O/T: New York Lawyer vs Texas Sheriff

[Lew Hodgett]

Enjoy

Lew

--------------------------------------------------------------------- A New York lawyer runs a stop sign and gets pulled over by a Texas sheriff's deputy.

He thinks that he is smarter than the deputy because he is a lawyer from New York and is certain that he has a better education then any cop from Houston, TX.

He decides to prove this to himself and have some fun at the Texas deputy's expense.

The deputy says, 'License and registration, please.'

'What for?' says the lawyer.

The deputy says, 'You didn't come to a complete stop at that stop sign.'

Then the lawyer says, 'I slowed down, and no one was coming.'

'You still didn't come to a complete stop, says the deputy. License and registration, please.'**

The lawyer says, 'What's the difference?'

The difference is you have to come to complete stop, that's the law.

License and registration, please!' the Deputy repeats..

The lawyer says, 'If you can show me the legal difference between slow down and stop, I'll give you my license and registration, and you give me the ticket.

If not, you let me go and don't give me the ticket.'

'That sounds fair.

Please exit your vehicle, sir,' the deputy says.

At this point, the deputy takes out his nightstick and starts beating the crap out of the lawyer and says, 'Do you want me to stop, or just slow down?'*

[Roy]

I just love a story that has a happy ending.

However, I must admit based on 25 years of driving in and around Houston, the apparent speed limit for stop signs appears to be about 12 MPH.

[Lew Hodgett]

---------------------------------------------------------- In CA, it's known as "The Rolling Right Turn."

Lew

[Leon]

I don't find that to be true in Bellaire, West U., etc. Otherwise, yeah.

[Swingman]

Say what? We gots more self-centered, yuppie transplant stop sign runners than anywhere in the universe ... apparently the attitude comes included with the JD, MD degree. ;)

The ONLY place I find that NOT to be true is those four or five stop signs on S. Kirkwood that are in the city limits of Meadows Glen ... there you damned well better stop, completely, for that is how they bankroll the budget.

As you well know ... :)

[Leon]

Sorry! LOL After being stopped by West U police in Bellaire to tell me about a dim license plate light that was not actually dim I figured a rolling stop would land you in jail. :~)

Totally forgot about that spot. LOL. No cheating in Meadows Place!

[Bill]

On the way to work/school in the morning with my dad, it was about 20 MPH, and I'm not kidding. It was exciting (I didn't like it)!

[HeyBub]

But it's okay for them to cheat.

In a discussion with a Meadows Place SERGEANT, I learned that he routinely places in jail anyone he catches with a gun in their car. This in spite of a Texas law that explicitly permits such action.

Now, admittedly, the law is a little convoluted* and the district attorney goes along with the far-fetched interpretation, but every case that's made it to trial has been dismissed.

----------

• Follow along - three different sections of the Texas Penal Code:

1. You shall not carry a pistol on or about your person.
2. The foregoing does not apply to travelers,
3. Persons in their cars are travelers.

[Roy]

Ah, yes. Let us not forget to honor Patton Village, where it was possible to get a speeding ticket even going 5mph BELOW the speed limit before the state made it impossible to finance local governments via Mayors Court. Nowadays I hear you actually have to be speeding to get stopped there.

[Larry W]

In my area been many speed cameras have been installed in school zones over the last few years. Most of these school zones have a 25 mph limit during school hours, and maybe 35 to 45 at other times. If your caught by one of these speedcams it is a $40 fine. The local newspaper did an FOIA request on the records and found that over 900 school buses had received tickets during the past year. One of them was clocked at 74 mph.

[Larry]

"HeyBub" wrote in news:UsKdncOzKbPgJAzNnZ2dnUVZ [e-mail]:

convoluted or ambiguous about the law.

If you're in your car and the weapon is concealed, your are OK unless you are engaging in criminal activity other than a misdemeanor traffic offense, member of a gang, or you are prohibited from owning a weapon because of past offenses.

End of discussion.

Larry

[Joe]

--------------- Depending on where in Houston & the time of day, if you could ever achieve 12 MPH you'd run into the last of the thousands of cars in front of you. And that's on the freeway.

[Joe]

• Follow along - three different sections of the Texas Penal Code:

1. You shall not carry a pistol on or about your person.
2. The foregoing does not apply to travelers,
3. Persons in their cars are travelers.

--------------------- Convoluted, yes. 'Traveler' routinely interpreted as crossing at least 2 county lines. Equally meaningless, since that could be a matter of feet depending on where you start and end. Another portion of the law said 'carrying large sums of money'. Also undefined. I had a store once and saw guys coming in fresh from a couple of weeks offshore on a rig with thousands in cash in their wallets and no thought of it. My store receipts may not have been much over what I started the day with, but I carried on the daily trips to the bank. And in those days, if I had 40 bucks in my wallet, that was a large sum to me. Go figure.

And then there was Hungerford (59S).

-J

[Joe]

• Follow along - three different sections of the Texas Penal Code:

1. You shall not carry a pistol on or about your person.
2. The foregoing does not apply to travelers,
3. Persons in their cars are travelers.

--------------------- Convoluted, yes. 'Traveler' routinely interpreted as crossing at least 2 county lines. Equally meaningless, since that could be a matter of feet depending on where you start and end. Another portion of the law said 'carrying large sums of money'. Also undefined. I had a store once and saw guys coming in fresh from a couple of weeks offshore on a rig with thousands in cash in their wallets and no thought of it. My store receipts may not have been much over what I started the day with, but I carried on the daily trips to the bank. And in those days, if I had 40 bucks in my wallet, that was a large sum to me. Go figure.

And then there was (edited here) Kendleton (59S).

-J

[HeyBub]

Ah, no, as to the definitions.

The actual law said "... does not apply to travelers" and completely ignored the definition of "traveler."

Over the years, various courts have applied their own definitions: 1) Crossing a county line, 2) More than 100 miles, 3) Overnight, and so on. The courts strengthened even these definitions: Your route had to be by the most direct path; you were not a "traveler" if you temporarily ceased moving, such as getting gas or having lunch, and so on. There was never an exemption, so far as I know, for carrying large amounts of cash.

[Leon]

They have to do something for excitement! ;~)

[Leon]

On 10/31/2012 7:35 PM, Roy wrote: Snip

And then there is Corpus Christi, about 1971 the police department got its first radar equipment. The police department was pretty strict about speed limits to begin with so not too many people went past the limit. Soooo along Weber road they set up a plain site radar trap to try out the new equipment.

Dozens of cars were pulled over so that the drivers could receive their

5~7 mph over the speed limit tickets. Oh and the 35mph speed limit sign had been temporarily removed for the temporary 30mph speed limit sign during the initial radar try out period.

IIRC all tickets that were within 5mph of the old speed limit were dismissed.

[Leon]

On 11/1/2012 4:51 AM, Joe cars in front of you.

It used to be that way, for the past several years the freeways move pretty well with the exception of some rush hour traffic, like most any other large city.