Legal Question in Traffic Law in North Carolina

What if the Police are out of their jurisdiction?

My question is whether or not a police officer can pull you over for speeding if they were sitting in another town when they clocked you? I was pulled over for speeding by one town, but where the police officer was sitting he was in another town. He was about 1/2 mile from his city limits, but waited till I got in his city limits before he pulled me over. Is this legal? Also, when he came up to the side of my vehicle to tell me why I was pulled over he said that I was doing 50 in a 35, but when he came back with the citation 20 minutes later he said he actually had me clocked at 54 in a 35. Is he allowed to change what he originally said? I now have to go to court because he changed what he originally said. I want to get a lawyer for this case...is it worth my while to get one?


Asked on 8/16/01, 8:08 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Gary Underhill, Jr. Gary Underhill Jr. Attorney at Law

Re: What if the Police are out of their jurisdiction?

Any NC police officer or trooper has jurisdication in the enitre state of NC, it is not limited to a particular town or county they are assigned to.

I would not try and go after the officer in court about changing the speed. I would suggest you just go to court and be as nice as possible and ask the District Attorney to reduce the speed. Typically attacking the officer does not get the best results. I would recomment talking to an attorney in the county you got the ticket

Diana

legal assistant

252-338-9412

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Answered on 8/28/01, 7:54 pm


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