Way over the top in Suffolk, NY

[Jdurand]

Didn't happen to me, yet, but if it does it will be interesting to say the least. I did see the actual documentation of this event.

Long story short, a boyfriend of a co-workers daughter gets a ticket for vaping while driving. Official charge was "using a hand held electronic device". Now we all know this is the cell phone law and not intended to be for a device like an ipv or a mech mod.

I have a feeling he did more to get the cop upset than he is willing to share, but I can't imagine this is going to stick if he goes to court. By the way the fine was north of 500 bucks!

 

[sofarsogood]

Didn't happen to me, yet, but if it does it will be interesting to say the least. I did see the actual documentation of this event.

Long story short, a boyfriend of a co-workers daughter gets a ticket for vaping while driving. Official charge was "using a hand held electronic device". Now we all know this is the cell phone law and not intended to be for a device like an IPV or a mech mod.

I have a feeling he did more to get the cop upset than he is willing to share, but I can't imagine this is going to stick if he goes to court. By the way the fine was north of 500 bucks!

What state did this happen in? Let's read the law to see if it's so vague. I've been predicting for a while that local government, police, and public schools don't like ecigs because they are a funding threat. I hope this is contested in court and we hear what the judge decides. It seems to me this is a news worthy story if the people involved are willing to talk about it.

 

[Foggy Road]

Didn't happen to me, yet, but if it does it will be interesting to say the least. I did see the actual documentation of this event.

Long story short, a boyfriend of a co-workers daughter gets a ticket for vaping while driving. Official charge was "using a hand held electronic device". Now we all know this is the cell phone law and not intended to be for a device like an IPV or a mech mod.

I have a feeling he did more to get the cop upset than he is willing to share, but I can't imagine this is going to stick if he goes to court. By the way the fine was north of 500 bucks!

Is he a trucker? We're subject $2700.00 fine for using handheld phone. I have wondered if the law is vague enuf that some Gestapo might go on a rampage and apply it to anything with a battery!

 

[SteveS45]

Hey @Jdurand I will be impatiently waiting for an update on this thread to hear how it turned out in court. A while back there was a BS Post about NY State outlawing vaping and driving which was a Hoax.

 

[Jdurand]

Hey @Jdurand I will be impatiently waiting for an update on this threads to hear how it turned out in court. A while back there was a BS Post about NY State outlawing vaping and driving which was a Hoax.

I'm waiting for the outcome too, as this is right in our back yard. I'll post the results as it's a month away at least for this to come to a head.

He wasn't a trucker, just a regular kid out for a ride. I'll admit he one of "those" guys who probably made a spectacle of himself and made a bad situation worse, but this was as stated, Way over the top.

 

[sofarsogood]

it appears to me the NY law does NOT cover the use of an electronic cigarette. It looks to me like the law is written to include certain acttivities involving an electronic device and expressly excludes all others so that the law is not applied frivolously. The person who got the ticket might contact the prosecutors office and ask that it be dropped. May be the prosecutor has that authority.

The linked page is worth a read. Now I'm going to check the law in Michigan where I live. I don't text underway. I might have a hands free phone call. My phone is always mounted on the dash displaying google maps. I do vape in the car.

NY's New Portable Electronic Device Law - VTL § 1225-d Analysis | NYTrafficTicket.com Blog
§1225-d. Use of portable electronic devices.

1. Except as otherwise provided in this section, no person shall operate a motor vehicle while using any portable electronic device while such vehicle is in motion.

2. For the purposes of this section, the following terms shall have the following meanings:

(a) “Portable electronic device” shall mean any hand-held mobile telephone, as defined by subdivision one of section twelve hundred twenty-five-c of this article, personal digital assistant (PDA), handheld device with mobile data access, laptop computer, pager, broadband personal communication device, two-way messaging device, electronic game, or portable computing device.

(b) “Using” shall mean holding a portable electronic device while viewing, taking or transmitting images, playing games, or composing, sending, reading, viewing, accessing, browsing, transmitting, saving or retrieving e-mail, text messages, or other electronic data.

 

[kero]

I am on LI as well as some of the tickets people get are just ridiculous. Due to the fact that both counties are practically bankrupt, tickets are a huge money generating racket.

 

[SteveS45]

I can attest to that because I once got a ticker for imprudent speed and the DA told me I could have received the ticket for going to slow! Accelerating hard up to the speed limit is not speeding in my opinion.

 

[kero]

^^ ROFL and yes it's totally true, they can ticket you for going to slow. Anything is game on LI, as long as it keeps the coffers filled with tax payer $$$$. Just the reality of living here, which I can't stand anymore ugh.

 

[KentA]

Unfortunately, in NY he can be found innocent of the violation but will still need to pay "court costs". It is a scam I'm quite familiar with.

 

[SteveS45]

Yeah, I am familiar with the Court Costs also because I got the ticket for an expired insurance card and brought the valid card to court but in Nassau County you needed a letter from the main office of the insurance company attesting to the fact there was NO Lapse in coverage. When I went back to have the ticket dismissed the second time they just started with that! So cost me about $300 to drive too slow?? WTH Man?

 

[sofarsogood]

America likes to criticize other places for corruption while ignoring its own. Corruption is the singular disease of civilization. It can't be eradicated except in Utopia and there is no such place. But once corruption becomes too ingrained it's only a matter of time before you don't have your civilization any more. I've had personal, bitter, hard experience with official corruption before ecigs. America is not as nice a place as we want to believe. We could do something about it but too many people have their own little corruption thing going so they can't speak out. Corruption is from the bottom up, not the top down.

 

[kero]

Since most of NY is corrupt anyway, nothing surprises me these days. I have lived in NY for over 40+ years and still do, nothing has changed and I will leave my comment at that as to not incite a talk of politics ROFL!

 

[Jdurand]

I have to tell you guys, this cop is lucky. If he had given me this ticket he would be infamous by now. I would be making noise in every hall and on every TV channel that would tell my story. I would be on the phone with the prosecutor and look to have this cop bagged for abuse of power. I love and respect the police, have two in my family, but this guy should be publicly humiliated and drummed out of service.

 

[SteveS45]

I agree @Jdurand but with the body cams the police wear these days in court we might see the kid blew a cloud right in the officers face as he walked up to the car and asked for License and registration...........

 

[Rossum]

I have to tell you guys, this cop is lucky. If he had given me this ticket he would be infamous by now. I would be making noise in every hall and on every TV channel that would tell my story. I would be on the phone with the prosecutor and look to have this cop bagged for abuse of power. I love and respect the police, have two in my family, but this guy should be publicly humiliated and drummed out of service.

I dunno. Going to war with the local cops does not strike me as a particularly good idea.

 

[kero]

I have to tell you guys, this cop is lucky. If he had given me this ticket he would be infamous by now. I would be making noise in every hall and on every TV channel that would tell my story. I would be on the phone with the prosecutor and look to have this cop bagged for abuse of power. I love and respect the police, have two in my family, but this guy should be publicly humiliated and drummed out of service.

This would for sure humiliate the cop but do nothing to get him drummed out of service, especially on Long Island. I hate to say it but sometimes we just have to grin and bear the bull.... as at the end of the day after all the time you spend getting even so to speak, it's just a waste of your precious time. Being a Long Island native myself, I know all to tell the daily BS we have to put up with.

 

[Jdurand]

I dunno. Going to war with the local cops does not strike me as a particularly good idea.

Not the whole department, just the one guy. I just couldn't "sheep out" on this one if it was me.

 

[Rossum]

Not the whole department, just the one guy. I just couldn't "sheep out" on this one if it was me.

Since you have a couple of cops in the family, you should already understand that it generally doesn't work that way.

 

[mikepetro]

I dunno. Going to war with the local cops does not strike me as a particularly good idea.

Agreed.

I bought my house from a cop. It turned out there were a few things wrong, things that by law should have been disclosed. I thought long and hard about it, while I think I could have easily won in court, I ultimately decided it was best not to get on the bad side of the local police force.