this or for anyone to "help me win." I just want to know if you think, in your opinions, whether his ticket will be upheld or not in court based on pictures I could provide. Either way I AM bringing it to court, just would like to see what others may have to say about it. That is all, no need for anything else. Just an opinion on what the outcome would be in a typical New York traffic court session if anyone had experience with that.

Also: Thanks for the responses I received so far, they are greatly appreciated by me.

[Centurion44]

So my question is; If I bring this to court with pictures showing there CLEARLY is no stop sign, will this be dismissed? Thank you VERY much in advance.

Possibly. You certainly have nothing to lose.

[Austin3600]

Thank you all for the replies. They have been greatly appreciated. There is no more need to reply to this. Thanks again.

[JonMcD1980]

I say thank you to everyone who goes to trial on a traffic ticket. Automatic 6 hrs overtime no matter how long the trial is (usually 10 minutes?) And usually ends in a guilty "verdict" anyways, So thank you