Well. Crap. Got a ticket from a State Trooper. Wasn’t my fault. At. All.
I had to take my foster kitty to the vet clinic at the shelter.
Start from the beginning;
Get the cat carrier out this morning. That caused general havoc. Fur is flying, dogs are barking (these dogs just bark for fun at the cats disturbance) My cats head for the beams. Foster cat is nervous only because everyone else is. I get him in the carrier, which was no mean feat. Only two scratches. (On me, just saying).
Ugh. We get to the clinic. No problems. I’ll keep him 2 more weeks. Pack-up to go home.
I’m on the state highway. Driving peacefully along, all of a sudden something whacks me in back of the head. WTS? I pull over. The cat has gotten out of the carrier. Flying allover the inside of the car. I don’t dare open the car door. I’m well off the road. Put on the E-brake, 'cause I’m safe like that. I have to climb in the back seat. You see, I have these really long legs. They don’t want to bend properly to get back there. For a few scary moments I’m stuck in-between the seats. I had visions of dying there and the cat eating my face off. Whew, I got free.
I decide to just sit still in the back seat for a few minutes. Hoping cat calms down. Not working. I look up and a Trooper is looking at me askance, through mirror sunglasses. Uh-oh. You’re in trouble now, Beck.
He makes a circular motion with his hand wanting me to roll down the window. I shake my head, No. He wags his head, Yes. Me: No. Him: Yes. Stalemate.
I’m in the effing back seat. Power windows. I’ve gotta climb through the seats again to get to the front seat. All legs and tangle. It was easier going back, I have to say.
Really? Trooper man. Can you not see my predicament? He tries my door handle. Nope doors are locked. He tries the hand motion again. I get the car turned on and crack the window 2 inches. He’s not happy with me. About that time the cat flies to the front seat. And I grab and omg, catch the cat. I ain’t letting go. Of course I have 16 claws attached to my arm, also. The death grip. What to do? What to do? I punched the hatch lock and tell the Trooper to get the carrier and bring it to me. After a few moments of struggle the cat is in the carrier. Holy-shit!
The Trooper is now giving me a lecture on safely driving with pets, yadda, yadda, yadda! Shut up and let me go home. Oh, shit he’s writing. I got a ticket for illegally parking on the shoulder of the road. What a jerk. My life never ceases to entertain.
Could be worse. Could be shot.
H’m. No lawyer, but I’d say you’ve got a pretty good shot at contesting the ticket, if you think it’s worth the time.
You were in a situation where you had two risks - pull over, or have an uncontrolled animal in the car. Me, I would have pulled over too - it strikes me as the lesser risk to do so than to have an upset cat interfering and distracting you.
My advice?
Go to court (I’ve always gotten the fine & points reduced).
Pray for a Cat Person Judge.
And start a thread that you can add to instead of numerous ones. I’d click on “Beckda’sWreck o’ Da Week”. Your stories are always well-written.
And stop calling yourself bad… the last time you did, it made people uncomfortable* (“Beckdawrek is a bad, bad, bad person!”)* and besides…
it’s not true!
(Fighting Ignorance, y’know)
Beckdawrek-o’-da-week. Crazy, funny.
I got home and opened the cat carrier. Cat stayed in for a good hour. WTH? He’s alright now. Just snoozin’. I think he wore himself out. And I got 16 bandaids on my right forearm.
Foster cat-1(or 16)
Beck-0
Go to court; 20 quatloos says the cop doesn’t show.
galen ubal’s advice sounds good to me.
Cool (for various definitions of “cool”) story. Glad you, uh, survived… kitty too.
Sounds like little to be worried about, the ticket, that is. It shouldn’t be classed as a “moving violation”, so no points, insurance, etc.
YMMV, of course; it IS Arkansas 
I think it’s just a glorified parking ticket. I’ll probably pay it and forget it. I did take photos of my injuries, for reasons I’m not sure of.
ETA, I think I’m happy to not be spending the night in the hoosegow. You know there is never Troopers on that road. My bad luck is legendary.
Hubster and I live in NE AZ. Our doctors (and coincidentally, our kids and grandkids) are in SCal. So we make the drive back-and-forth couple-three times a year.
I must have a cat. I’m addicted to the purr.
I had two littermates that were from the Humane Society. They didn’t travel well. We had them on the max dose of kitty tranqs from the vet.
The feistier one “meowed” continually, like a metronome. It was actually kind of hilarious, but it did get TIRESOME.
Hubster said the drive is 549 miles, doorstep to doorstep. So the meowing got VERY tiresome.
We were West of Flagstaff when the metronome meow stopped. Then there was tremendous thumping.
A furry face appeared between our two seats, and he said, “Mrow!”
He walked back and forth, from lap to lap, and enjoyed watching traffic from the side windows. Then he decided to stroll along the dash!
Hubster pulled over as soon as possible, and wrestled the fugitive back into his personal hoosegow. The stupid little plastic pins holding the two clamshell halves of the carrier were replaced with nuts and bolts.
Mrow, indeed!
~VOW
Sedona Orange Metallic
Please make a minimal attempt at writing descriptive thread titles.
Story of solidarity
I was driving from Columbia to St. Louis once, with the little’uns in the back. My son suddenly announced that he had a nose bleed. By announced, I mean shouted at the top of his lungs and starting screaming frantically. There was an exit coming up, so I took it and then pulled way off to the side in the dirt. I opened the mini van, and hopped out to assess the nose bleed and apply appropriate remedies (and how is it that there are napkins and paper towels all over the damn car except when you need one?). My son had blood all over his shirt, and his face, and he was thoroughly distressed about the blood pouring from his nose. I had just managed to get the blood stopped when the hornet arrived.
As hornets go, it was gigantic. It looked like it could carry off a mouse. I barely had time to process the hornet’s arrival, when the kids noticed it. Kids can hit a hell of a high note when they start screaming. My ears still ring when I think about it. They started screaming, and the next thing I know the kids are unbuckled, out of the car, and running down the side of the road. Shortly after that the State Police pulled up.
There I am with two screaming kids, one of which is covered in blood, and, bless their little hearts, they want nothing to do with me OR the car. Fortunately, yelling at the top of my lungs got them stopped, and they did come back and agree to get buckled in. Nice State Police people are scarier than mommy and the hornet car, so they were fairly cooperative once they noticed the car and flashing lights. I had to demonstrate the car was safe for entry by getting into it myself. The blasted hornet was long gone by that point.
I occasionally reflect that I was lucky not to go to jail. The situation must have looked all kinds of messed up.
God-awful burnt orange. I just decided today that it goes well with camo. Now I know why Mr.Wrekker picked it.
I agree with the comments that you can probably fight the ticket and win, but whether it’s worth doing I guess depends on the amount and whether there are any demerit points or insurance implications that go with it. IANAL, but as I see it, your case would be that (a) you were not “parked” on the shoulder, you were stopped on the shoulder due to an emergency, and (b) stopping as you did to deal with the situation (crazy cat loose in car) you were acting in the best interest of safety.
I fought a traffic ticket only once, when I felt it was completely unjustified, and it was well worth doing, and it’s a very satisfying feeling to make and prove your case.
I don’t bother fighting parking tickets, which I rarely get anyway, but I have a story about that, too. I had to go to city hall once to pay overdue property taxes that the bloodsuckers were extorting out of me. When I came out of the bloodsuckers’ castle, breathing a sigh of relief that it was at least over and done with, there was one of the bloodsuckers’ personal parking-ticket extortionists placing a goddam parking ticket on my car, which had been parked there only so I could run in and deliver a large check to the other bloodsuckers in city hall!
And I HAD put money in the meter, but I guess due to having to wait to get a cashier to accept my huge offering to the city authorities, the meter had run out. I was so enraged at this asshole that I took the ticket off the windshield and tore it up in front of his face. After a slack-jawed moment he recovered and just smirked and said, “You just doubled it!”
No, I had not. It would have been worth tearing up the ticket and incurring additional late fees just for the sheer fun of it, but in this case, the incompetent asshole had got my license number wrong!
You know I’m nice to police. I give to their charities. I take toys to the big ‘Toys for tots’ every year. I feed all uniforms at the concession stand free. I pay my taxes. And have a legal lisc.and reg. Valid insurance. I follow all traffic laws. ( mostly)
Why they wanna pick on me? My son’s good friends with many LEO. they’re telling him I didn’t need to get ticketed. Officers discretion. I just pissed the man off.
Still, I’ll probably just pay it.
In your shoes I’d be tempted to fight the ticket just as feedback for the officer. Maybe the judge and/or his colleagues, upon being made aware of the story, would react with, “You did WHAT? That was mean.”
But, we all have limited time and must make choices. The time spent going to court could be used to give scritchy-scratchies to your animals, so…
Fight the ticket.
Go to court, show photos of your bloody scratches, maybe get a statement from the rescue organization as to how you rescue even “problem child” kitties, and by all means, take the vet bill!
Traffic court judges have a very, very tedious job. The majority of people who show up are guilty-guilty-guilty, and they are throwing themselves on the mercy of the court. They whine and cry that the points will suspend their licenses, cancel their insurance coverages, cause them to become unemployed and homeless.
If you show up clear-eyed, coherent, halfway intelligent, and explain you were not PARKED, but had made an EMERGENCY STOP, and you provide EXHIBITS, you will be a bright spot in that judge’s day, perhaps even month.
Go for it!
(and report back!)
~VOW
I think an unsecured animal in the car is more than enough reason to pull over for an emergency stop. Better than trying to secure the animal while moving! Start the story with “I’m on the state highway. Driving peacefully along…” and any decent judge should be sympathetic.
Ehhhh…“unsecured animal” is a sticking point. It’s the responsibility of the driver that the animal stay secured.
For instance, most communities have a leash law. And it usually states that a dog must be under the control of the owner at all times. If your pooch bites somebody, you cannot avoid responsibility by saying, “He slipped his collar!”
If your cat turns in to Houdini in the car, it’s on the driver.
Beckdawrek’s defense is that she was not driving with an unsecured animal. As soon as her kitty Houdini escaped, she made an emergency stop to secure him. She wasn’t parked on the shoulder to play Pet the Pretty Kitty, she was securing the animal so she could drive again.
Honestly, it depends on the mood of the judge.
And the judge always wins.
~VOW
I had to go to the Doctor for my scratches. I’m on antibiotic. If the Trooper hadn’t disturbed me I may have gotten the cat in with no scratches. I need to sue him (I kid). But I do have a legit injury and a doctor bill. My doctor told me to fight the ticket. I asked him would he write me a note. He said he would. Everyone else is telling me not to just pay it. Hmmmm?