I met @!#@#cop tonight is the bottom line!

On my way to meet my wife and kid for dinner at Quaker Steak And Lube. Thought I would drive the Z28 because I don't get to often enough.

I'm driving along windows down, and there are four cops pulled over on the side of the road attending to a car. As I pass the scene a cop pulls right out after me. So I pull over and he comes up and says my windows are illegal. He put the meeter on there and it says 9%. Then he makes me sit in his car. I'm talking with him, and he like why do you have a radar detector? He then talks about two speeding tickets I had.

Then I tell him I do not beliveve my windows are illigal and I will take it to court. He then mentions he is also giving me a ticket for my license plate bracket, tint. I ask to see the meter again and we went back to the front windows and it read 58%. Then I started being like see see. He told me to go sit in the car. He called and it took 45 minutes for the other car to get there with another meeter. He would not let me see the next reading. Needless to say it went no where good from there and he wouldnt let me see the third reading and because I questioned him it is at the impound lot now and a $220.00 ticket+Impound fees!

He called for a wrecker andthe 1st one couldnt get it because they didnt want to be liable and its so low. The seccond one got it by putting some boards underneath it. I'm contacting my lawyer tomorrow, and there better not be any damage to the car!!!!!!!!! I'm so freaking mad! He detained me in the back of his cruiser for 3.5 hours and was going to take me to jail for not signing a ticket because I thought it was admitting guilt.

Let this be a lesson to you guys with tint, no front license plate bracket, and a license plate frame/bracket on the back. Haha please pray for my car tonight! I litteraly can't sleep with it down at the impound lot and all the money I put into it. He said he will impound it again if he sees me again like that.

 

That sucks. Check that car over and over before you leave with it.

 

DAMN! that hella sucks man! alot of cops are d**ks to us in our cars. i got pulled over one time for sitting in a parking lot! it was about 3AM and i was sitting at jack in the crack eating a burger, and there happened to be someone pulled over across the street, finished my burger, pulled out of the parking lot and was going home when i got pulled over. the cop said he "noticed" me "watching" him give that guy a ticket, and im like, dude, i was at jack in the box, see, heres the wrapper to my burger. and he let me go.
im sorry to hear about your car man! i know if mine was impounded, id have a mental breakdown!

P.S take him to court and fight it!

 

illegal tint?? never heard of such a thing.. I've heard of tint being put on side windows which can be illegal. which window(s) was he measuring, the rear/hatch?

 

Yeah I know how you feel. My brother has a 98 TA that is slammed (you can't get hardly any floor jacks underneath it without having to drive onto boards first), anyways, he got pulled over for expired registration. He had just taken the car out for a test drive at the beginning of spring and registration was only expired by like a week and the cop impounded it. Needless to say they messed up his back bumper when they unloaded it. Oh and he didn't give them the keys whenever they impounded it. They were suppose to ask for them but they forgot to.

 

Damn, that's abuse, in most states, there is a legallity concerning window tint, a good traffic lawyer ought to know the specifics, additionally when you take it to court you will need proof that your windows meet the specs, bad news officers don't have a legal obligation to show you radar guns, lasers, or any law enforcement instruments in most states, vehilces can technically be impounded due to "safety" stuff including window tint, or for example, a missing headlight, but to be honest with you, it takes a special kind of **** retentive individual to push his authirity that far. as far as refusing to sign a citation, again, yes technically you can go to jail because by signing, you are agreeing to appear before a magistrate at a later time so that the officer does not have to take you right then and there. refusing to sign is like saying "Please take me to the magistrate at this very instant", so technically you would only be going to jail to wait for a trial of your traffic violation, in the future, just sign the citation and set it up for court at a later date....Make life easier on yourself... BOTTOM LINE, it seems that your lawyer will easily be able to prove that the officer could have gone without causing you hardship by unnessessarily impounding your vehilce. you my friend can probably get enough money out of the city to buy you a a parking lot full of Z-28's and a new home to park them in. Just my 2Cents.

 

Thats total BS man. It sucks how you were just cruising to see your family and couple cops had to be total jerks and take your car away from you. Seriously, you have one hot ride and making me thinking about it sitting in the Impound, makes me wanna go crazy I would fight agianst it man!

 

Go talk to a lawyer. As soon as you get a lawyer involved, everything changes and things get done. You'll have your car back by this afternoon.

 

Keep us informed of what's going on though.

 

Wait a minute... Im almost 100% positive that Ohio changed the tint laws. Now youre supposed to be able to go as low as you want.

 

TintCenter.com - Ohio Window Tint Law

anything under 50% on front passanger windows Illegal.
if it read 58, your fine.
Anything can be used on rear passanger or rear glass.

Also most cops do not know how to use a tint reader accurately, or they know how to get a false lower reading with them.
Also, you said your front wondows were down... so why did they make you raise them? On mine I have a handy toggle that kills power to the motors so I can say sorry officer, I need to replace the motors.. they go down but not up.

Yeah definately take this to court.
You won't get anything but a refund of your ticket and impound fees, but hell that is enough right?
And if the cop continues doing this as he threatened to, keep a detailed record and after the third time take him to court and sue for harrassment. Both him personally, and the PD.

 

wow you got porked, i got all the same things too , no front plate , clear cover on the back and 5% tint all around .

 

ugh...i'm so glad my car is white...i really hope things work out in your favor man..."...your like a brother to me..."

 

I hope you learned your lesson. When you get pulled over, just suck it up and be as courteous as possible, then if you weren't wrong fight it in court.

"Then I tell him I do not beliveve my windows are illigal and I will take it to court. He then mentions he is also giving me a ticket for my license plate bracket, tint."

That pretty much says it all. Sorry to hear about your car, hopefully it's unscathed when you get it back.

 

definitely keep us posted. You car is one of my favorites on this board - not to metion I've got a family of my own and don't want any crap when I go for a ride to meet them.

 

I hate threads like this. The laws are clearly laid out and you broke them. I'm not trying to be an *** or anything, and maybe he could of let you off and not hassled you as much. It is your choice to break your state laws and you have to accept the risk of getting caught. Pretty cut and dry.

Phyte

 

actually if I recall correctly, at least in New York state, it is illegal to OPERATE a motor vehicle with tint that dark, technically if the windows were down you werent operating with it...

 

Phyte wtf is up with that? He didn't aske to be flamed about it. They hassled him about tint, then wound up impounding his car, but I guess thats what happens, until it happens to you right. Probably woulda been a whole different story then huh. Keep opinions like that to yourself.

 

If I know I'm breaking the law, and get caught I will happily pay the fine and deal with the consequences. It's our choice to either follow state law, or break the law. Yes or No, Black or White. I wasn't flaming him about it, I was merely pointing out that the law was broken and the consequences should be dealt with accordingly. I'm sure the situation could of been a little less harsn, infact I know it could of. But, when you gamble you take a risk.

I love the car, and it's probably my fav thirdgen ever and it makes me sick to think about it sitting in impound right now. Carry on.

Phyte

 

Phyte, the thing is, according to OH law, he DIDN'T break the tinting regs.

 

jealous pig. that sucks man. total

 

sadly, i dont think he learned anything.

if you read into what he just said, he basicly tells us that he argued with the cop. (bad idea) and refused to sign the ticket for awhile.. sure it was just ignorance on his part for not knowing what the ticket ment... but that doesnt change how hes behaving or pissing off the officer.. the officer cant leave until you sign it.. when you act like this: that **** happens.


$50 says if he was more like this guy: and less like this one: he wouldnt have as many police problems.

the courtroom is the place to make your argument, not the side of the road.

 

The way I read the post his license plate bracket tint was 58%, and his windows are 9%? So he should of been ticketed for the windows and not the bracket according to law. If the license plate bracket is above the 50% required by law and he can prove it then the ticket will be thrown out. I feel sorry for him I really do, but what upset's me is the whole "F" the cops bandwagon that everyone rides.

Phyte

 

Man that Sucks!! I had almost the same S**T happen to me, so i know the feeling I live in NY and the Tint laws suck! Needless to say i ended up pulling all my tint i was so mad.. Good luck and i hope your beautifull car comes back to you as perfect as you had it!!!

 

You need to move !!!!!!!

 

i've never met a cop who would impound a car for having illegal tint...and from the sounds of what you're saying i didn't get the feeling that your tint is illegal anyways? i would had told him that i wasn't going to sign the ticket only because he wouldn't let me see the 3rd meter reading. that's total

this is a great example of why i have ZERO respect for cops. sure there are some good ones out there, but then there's the crack head power tripping idiots that ruin it for the rest of them...sorry to hear about this man, i'm pissed FOR YOU.

impounding a car because of illegal tint...DOUBLE YOU TEE EFF

 

so what you're saying is.... you're completely ignorant of the law also, and one of the people stupid enough to argue with a cop over something so trivial??

 

I was pulled over on these same subjects also. I was stopped getting gas and I noticed a Ohio HP officer pull in near the entrance and stop. Once I pulled away from the pump he turned his lights on pulled me over and gave me a ticket for having smoke covered lenses overtop of my front and back license plates. The officer then proceeded to tell me that you cannot have anything around or over the plate that covers viewing the plate properly and that the plate needs to be seen clearly from a 2-3 car distance. I also have custom plates that say IROCZ 89. So how he couldn't clearly see it is beyond me.

P.S. The officer also said that those neon lights you see around peoples license plate is illegal too because one drove by while he was handing me the ticket and I asked him if he was gonna go catch up too him. He just laughed ripped my ticket off the board handed it too me and turned around and went the other direction.

Like the other guy said you take your chances when you do stuff like that, that is considered against the law and you know the type of car we drive the cops are very quick to pull us over and show people they'll get you on it.

 

what county cop pulled you over? i live in ohio also just want to keep my eye out for these guys so i do not get pulled over. sorry to hear about it man

 

I was pulled over by a Highway Patrol around the city of Sandusky. On a side note when I first got my camaro I got pulled over for not having my license plate properly secured in the front. Went to NAPA and they had a Z-28 front license plate bracket that I strapped on to prevent it from happening again.

 

The priorities of these armed tax collectors are severly messed up.

That was 3.5 hours of free time for real criminals.

 

I disagree. I used to think this way too, but it doesnt give the officer any right to be a jerk. If you broke the law and you know it, thats it, its pretty simple. Best to keep your trap shut, sign the ticket, go home. If you didnt break any laws and you play deaf mute, I think you are making a big mistake. Fortunately we have what is called freedom of speech, and if I choose to question something I will, and if I disagree I will say so. Its not rude, its common sense. If the guy doesnt like plain facts presented to him in a reasonable manner (read: not screaming, berating, or anything like that), he should have the class to deal with it or find a different job. When, not if, it progresses to a courtroom and he hasnt made a valid citation, its that much worse for him if you were reasonable when the citation was issued.

As for not signing when he wouldnt let him see the meter, depending on my mood I might have. They have to present evidence when asked. If you spent a night in the lockup and they refused your rights, a big (and losing) lawsuit is on their hands. Only problem is cops lie and their word is always better than yours

 

This is getting out of hand. We don't need any cop-bashing threads so you know what I'm gonna do.

Questions, comments, etc. PM me please.