04/06/2025
Arguably, one of the most uncomfortable experiences is being pulled over by a police officer. Regardless of whether you’ve broken the law, there is an uneasiness about interacting with police when you’re the one being stopped or investigated. Upon hearing the sirens and/or seeing the flashing lights, many people will go into panic mode. They won’t know how to interact with the police. They may say the wrong thing. They may even heighten the tensity of the situation.
Lessons From a Former NYS Prosecutor With 24 Years Experience on How to Interact With Police
I worked as an Assistant District Attorney from 2001 to 2004. I was a County Traffic Prosecutor from 2010 to 2017. I have both prosecuted and defended THOUSANDS of traffic cases in my 24 years of experience. As a result, I have worked on countless cases involving police interactions.
Lesson Three (The Officer Issues a Traffic Ticket): Again, remain Calm. First, fill out the back of the ticket and plead not guilty. If you plead guilty or attempt to pay the ticket, the Court will treat this as a guilty plea. If the ticket has points, the points will automatically be assessed against your driver's license. Even if you pleaded guilty in ignorance of the points, the Court will not care and undoing the guilty plea will be rather difficult, if not impossible. So please do not simply plead guilty. After you send in your plea of not guilty, the Court will send you a conference date. At that point, you or an attorney on your behalf, will appear at the Court and have a conference with the prosecutor. At that time, after hearing all of the mitigating evidence, the prosecutor will decide whether or not to offer you a reduction. The reduction will be a plea bargain offer to allow you to plead guilty to a reduced charge (usually) and pay a monetary fine. If the fine and reduced plea are accepted, the matter may be resolved right then and there without any further court appearances. However, your other option is to go to trial.
Lesson Four: (The Traffic Ticket Trial) If plea bargaining breaks down, your only option is to go to trial. Traffic trials, unless they're misdemeanors, do not involve a jury. The Judge acts as the Jury. This is called a bench trial because the Judge makes the final determination as to whether you're guilty or not.
The officer that wrote you the ticket will have to appear as the prosecution's witness at trial. The prosecutor will go first and have the officer testify in what is called direct examination. After the prosecutor is done with his or her direct examination of the officer, you or your attorney may cross examine the police officer. Cross examination is an art unto itself. It takes years to master proper cross examination technique. Non-lawyers simply do not possess the skill level needed to effectively cross examine a police officer. Moreover, trials are where the rubber meets the road and why you should always hire an experienced trial lawyer to defend you. The internet is literally littered with attorneys all claiming to be veritable traffic attorney experts. But what happens if plea bargaining breaks down and a trial becomes unavoidable? You need to hire someone who knows not only how to try a case but someone who has experience trying traffic cases. Otherwise, you run the risk of not only being found guilty but of having maximum fines imposed and possibly even jail.
TRIAL EXPERIENCE
I have tried countless traffic cases during my 24 year career. I have handled TENS OF THOUSANDS of cases both as a prosecutor and as a defense attorney. I have written legal briefs in hundreds if not thousands of traffic matters involving both complex and simple traffic matters. When your license is on the line, hire the best!!!
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