At about 2pm today the secretary called me and said there was a “gentleman” at the front that needed to see me. I said ok, but since I didn’t have any appointments that day I didn’t know who it could be. I just figured it was a friend coming by to say hi or a vendor making a sales call.
I went to the reception area of my office and there was a police officer there. I said hello to him and went to the secretary and asked who was here to see me. She pointed at the officer so I walked over to him, introduced myself and asked what I could do to help him. He asked me to verify my name, so getting a little worried thinking maybe someone I knew was hurt I told him my name again. He says:
“Sir, I am an officer representing the Dalworthington Gardens Police Department and I am here to place you under arrest.”
Right there my heart stopped…
I have never commited a crime, I have never been involved in any criminal activity, I do not associate with any criminals, I have never been arrested, nor have I even seen the inside of a jail cell other than when volunteering there.
I kind of laughed and said…is this a joke? He said, “No sir, this is not a joke. You can have five minutes to go make excuses or whatever you need to do, but after that you are coming with me. Sir, do not attempt to leave, if you do, that is evading and you do not want to do that!”
I was absolutely stunned…I couldn’t figure why I was being arrested so I asked. He says, and I quote:
"In April, you received a traffic ticket for expired registration. The ticket was never taken care of, and so I am here to take you to jail to resolve the issue with the court."
I said, “I had the registration renewed within the ten day grace period and sent a copy of the receipt, with the ticket to the courthouse.” So the cop replies…
"The mailing you sent should have included a ten dollar dismissal fee. Because the fee wasn’t included, the ticket is considered unpaid and a warrant was issued for your arrest on July 17th."
I just said ok, let me go get my belongings and inform my boss. So I went and told my boss who didn’t believe that I was being arrested, and explained to him what the cop had told me. He said ok, call him if I needed help, and call anyway to let him know if everything turned out ok.
The cop was polite about it, he allowed me to follow him out of the building and to his car before placing the cuffs on me. He even made sure I was getting A/C and talked to me a bit about what was going on. When we got to the station, about 25 miles away…he allowed me to use my cel to call my grandfather.
They took me in to the jail area and I had to give up every belonging including my belt and my shoe strings. They asked me to wait in a side cell in order to be booked and so I did. It was this cement room with 4 benches, a steel toilet in the corner, and fortunately had no one else in it.
I waited for about an hour and a half in this holding cell and I could vaguely hear my grandfather arguing with someone not far from where I was at. Finally after an hour and a half wait…they let me out and booked me in and out at the same time. My grandfather had already taken care of payment and etc. and was arguing with the Chief of Police there about the time he had to wait and the nature of what I was arrested for.
Now for why I am pissed off, there are a few details:
1. No letter or phone call was sent or made letting me know I owed the DWG court an additional ten dollars for a dismissal fee.
2. They arrested me at work!
3. They arrested me over a goddamn ten dollar dismissal fee.
4. They arrested me at work.
5. They upped the $10 to a $90 fine, charged me $11.25 for processing me in and out of jail, and $40 for the officer having to come get me. They basically collected $141.25 for a $10 fine.
6. They arrested me at work.
There are several factors that play in here and people who have lived here can likely verify these details if they are familiar with the town of Dalworthington Gardens.
a. It has less than 1,000 citizens in the town.
b. It is one of the top 5 speed traps in the US with a 75 officer deparment and with annual traffic ticket revenues above that of most major metropolitan cities above 50,000 citizens, and with a percentage rate above cities with a million plus citizens. (reread item 1)
c. Everyone who lives near the town or knows of it avoids it like the plague.
d. I received my first and only traffic ticket in this town at age 16. I was ticketed for driving 38 in a 20mph school zone. It was a bogus charge, the officer was going the opposite direction from me and turned around to pull me over. I contested the ticket, had 3 witnesses that verified my story and the ticket was dismissed by the judge and the officer was given a warning.
My biggest concern is that I now have a police record, and not only that but my employer is going to be very curious as to what the hell I was arrested for on company property. I called my parents immediately after getting out and they gave their lawyers number and said I need to call him first thing in the morning and find out about legality in the way I was arrested.
I am not mad at the officer that arrested me, and I do not hate cops now…I do however hate that city with a passion and now intend to make it my personal goal to pin something on them. I have a funny feeling that what was done to me today was some kind of scam and I plan to destroy Dalworthington Gardens if that is the case. I was never informed until my arrest that I had additional items to take care of and that doesn’t seem right. The officer and the desk agent both told me that DWG doesn’t send letters or make calls. The Chief of Police also informed my grandfather that this was the case.
I am a little worried that this could affect my job…and if it does…this podunk town just fucked with the wrong person. I’m so pissed right now I can’t even think!!!
-SS :mad:
