I am fucked.
Ten days ago, I got pulled over for first running a red light and then, in a move obviously designed to deliberately piss off the cop, I flicked my cigarette butt out the window. I know, I know. Littering is bad. Running red lights; also bad. I'm not here to bemoan the fact that I got caught doing two illegal things. I am here to say, that for the 1st time since I turned 18, I may be in a serious spot of doodoo.
I was all set to make a payment plan with the township to pay off the fines. $400+ is not an amount of money I generally have lying around. I should have been a good doobie and taken care of it the same day I got pulled over. However, I am a procrastinator and apparently even the threat of warrants being issued can't get me offa my lazy ass.
Since I had no intention of telling my parents that I got pulled over, I thought that I oh-so-carefully tucked those stupid pieces of yellow paper into my wallet. Easy to remember where I put them but hidden away from inquisitive eyeballs. Not that my parents are super-nosy or anything. I was just being cautious. Evidently I was cautious to the point of being magic because those fucking things have disappeared.
They are not in my wallet. They are not in my purse. They are not in the bag I take to work. They aren't under the front passenger seat of my car. They aren't in the trash bag in my car. They aren't in the random pile of shit on my table in the apartment. I do not have them, Sam I am.
Still, I wasn't at the despairing point. I figured I could call the township, get directed to the department I needed, have them find me in the system using my last name or license number, and proceed with the payment plan option. I found the number for the muni building, called during my break and was transferred by a nice lady to the department I needed. There was no answer. I tried calling the police department later that day and the friendly man who answered the phone said that I needed to speak to the court. He very helpfully said, "There's a number in the corner of your ticket-". In my head: FUCK. Out loud: "Oh damn, I don't have the ticket right in front of me. I'll call back later." The friendly man said okie-dokie.
I'm starting to panic a bit at this point. I hop on Google and try to find a breakdown of the courts in the township (oh hell, it was Bensalem) to see if I could figure out which court would be handling my situation. Google wasn't especially helpful. I went to the Bucks County site, back to the Bensalem twp and Bensalem PD sites, and some random site that wasn't helpful. Goddamn internets!
Don't think that I'm blaming Google for my troubles. I know I should have taken care of all this at the earliest opportunity, but I still have no idea how my tickets got so thoroughly lost. Even if they had fallen out of my purse at my parents' house, Mom and Dad would have left them in the usual spot. I may have gotten a lecture from Dad about littering, but lectures I can handle. Jail, however, is something else entirely.
I'd say "tee hee" but i think you can go on www.pa.gov and you can bring it up that way. I could be wrong, though.
ReplyDeletego down to the bensalem courthouse, in person and tell them you want to plead guilt and setup a payment plan. bring $20 to get it started. they may try and play hardball and say you have to pay more than you can afford each month because "we're not allowed to accept less" but it is not true! there is no minimum.
ReplyDeleteIf they still want you to pay to much, request a hearing with the judge to determine a payment plan. I believe they still do that in bensalem and the judge there (Lenny Brown) is a softy.
or you can plead not guilty and higher some expensive ass shark to eat them alive. might be a little higher of a payment plan that way, but I hear johnny Cochran is a lot cheaper now that he is dead.