Street Racing Ticket

[nickg]

police should be allowed to bring large vehicle crushers to any street racing party they bust. they can then take the little POS's rice burner with the pretty neon lights underneath, crush the sh!t out of it and then send the little prick home to cry to his mommy.

"the fast and the furious"? f*** you!!

[121Traffic]

Scruit, I think you are reading far too much into what I am saying and missing the point that I was trying to illustrate with the statutes. What I took as watching means standing on the sideline, looking at the cars rev their engines at the start, and following them as they fly by. Their EXPRESS INTENT for being there is to view the race and its result. Just being in the area doesn't qualify for me, and I think that in the example you provided, the system completely failed those individuals. The police weren't necessarily wrong in citing that Walmart employee...sometimes when you are trying to deal with hundreds of kids in an open setting like the side of the road, all you can do is cite everyone and let the DA sort them out. What should have happened in that case, in my opinion, is if the DA decided to file charges, the man should have gone to trial (I am assuming he did). At trial, remember that it is the prosecution's responsibility to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant is guilty...the burden of proof is on the state. In that case, either the defendant was somehow involved (that MUST be considered as a possibility), or the court failed. Either way, you can't EVER possibly write statutes in a manner that no innocent person will EVER be convicted. Watching could mean being parked in an alley waiting for your wife to come out of a store while the race takes place on the street. Cite that person? Of course not...it all depends on the totality of the circumstances. That is what a lot of the Criminal Justice system is based on. If he really was just trying to leave after his shift, then the system failed, not the text. But I suspect that if he really were innocent, he could have gotten witnesses and co-employees to testify on his behalf. But if he was, that is a shame.

[Scruit]

121,

When you hand out a ticket you can be pretty sure that most people will not be able to afford a lawyer to fight it - and even if they could the lawyer would be more than the cost of the ticket anyways. In the case I quoted the kid couldn't afford a lawyer and wasn't well represented in court. Found guilty anyways because he didn't take any witnesses...

I don't argue morally with the concept of ticketing spectators - just trying to understand the legalities. You may think I'm reading too much into the wording of the laws - but that is what law is all about. It doesn't matter what the lawmaker meant - what matters is what they wrote. If there is no written law that specifically allows you to ticket spectators then you can't do it - arguing that they are guilty by-way-of complicity or other similar legal concept would be fine except I've yet to see anything written that has that effect.

So with the example of a person standing by the side of the road actively watching the race - even he is not guilty of complicity under the wording presented above.

To all, Have you ever ticketed a spectator at a race? Did they fight it?

[gabe a.]

What happenned to the gentlemen getting off of work is truely dissappointing. However, I for one, am very happy that this law is the way that it is in Colorado. I know a lot of these kids and when they do race it's out in the middle of nowhere and you're not there unless you want to be. These kids are putting themselves into harms way by lining the streets on either side while inexperienced drivers fly by them only inches away. The Colorado State Patrol has tried many different tactics to discourage "spectating", this ticket seems to be the only one working. I am up for any way to reduce the Colorado street racing scene, as it's growing very fast.

[rdp]

We are pushing for a new stricter local ordinance here, but we are currently using the state laws.

For spectators, we utilize the unlawful assembly charge. They are willingly participating in an unlawful assembly as a group breaking the law.

All of the racers lean towards industrial areas where the likelihood of innocent people being trapped like the Wal-mart guy isn't going to happen.

First time we catch you, we cite......next time it is a trip to jail.

[FPS207]

We don't have a law relating to watching a race, however I do applaude it.

[gdowkpc]

so sorry....

No - not normally. Perhaps unlawful assembly if ordered to leave and they fail to do so.

They bust spectators for it in LA County. I remember when they made a big deal about it about 10 years ago.