Legal Question in Traffic Law in New Jersey
Police falsified traffic citation
A friend was issused citations for driving without liability insurance and registration. However, he was stopped by a police officer from another municipality instead of the one where he was pulled over. Moreover, the officer falsely put his municipality as the location of the incident. There is paper evidence to the contrary. Is the officer's actions legal? If not, is there a petition that my friend may file with the court to have the case against him dismissed on the grounds that the officer issuing the citations falsified the citations. Can the petition be filed before the set court hearing?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Police falsified traffic citation
Unfortunately, our New Jersey Courts have held that municipal police have authority to stop people for motor vehicle violations committed in their presence even outside of their municipality. So, if the police officer can state something he saw your friend do or state that he ran your friend's tags and they came back bad then he is allowed to make that stop even if not in his own municipality.
As far as the police officer putting false information on the ticket - I would have to see the tickets and learn more about the specific circumstances of his or her case before answering this part of the question.
The bottom line is that it sounds like your challenges are the kinds of technicalities that don't usually get you very far as a defense. Except in cases where police have far far oversetepped their authority or abused their position, the Courts focus more on the behavior of the defendant, as opposed to the police's behavior. Your friend should probably work on a defense to these charges or hire a lawyer to do that for him or her.
If you would like to discuss this case further and are in South Jersey then please give me a call.
Thanks,
Daniel B. Kelley
(856)616-8080
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