Dreaded Tuesday

Tuesday, February 21, I have to go to downtown Los Angeles to fight my first traffic violation. In my 10 years of driving, I've never been pulled over for anything. That was until November. I was minding my own business following at a safe distance behind a police officer on the 170. The car behind me was beginning to get a little too close to me, so rather than tail a cop, I moved into the adjacent lane.

The officer slowed down and got behind me, which is when I knew I was in trouble. I moved over again. So did he. Repeat that one more time. I had about two more exits until I needed to get off the freeway. He was still following very close behind me. Once I got on the off ramp, he flipped his lights on. Needless to say, I became immediately irritated.

When he came up to my window he asked me if I knew why he pulled me over. I said I had no idea. And he informed me, "It's unsafe to travel so close behind another car." I almost laughed. I couldn't believe he would be serious and I was quite convinced he'd pulled me over because he'd seen a blonde singing in her car.

I told him I was running late to a voice lesson (mistake number one), so he proceeded to take my information and make me 20 minutes more late. (All my police officer friends have told me they love making people more late than they would be if they'd not been pulled over.)

When he came back to the car, he told me he wouldn't suspend my license for going over 85. I was speechless. There was no way I was going anywhere near 85. In fact, I'm buying a new car because I don't think my current one could even reach that speed without losing engine parts.

But the story doesn't end there. When I was looking up the cost of my citation later, I had to enter the citation number and department. It was then I realized he was an LAUSD cop. A school cop pulled me over on the freeway. On a Sunday afternoon.

My fear in fighting this ticket is perfectly reasonable. I'm a white, blonde female and will be well dressed. I nearly lost a law suit and had to settle for a ridiculous amount of money for the same reason. (A drunk hit me and totalled my car, resulting in numerous injuries for me and his insurance didn't want to pay for my medical bills.) The attorney later told me he thought I was too presentable. I've resolved that, like Bush, I cannot win.

I'm worried a judge will see entitlement coming in not wanting to be accountable, which couldn't be further from the truth. If I had done something wrong, I'd pay the ticket. If anyone has any suggestions for beating a ticket a creepy cop gave you, I'm all ears. I'm hoping he won't show up and it'll get waived. But if not I'm worried I'll lose and it will go on my record.

And for the record, I "back the badge," so to speak, except when they do things like this.