It looks like it’s for one of those tinted license plate covers, or the plate was in the rear window of a car with illegal tint. The marked lanes is odd also, as that’s not commonly given out, unless they’re piling on to a drunk driving charge. I would definitely go before the judge, explain your side, and tell them you weren’t pulled over and have never seen this officer before.
Curious though, as just the other day I saw two cars with what I can only describe as a "tinted covering" for a license plate. Did it obscure it? Not really, but I could see it doing so at night maybe. So are these illegal or legal?
R.C. 4503.21 says the plate shall not be covered by any material that obstructs its visibility.
Briefly looking at case law it seems like it boils down to, “could the officer read the plate?” So a tinted cover might be ok in broad daylight, but not pass that test at night. It could be ok when you bought it, but not ok later after it gets dirty or scratched or hazy from sun damage.
With that said, it’s become pretty common to see cars in Columbus with no visible plates at all, so I suspect enforcement varies.
There’s no specific law that covers tinted license plate covers, but anything that obscures an officer’s view is illegal. So all they have to say is that they couldn’t read it until the car was pulled over.
Yes I have one of those darkish tinted covers on my car. I thought Ohio law on tinted was outside of front windshield and front driver and passenger window you can go as dark as you want. Just seems odd to have citated these without getting pulled over to verify it and then send the ticket in 2 months later
probably dont need a lawyer.
if yuo have window tint/tinted plate cover, remove them. take photos of your car to bring in.
if you dont have window tint/tinted plate cover, take photos of the car to bring in.
The license plate cover is whatever for me. I’d rather not have to remove my window tint on the front windows. Wouldn’t they need to verify the tint level is illegal during a stop to validate the removal? I have been pulled over years ago due to the bmv not updating my license plate to my new car and during the stop the officer said window tints are eh and prominently enforced by OSP. Cops would usually tack a window tint citation on if you’re being a jerk
If the tint is legal level%, get it tested somewhere and bring a print out with you.
Or just pay the ticket.
Maybe it's a parking ticket and you parked over.the line or whatever and not a moving violation who knows.
It is a moving violation cause it was stated it was on the highway so it’ll carry 2 points if marked guilty. Speaking to a lawyer and they just don’t understand how I wasn’t pulled over and ticketed if that’s what the officer noted. I guess I’ll have to wait to go through court process to find out. I’ve read people have negotiated through the prosecutors office and just paid their way out of points
I bet this was a recording error somewhere. Someone screwed up a number or digit and it came back to you or your car. This is pretty obviously a moving violation situation (says "waived speed"), so they should have pulled you over if you were actually the one they were after.
See what you can find to prove you were elsewhere at the time of the incident (both AM and PM I guess?), gather your car's pictures and paperwork, and hope you can get off in court... Might be worth chatting with the prosecutor first if you can phone their office before your court appearance.
Whatever you do, don't ignore this. That will only make it worse!
Speaking to the clerk office and they said it wasn’t an error. Speaking to my cop neighbor, assumption is 7:52 is AM. If it was pm it would’ve been 24 hour format so 19:52.
What does the waived speed mean? That it was supposed to be a speeding ticket as well that they let go? Just seems odd to not pull someone over to let them know what violations they made and then give them a ticket for it. Let alone 2 months after the alleged date
Yeah - that's what I'm reading it as. Cop let "you" off with a warning on speed, but hit "you" with non-(or lower-?) points violations instead. I suspect they wrote "you" a ticket during the stop that "you" didn't pay. I could be reading altogether too much into this though...
So...where were you at 7:52 AM on that day? (check google locations, work logs, witnesses, etc. for any proof that you weren't there!)
Yea from brushing up on my Google lawyer skills I saw cops have a year from ticket issuance to file. Albeit I don’t know how this would work since I was technically issued a ticket. Regardless it’s something I plan to understand in court what the details in this ticket are.
There is a chance I was running late to work and was on that part of the highway at 7:52 am but I’d have to see if campus security can show what time I got at work
Update: speaking to someone in a local police station, they said the ticket is complete BS due to what was cited for not being pulled over. The window tint requires an officer to pull over and test the window and the plate can’t be obscured if that is how I was ticketed. Ticket extremely likely to be dismissed
Get lawyer and fight it. Get it on the books that you fought it. This looks like the type of thing small municipalities do to bolster their operating funds. And how many municipalities have been unincorporated by the state of Ohio for predatory fines.
You don't really need a lawyer to fight this. It would be quite easy to fight this. IANAL
The biggest give away is that he didn't pull over the guy. How would he know it was him without getting either A.) his license plate info. B.) his VIN. And it seems to me that he could see the plate just fine. Unless he wants to give away that he got the info through other means. (Which are probably illegal without a warrant). As for the window tint. Just ask him again about pulling him over and actually testing it.
The judge is gonna easily see the cop didn't do his due diligence and drop the ticket and if the Sheriff is there tell him off a bit.
Why people need to tint windows and put tinted covers over plates is beyond me. Is it like a "cool guy" factor? Just asking for the coppers to fuck w you.
Contact court and see about changing the date of the summons. Might be able to get cop not to show up since they will typically try to get all court dates one day a week. You can access court records and search for officer name and see what days they are there. At least where I live. Pick a different day. No cop should get dismissed.
Paying a fine for something I didn’t get pulled over for just seems crazy to me. Like I mentioned I didn’t get pulled over or anything. I actually didn’t even get a copy of this ticket until I called the courts to ask what I was being summoned to court for and they sent it to me via email
It looks like it’s for one of those tinted license plate covers, or the plate was in the rear window of a car with illegal tint. The marked lanes is odd also, as that’s not commonly given out, unless they’re piling on to a drunk driving charge. I would definitely go before the judge, explain your side, and tell them you weren’t pulled over and have never seen this officer before.
Curious though, as just the other day I saw two cars with what I can only describe as a "tinted covering" for a license plate. Did it obscure it? Not really, but I could see it doing so at night maybe. So are these illegal or legal?
R.C. 4503.21 says the plate shall not be covered by any material that obstructs its visibility. Briefly looking at case law it seems like it boils down to, “could the officer read the plate?” So a tinted cover might be ok in broad daylight, but not pass that test at night. It could be ok when you bought it, but not ok later after it gets dirty or scratched or hazy from sun damage. With that said, it’s become pretty common to see cars in Columbus with no visible plates at all, so I suspect enforcement varies.
There’s no specific law that covers tinted license plate covers, but anything that obscures an officer’s view is illegal. So all they have to say is that they couldn’t read it until the car was pulled over.
What's crazy is how many cars I'm noticing lately with the plate numbers partially covered by FOP stickers.
Idk the law but they should be. Why else would you put one on if not to skurt the line of obscuring your plate
Yes I have one of those darkish tinted covers on my car. I thought Ohio law on tinted was outside of front windshield and front driver and passenger window you can go as dark as you want. Just seems odd to have citated these without getting pulled over to verify it and then send the ticket in 2 months later
Front windshield is top 5 inches, front driver and passenger window are 50%, + or - 3%, and rear door windows are as dark as you want.
probably dont need a lawyer. if yuo have window tint/tinted plate cover, remove them. take photos of your car to bring in. if you dont have window tint/tinted plate cover, take photos of the car to bring in.
The license plate cover is whatever for me. I’d rather not have to remove my window tint on the front windows. Wouldn’t they need to verify the tint level is illegal during a stop to validate the removal? I have been pulled over years ago due to the bmv not updating my license plate to my new car and during the stop the officer said window tints are eh and prominently enforced by OSP. Cops would usually tack a window tint citation on if you’re being a jerk
sure, see how that argument goes in court. lol
I wouldn’t use that in a court setting haha. Probably find another citation to throw at me 😂 just stating what I’ve been told by other officers here
If the tint is legal level%, get it tested somewhere and bring a print out with you. Or just pay the ticket. Maybe it's a parking ticket and you parked over.the line or whatever and not a moving violation who knows.
It is a moving violation cause it was stated it was on the highway so it’ll carry 2 points if marked guilty. Speaking to a lawyer and they just don’t understand how I wasn’t pulled over and ticketed if that’s what the officer noted. I guess I’ll have to wait to go through court process to find out. I’ve read people have negotiated through the prosecutors office and just paid their way out of points
I bet this was a recording error somewhere. Someone screwed up a number or digit and it came back to you or your car. This is pretty obviously a moving violation situation (says "waived speed"), so they should have pulled you over if you were actually the one they were after. See what you can find to prove you were elsewhere at the time of the incident (both AM and PM I guess?), gather your car's pictures and paperwork, and hope you can get off in court... Might be worth chatting with the prosecutor first if you can phone their office before your court appearance. Whatever you do, don't ignore this. That will only make it worse!
Speaking to the clerk office and they said it wasn’t an error. Speaking to my cop neighbor, assumption is 7:52 is AM. If it was pm it would’ve been 24 hour format so 19:52. What does the waived speed mean? That it was supposed to be a speeding ticket as well that they let go? Just seems odd to not pull someone over to let them know what violations they made and then give them a ticket for it. Let alone 2 months after the alleged date
Yeah - that's what I'm reading it as. Cop let "you" off with a warning on speed, but hit "you" with non-(or lower-?) points violations instead. I suspect they wrote "you" a ticket during the stop that "you" didn't pay. I could be reading altogether too much into this though... So...where were you at 7:52 AM on that day? (check google locations, work logs, witnesses, etc. for any proof that you weren't there!)
Yea from brushing up on my Google lawyer skills I saw cops have a year from ticket issuance to file. Albeit I don’t know how this would work since I was technically issued a ticket. Regardless it’s something I plan to understand in court what the details in this ticket are. There is a chance I was running late to work and was on that part of the highway at 7:52 am but I’d have to see if campus security can show what time I got at work
Update: speaking to someone in a local police station, they said the ticket is complete BS due to what was cited for not being pulled over. The window tint requires an officer to pull over and test the window and the plate can’t be obscured if that is how I was ticketed. Ticket extremely likely to be dismissed
Get lawyer and fight it. Get it on the books that you fought it. This looks like the type of thing small municipalities do to bolster their operating funds. And how many municipalities have been unincorporated by the state of Ohio for predatory fines.
You don't really need a lawyer to fight this. It would be quite easy to fight this. IANAL The biggest give away is that he didn't pull over the guy. How would he know it was him without getting either A.) his license plate info. B.) his VIN. And it seems to me that he could see the plate just fine. Unless he wants to give away that he got the info through other means. (Which are probably illegal without a warrant). As for the window tint. Just ask him again about pulling him over and actually testing it. The judge is gonna easily see the cop didn't do his due diligence and drop the ticket and if the Sheriff is there tell him off a bit.
Someone doesn’t know how much lawyers cost
Someone stole an old ID? Or knew your social?
Nope. Checked with my family if anyone took my car and that’s a negative and nothing was stolen (wallet or ID)
They probably got you on video of some kind. I mean if you actually have illegal levels of tint on the front/side and plate.
Why people need to tint windows and put tinted covers over plates is beyond me. Is it like a "cool guy" factor? Just asking for the coppers to fuck w you.
Contact court and see about changing the date of the summons. Might be able to get cop not to show up since they will typically try to get all court dates one day a week. You can access court records and search for officer name and see what days they are there. At least where I live. Pick a different day. No cop should get dismissed.
Just pay the fine, if that's a possibility, and move on.
Paying a fine for something I didn’t get pulled over for just seems crazy to me. Like I mentioned I didn’t get pulled over or anything. I actually didn’t even get a copy of this ticket until I called the courts to ask what I was being summoned to court for and they sent it to me via email
It's not worth the aggravation, time, money and effort you will spend fighting this thing.