Advice needed

[sleek]

Hi
My oath date was with in a week and Very unfortunate thing happened to me yesterday and i am very scared now,not getting sleep at all,whether they will put my citizenship application on hold or what.
What happened was i was driving in higway and taking exit to merge to another highway and the exit has two lines and i was on the
left lane of the exit,police officer was standing at the exit shoulder which is on right side of the exit and waved his hand just like to divert the traffic. I was under the impression that he wants all the left lane cars to move to right line so i moved to right line and going slowly then immediately the officer started his car and turned his flash lights behind me and i pulled over my car as soon as he did that. He rushed to me saying that i failed to stop when he was waving. I said sir i was under the impression that you are diverting all the left lane cars to right side.He didnt listen to me. He went to his car and returned with speeding as well as that i failed to stop a police ticket with option criminal as cheked in the ticket.So on the back of the ticket its saying any thing with criminal option checked you will hear from a judge whether a criminal complaint needs to issue against you or not .

What happens now? In the oath cermony will they allow me if they see this ticket. I swear god that i was under the impression that he was diverting the traffic. I dont know what to do now. Can somebody tell me any advise. I called one lawyer and explained the situation he was saying when you go to the court and explain the judge thats its totally misunderstading he may cancel that, but to reach that stage it will take couple of months .

I never had single ticket neither convition in my life.This is the first thing happend to me and that too at a very crusial time in my immigration journey. I dont know other than praying god what to do with this kind of situation.

 

[Thoughtful]

To the best of my knowledge (i may be wrong), no one is going to ask you any more questions if you have already had your interview. secondly, you have not been given any notice of criminal charges so you do not have any. It is a cop just trying to do what he feels is right. I would not sweat about it until. But if you are asked at the oath ceremony, then you have to tell them the whole story. Do not withhold any thing.
THe lawyer's comment on the ticket is right. However, within 24 - 48 hours, the ticket will be entered into the city system. You can do a walk in for most cases and challenge the ticket, in which case, the judge will set a date for "trial". So either way, the thing will not be resolved for a couple of months.
FYI: choose a jury for the trial if you want to challenge any part of the ticket. The ticket sounds ridiculous but the judge will likely believe the cop than you.

Hi
My oath date was with in a week and Very unfortunate thing happened to me yesterday and i am very scared now,not getting sleep at all,whether they will put my citizenship application on hold or what.
What happened was i was driving in higway and taking exit to merge to another highway and the exit has two lines and i was on the
left lane of the exit,police officer was standing at the exit shoulder which is on right side of the exit and waved his hand just like to divert the traffic. I was under the impression that he wants all the left lane cars to move to right line so i moved to right line and going slowly then immediately the officer started his car and turned his flash lights behind me and i pulled over my car as soon as he did that. He rushed to me saying that i failed to stop when he was waving. I said sir i was under the impression that you are diverting all the left lane cars to right side.He didnt listen to me. He went to his car and returned with speeding as well as that i failed to stop a police ticket with option criminal as cheked in the ticket.So on the back of the ticket its saying any thing with criminal option checked you will hear from a judge whether a criminal complaint needs to issue against you or not .

What happens now? In the oath cermony will they allow me if they see this ticket. I swear god that i was under the impression that he was diverting the traffic. I dont know what to do now. Can somebody tell me any advise. I called one lawyer and explained the situation he was saying when you go to the court and explain the judge thats its totally misunderstading he may cancel that, but to reach that stage it will take couple of months .

I never had single ticket neither convition in my life.This is the first thing happend to me and that too at a very crusial time in my immigration journey. I dont know other than praying god what to do with this kind of situation.

 

[ohyeah]

Just a thought... if you feel comfortable, just pay it up and carry the proof of payment with you. End of story.
On the other hand, you may feel strongly about all this and not want to pay if it was not your fault. In that case, you can challenge the ticket, but as Thoughtful said, it can take a while to settle. You can check with a lawyer to be safe, but then you will have to pay fees for that....

Good luck.
OY

 

[Ladybuggy]

To the best of my knowledge (i may be wrong), no one is going to ask you any more questions if you have already had your interview.

That is not correct. On the back of your Oath Letter there are several questions to be answered and one mentions actually speeding tickets. At least my DO did. It ask to my recolection Have you since the Interview been cited, convicted and then something about a traffic ticket.

Earlier today I read a thread where one was turned down to take the Oath because the traffic ticket wasn't paid yet. Let me find it.

 

[Ladybuggy]

Here it is ...

One of my friends in Atlanta had to wait one whole year & during that wait, he also got a speeding tkt (few days before his oath). When he went for the oath he was asked if there were any traffic violations or any unpaid tkts sitting. He said that he recently got a tkt & will be paying it off soon. They refused to let him take the oath & told him that a new date would be mailed out to him.

It was in this thread : http://boards.immigrationportal.com/showthread.php?t=275996

 

[sleek]

Thanks Thougtful and ohyeah for your replies.

I dont have the option of paying the ticket otherwise i am very glad to do that right away. In the ticket there are two options 1. is Civil and 2 one is Criminal .So he checked the civil check box under speeding and he checked Criminal checkbox under failure to stop a police.
In the bottom of the ticket its saying if Criminal option is checked you are not supposed pay the civil infracations untill the judge hearing.

First i have to send this ticket with my signature to the court then they will send me a letter of hearing date ,at that time i am supposed to pay.

 

[coloradon400]

my husband had a similar situation a couple of years ago, but the court date was mentioned on the ticket. It was a couple of weeks away and my husband was scheduled to be out of the country during that time. So, he called the court talked to a nice lady who told him to come the next day, something like a walk-in and that's what he did. He had a hearing and then paid the ticket the same day.

 

[Jackolantern]

Get a lawyer before deciding to accept the criminal charge. Criminal convictions can have severe immigration consequences for noncitizens.

Did the officer say why he wanted you to stop (the first time, when we was waving his hand)? Was it the speeding? If he doesn't have a justifiable reason for pulling you over, that may help you to get the charges dropped.

 

[sleek]

Jackolantern- He didnt say any thing to me.He just said why didnt you stop me when i was waving and then he asked give me your license and registration when i handed both of them i tried to say that i was under the impression that you are diverting the traffice to the other line, he igonred what i said and rushed to his car and after 10 min he came with speeding as well as Fail to stop police conviction.At that time also i was trying to explain but he was not intrested to listen to me.I guess i am screwed...

 

[Thoughtful]

Apparently you will have to answer the question about tickets, so the bad news is you might be stuck. You can call the location where the court is and see if you can take care of it tomorrow like coloradon400 said, but that may not happen (I could not change my date for a tickets that was issued, but there is no harm in trying).
Something else Jackolantern already said. Do not under any circumstances plea to a criminal offense without a lawyer. Criminal offences can bite really deep in immigration issues. They will try to entice you with "reduced pleas" etc. Do not fall for that
FYI: my ticket was for not signalling 50 feet before an intersection (rule in TX is actually 100 feet, they cop did not even remember the rules). I challenged it and had it dropped.

Get a lawyer before deciding to accept the criminal charge. Criminal convictions can have severe immigration consequences for noncitizens.

Did the officer say why he wanted you to stop (the first time, when we was waving his hand)? Was it the speeding? If he doesn't have a justifiable reason for pulling you over, that may help you to get the charges dropped.

 

[Jackolantern]

You'll just have to get a lawyer and explain your side in court. For criminal convictions they have a higher burden of proving it "beyond a reasonable doubt", so if you get a good lawyer you might have a decent chance of overcoming the criminal charge, especially if the judge/jury agrees that those hand-waving motions were not a clear instruction to stop and pull over. But again, talk to a lawyer ... you need to find out what is the designated hand signal to stop and pull over in your state, and whether the officer's hand-waving motions were consistent with the legal standard.

 

[GhantaBro]

Hi
He went to his car and returned with speeding as well as that i failed to stop a police ticket with option criminal as cheked in the ticket.So on the back of the ticket its saying any thing with criminal option checked you will hear from a judge whether a criminal complaint needs to issue against you or not .

It should not be a problem... pay your ticket I guess ... why the hell he marked criminal option... RACIST!!! You might not be asked about this... the best thing is like othrers said... talk to a lawyer and get his advice on this. Sorry to hear about this... this must be killing you after this wait.

 

[boatbod]

My thoughts:-

1. This sounds like a classic case of "watch the silly policeman jump into middle of a busy highway trying to pull over a speeder". I've seen it happen several times, and once I even mistakenly pulled over thinking they wanted me (this annoyed the cop even more). I'd be willing to bet you were getting the speeding ticket no matter what.

2. Fight the "failure to stop" charge in court. My bet is you can talk your way out of this, especially if you plead guilty to (just) the speeding offense.

3. Attend the oath ceremony, but be aware you will most likely be postponed until you can provide a court-certified case disposition. USCIS dislikes naturalizing people with pending charges, so you'll probably have to get this taken care of first.

 

[coloradon400]

If it were me i would go with the ticket to court first thing in the morning. try to explain your situation i'm sure you'll find someone "nice" enough to help. you could at least try, no one knows....
good luck anyway....

 

[lextran]

Hi
He went to his car and returned with speeding as well as that i failed to stop a police ticket with option criminal as cheked in the ticket.So on the back of the ticket its saying any thing with criminal option checked you will hear from a judge whether a criminal complaint needs to issue against you or not .

I never had single ticket neither convition in my life.This is the first thing happend to me and that too at a very crusial time in my immigration journey. I dont know other than praying god what to do with this kind of situation.

First don't freak out, if u believe truthfully that u did not have a wrong intention, be cofident and hold your ground, which is the American way.

Secondly, you just recieved a citation, as it says on your ticket a judge will decide whether a criminal complaint will be issued or not. So what the PO checked is not even a charge, only a citation.

What I would recommend is put the ticket in things to do folder, go to your oath and on the letter check the citation box, if u are asked explain that you were issued a traffic citation, if they want to know more , explain the exit deal and how the whole thing was confusing, do not go into the deatails of what's checked on the ticket, if they ask show them a copy of the citation but do not volunteer to show and after looking at it they ask anything about the criminal issue explain what happned and that you plan to contest the whole thing any way, you can talk about your previous impeccable driving record.

There is usually a judge at the oath ceremony, I am sure they have come accross cases like that in past and would not make a big deal about it.

Good luck, I am hopeful that things will go well, keep us posted.

 

[alii121]

Why in the world would the cop be waving at someone to stop them..That's just ridiculous in the first place. Everyone has their own perception. My gesture might mean one thing to you and something completely different to the person sitting next to you. The cop has a car and if he needs to pull you over for any reason, he should do it the traditional way as in pull up behind you, turn the lights and sirens on and you know it's you who is being pulled over. I think if you get a good lawyer and contest the charges, you have a chance of winning. Am I making sense or am I just too tired?

 

[Jackolantern]

Why in the world would the cop be waving at someone to stop them..That's just ridiculous in the first place. Everyone has their own perception. My gesture might mean one thing to you and something completely different to the person sitting next to you.

Not necessarily ... if the state has a law specifying the hand-motions a cop may give and what they mean, you will be expected to know those. But if the state has no such law, or the officer's signals were not consistent with the state standards, it should be easy to get the charges dropped.

The cop has a car and if he needs to pull you over for any reason, he should do it the traditional way as in pull up behind you, turn the lights and sirens on and you know it's you who is being pulled over. I think if you get a good lawyer and contest the charges, you have a chance of winning. Am I making sense or am I just too tired?

A genuine misunderstanding like this one should not rise to the level of a criminal charge, especially since the person stopped as soon as officer's intentions were made clear with the flashing lights. Hopefully with a good lawyer it can be reduced to a civil fine or dropped.

 

[boatbod]

Why in the world would the cop be waving at someone to stop them..That's just ridiculous in the first place. Everyone has their own perception. My gesture might mean one thing to you and something completely different to the person sitting next to you. The cop has a car and if he needs to pull you over for any reason, he should do it the traditional way as in pull up behind you, turn the lights and sirens on and you know it's you who is being pulled over. I think if you get a good lawyer and contest the charges, you have a chance of winning. Am I making sense or am I just too tired?

At least here in Maryland, cops sometimes set up stationary speed checkpoints either in the median or on the shoulder of major highways. The configuration often has one or two patrol cars parked with their trunk/hood open (to obscure the light bars), and a couple of cops hiding out with a radar or lidar gun. When they spot someone they want to ticket, the usual tactic is for one cop to step into the roadway and vigorously wave the car over. Frankly its scary to watch, especially with the way some people drive around here.

There is usually a backup unit further down the road, in case the suspect doesn't stop for the guys on foot.

 

[synn_r]

Boatbod..... That sounds truely scary. I have never seen something like that though. Thank goodness because know my luck seeing that would probably make me super nervous and I wreck.

Good Luck Sleek! Hope everything works out.

 

[saf]

Also, in some states, sometimes cops set up the photo camera to catch speeders. When drivers drove fast or ran through the stop signal, the photo camera captured tag numbers of their drivers and then the traffic or police department sent out the traffic citation to drivers' addresses. This is 2008 so be careful!