Ticket for not speaking English?

The Dallas Police Department seems to be in a heap of trouble. Not for Tazing someone unnecessarily, nor even for beating someone. No, the men in blue find themselves under fire for a ticket one of their rookies wrote to a woman for not being able to speak English. Keep in mind that the City of Dallas has an ordinance that requires taxi drivers to speak passable English. Note also that Federal law requires commercial truck drivers to do so as well. The onboard computer on his cruiser provided that this was a legitimate offense.

Apparently this woman made an illegal u-turn in front of the officer. When he pulled her over, she not only was unable to communicate with him; she also was unable to provide a drivers license. Apparently she didn’t feel compelled to keep it with her.

The city and the police chief have apologized, but that doesn’t seem to be sufficient. You see, it seems that she was so distressed over getting a ticket that she had to spend several days in the hospital, and now she wants Dallas to pay for her stay.

That stay originally was reported to be "nearly $5,000" but has since been inflated to "over $8,000". You decide why that may have changed. My guess is that high-powered lawyers aren't cheap. But that is seriously just a guess.

I have a message for that woman. Be glad, be VERY glad that I am not a cop, and was not the one that pulled you over. Once it became apparent to me that you couldn’t converse in English, and that you also did not have a license to operate a motor vehicle, I would have washed my hands of you. I would have called I.C.E. and let "la migra" take care of you. With any luck, they would have noticed that you supposedly are legal to be here before they dropped you off south of the border.

Distressed by a ticket? Seriously, anyone who has ever got a ticket they didn’t feel they deserved has been distressed. How many of us took ourselves to the hospital?

I very rarely get pulled over, but I got pulled over not long ago. I got a ticket, in essence, for buying a car on a Saturday. Yes, I said I got a ticket for buying a car on Saturday.

Back in September, my doctor told me that, due to some unfortunate problems in my groin area, I would be unable to ride my motorcycle until late December at the earliest. Well, at that time, my bike and my wife’s car were my family’s only transportation. Since our work schedules are so different, it is not possible for us to carpool. So, I had to go out and buy a car. That has got to be the most expensive doctor visit I have ever suffered that didn’t involve surgery.

Did I mention that I bought the car on a Saturday? August 29th, to be precise. Around 2 p.m. we concluded the beating, I mean negotiations, with the dealer. I didn’t buy a new car, but it is new to me and it came from a new car dealer, so there was no front plate and no registration sticker. Actually, there was no rear plate either, unless you count the paper one they issue you at the car lot.

Anyway, at 2 on a Saturday afternoon, my insurance company is inaccessible except for emergencies. No biggie, I thought, I have the insurance card from my wife’s car to cover me, and I can call Monday and have them send a card for the new one.

Monday, August 31, I woke up went out to run some errands. One of my chores took me to Arlington, and when I was headed back into Fort Worth I got pulled over. The road I was on (Pioneer for those from the area) has a 55mph speed limit. As it enters Fort Worth it changes name to Rosedale, and drops speed limit to 40mph. Now, for those who have never driven it (or those who have and haven’t noticed) the city limits sign is just over the top of a hill, and the new, lower speed limit sign is so close behind it as to be obscured until you are right on top of it.

As soon as I saw the sign, I braked to slow down. Apparently not quickly enough, because the motorcycle cop at the bottom of the hill stepped out into the road and waved me to the side. I rolled the window down as he came up, and the first thing he said to me was "where is your front plate".

We have front and back license plates in Texas.

Those who know me will be unsurprised by my answer of "probably the same place as my rear plate and registration sticker. In the mail. I just bought this car Saturday".

He told me that the reason he pulled me over was my speed, and when I pointed out to him that the other side of the hill is 55 and I was braking when he clocked me at 48, he decided to drop the idea of a speeding ticket in favor of a no insurance ticket.

Never mind the fact that you can’t get insurance (from a reputable agency, anyway) on a Saturday. Never mind that you have several days grace to add a new car onto your policy. Apparently, it being the last day of the month, he hadn’t made that quota they don’t have.

So, eleven days later, I had to take off work early, go downtown and waste a couple of hours of my time to get the ticket dismissed.

Do I want compensation? Heck yeah. Do I think I deserve it? Well, yeah. I doubt that I really do deserve it, but I at least think I do. Maybe I should call that Mexican lady’s lawyer.