citation taken back from other driver by officer's supervisor

[askquestion]

I live in Louisiana and I have a question as to why a police officer who wrote a citation, asked the other person to sign it, the person refused, officer advised this person it was not admitting to fault only to appear in court or can appeal. The officer then explained that by refusing to sign could be arrested and taken to jail. The person signs the citation then states to the officer he was being rude and demanded to speak to his immediate supervisor. The officer complied. The person then looked at me and said don't you think the officer is being rude too. I did not reply and walked away. The officer was not being rude.

I was going south on the right far lane, two lanes on each side with a middle fifth yield turn lane in the center. The other person refusing to sign the citation and later did, was facing north in the middle yield lane at a complete stop. I looked over seen her car in the middle yield lane to my left and I looked forward, and next I saw her turn left directly in front of me into the bank parking entrance. I slammed on my breaks and by the time my car came to a complete stop the back of her car was directly in front of my car. I could not avoid hitting her. I told her she just swooped out and turned left directly in front of me and did not have enough time to turn and get out of my way to avoid me hitting her. She said oh no I was halfway across the road when you hit me. I said well yeah because you just turned and by the time my car skidded and stopped your back part of your car was out in the road and you did not have enough time to cross and turn in front of me. I ended the discussion with her at that point.

The officer's supevisor came and spoke with her after she complained about the other officer's conduct, and then took the citation back. The officer could clearly see from where she was hit that she failed to yield to the right of way. Why would the supervisor take the citation back.

[Citicop]

I have no idea. I would never have done that unless it was clear that the ticket had been written in error.

The complaint about the officer's behavior has no bearing on the disposition of the criminal charge for the suspect.

-Citicop.

[marinepilot]

askquestion, please try to place your question threads in the correct forum. I'm moving this one to the regular Ask-A-Cop forum because where you've placed it is for writers who are making books/stories/scripts come to ask questions, hence the name "Writers' Questions."

[scott715us]

Sometimes supervisors may take a citation and pull it to solve a customer complaint. If the ticket was warranted, as I think it was in the case you described, I would not have taken it back. If this involved a traffic crash, then likely a traffic report was done and I'm sure the investigating officer wrote that the other driver was at fault. Tickets are not mandatory. The insurance companies will know who was at fault in the crash. Considering you were the prosecutor on the traffic ticket the officer issued I don't believe the supervisor should have torn it up. This is a common practice in TN. If I didn't witness the crash or the driving behavior, but a third party did who wanted to prosecute, then they can sign the ticket and appear in court. It's basically your word against his/hers in that situation.

[Legoate]

I've never seen this happen. I don't run cites through a supervisor and would never give one back because a person complained.

Complain all you want, but if you break the law you get the consequences.

[mcsap]

Failing to sign a cite in PA means little. I would write in BOLD letters , " REFUSED TO SIGN ' which never impresses the judge But I could never have locked someone up for it.

[greg72982]

Failing to sign a cite in PA means little. I would write in BOLD letters , " REFUSED TO SIGN ' which never impresses the judge But I could never have locked someone up for it.

I've only had one or two in six years refuse. I must have missed my calling as a salesman.

[icu650]

When we had prisoners that did not want to sign the arrest pedigree report I would also put down in bold letters REFUSED TO SIGN then asked them to sign under refused to sign. Everyone did. It really didn't matter if they signed or not)

[askquestion]

Well as of today Wednesday the other party has been found at fault for failure to yield. We were both with the same insurance company as well as agent. He said she told him she had no witnesses and gave two conflicting statements. One that I was spending (and after he saw her photo of her damages he concluded I was not) and the other that she never saw me. Also my airbag did not deploy and there was no skid marks (meaning I did not have enough time to stop to make skid marks). I feel the other party was very rude to the police officer and was just trying to justify getting out of fault. I know what officer's go through as I have a family member who is retired from the police department. I respect them and realize that they made sound rude but are just trying to maintain control of the situation.
I commend the police officer who stood his ground and stated the law and maintained his composure.
Thank you and God Bless all the officer's who protect us night and day.

[scott715us]

I had a friend call me yesterday about the same situation. An acquaintance of his t-boned a vehicle that blew a red light causing her to crash into him. He was apologetic, but when the officer arrived she later found it he lied and told the officer that she ran the red light. Luckily there was a witness to the incident who gave her contact info. The officer did not cite anyone in this circumstance, but I'm sure the insurance company will conduct their investigation and learn who the real "at-fault" driver was. Luckily a witness was available or else the innocent person in this case may have had her insurance rates increase.

[mcsap]

well as of today wednesday the other party has been found at fault for failure to yield. We were both with the same insurance company as well as agent. He said she told him she had no witnesses and gave two conflicting statements. One that i was spending (and after he saw her photo of her damages he concluded i was not) and the other that she never saw me. Also my airbag did not deploynot an automatic indicator of speed , it takes a specific impact to pop an airbag. and there was no skid marks anti-lock brakes usually prevent leaving skids (meaning i did not have enough time to stop to make skid marks). I feel the other party was very rude to the police officer and was just trying to justify getting out of fault. I know what officer's go through as i have a family member who is retired from the police department. I respect them and realize that they made sound rude but are just trying to maintain control of the situation.
I commend the police officer who stood his ground and stated the law and maintained his composure.
Thank you and god bless all the officer's who protect us night and day.

fyi