UNofficially Winslow: November 2009

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----- Original Message -----
From: MARK COLLINS
To: unofficiallywinslow@comcast.net
Sent: Saturday, November 21, 2009 6:15 AM
Subject: Email for publishing, pic of back of my truck too!

Welcome to Winslow, where you’ll find at least one bad cop and an illogical Judge!

HELLO, I enjoy your website. Here’s some injustice performed by a pair of Winslow’s finest.

On Friday, May 1st, 2009, I took an early out from my casino job at 10:40pm and began to head home. At 10:55pm I paid a 75 cent toll leaving Atlantic City. At 11:07pm, I paid the $3.00 toll in the Egg Harbor area heading towards Sicklerville and exit 38.

Roughly around 11:27pm exited the expressway via Exit 38, crossed directly over Williamstown Road onto Chews landing Road. I usually get followed home 3 nights out of 5 on this road because I travel late at night and the cops are on DWI patrol. This forces me to set my cruise control at 45mph. I arrived at the Sicklerville/Chews Landing Road light at about 11:29pm then made a left hand turn onto Sicklerville road. There is only 2/10’s of a mile to travel before arriving at the Kali Road turn, a LEFT here takes me to my house on Parktown place. I can only accelerate up to 40mph and then have to take my foot off of the gas in order to coast into the light or stop, depending on its color.

The light was RED; I pulled into the left hand turn lane and signaled to make a left. I waited about 15 seconds before the light turned GREEN. Not only did it turn green, but it also gave me the little left hand turn signal arrow. I should be the only one in the intersection.

I made the left and noticed an oncoming vehicle’s headlights quickly approaching. It was all the way to my left and looked like it may be making a RIGHT hand turn onto Kali Road. In a blink of an eye, the vehicle nearly smashed into the side of my truck. I locked up my brakes and it continued to speed down Kali Road. I couldn't believe what just happened.

I checked my rear view mirror to make sure no one was going to hit me from behind, then looked around and saw nothing. I decided to see if the vehicle was going to turn into my development. If he did, I would try to catch up to him and have a friendly conversation. Just let him know that there are families around here, he can’t be speeding around like that, there’s no reason for it.

As I began to drive again, I noticed the vehicle turn into Cobbler’s Cove which is about 1/10th of a mile away from the light. I pulled up to COBBLER’S COVE, looked in my rear view mirror again, saw that NO ONE was on the road but me, and stopped my truck to stare down into the development. I couldn't see any tail lights or sign of the vehicle. Cobbler’s Cove splits into two separate roads immediately, this guy was gone.

I was unable to identify the type of vehicle. Although it nearly smashed into me, and I saw the rear of it as it drove away, I couldn't get a read on it. It was a dark gray or silver color. The driver looked like a young white male, he had a baseball cap pulled down on his head and he seemed to be laughing. It appeared that there was another passenger, I couldn't be sure.

Now I’ve owned 5 different Nissan vehicles in the past 10 years (Sentra, Altima, Maxima, Titan, and Rogue). I know Nissan’s well. I also owned a pre-owned vehicle business for 2 years. I’m very familiar with cars. The vehicle that almost hit me appeared to be some sort of small SUV or maybe even a Subaru Outback. I know for a FACT that it wasn’t a NISSAN of any kind.

I gave up looking for the vehicle and limped home. I was still shaken up and now MAD. I could have been injured or killed; I drove about as slow as ever, probably less than 10mph. I made the left onto Pondview Lane, then the left onto Parktown Place. I pulled up to my house, parked my truck, turned it off and began to step out when suddenly SQUAD CAR LIGHTS appear behind me!!

I was now even madder. I thought WHERE was this cop 20-30 seconds ago? How did he NOT SEE the guy almost hit me, and why am I getting “stopped?”

I grabbed my license, insurance and registration, and awaited the officer’s arrival.

He shined his flashlight directly into my face for several seconds. He asked me “where you coming from?” I answered, “work, Atlantic City.”

He asked “have you been drinking?” I said “no, I just got done work and came straight home.”

I was completely baffled by this stop and with the light in my eyes I squinted and tried to stare at him.

He had an unfriendly attitude and sternly said to me “I GOT YOU GOING 65 IN A 50.”

I was stunned. All I could offer was a question of “Where?”

The officer retorted “ON SICKLERVILLE ROAD!”

I told him, “I just got on Sicklerville Road.” He shrugged his shoulders, took my credentials and went back to his squad car.

At this point I figured once he runs my license and sees that I have NO POINTS and use NJ Manufacturer’s Insurance (they only insure pointless and accident free drivers) he’ll probably want to issue a warning. Also, I figured when he sees that the address on my license matches the exact location that we were currently sitting at, he’ll decide against writing a ticket.

I WAS WRONG! Officer Urban issued me a ticket for 65mph in a 50. I asked him “are you sure it was me, I literally just got on Sicklerville road?” He shrugged his shoulders and said “yes.”

I took the ticket, exited my vehicle and went into my house. Called my wife and told her I was almost hit by another car, but get this, I got a ticket for speeding!!!!

For about a month I really couldn't figure out HOW the officer could be close enough to me to say that I was speeding but NOT see the near accident at Kali and Sicklerville Road. I also could not figure out how I could have possibly gone 65mph in my truck, on a wet road, when I’m only on Sicklerville Road for 2/10’s of a mile. I need at least 600-800 feet of space to BRAKE if I could get my truck up to 65mph before the traffic light. It was clear that this was impossible.

I filled out NOT GUILTY on the TICKET and mailed it in. Then I went over to the municipal building and PURCHASED the “discovery evidence” of the case. Did you know that you had to pay money for this? It cost me 6 or 8 dollars, can’t remember.

Once I looked in the RECORD, I was able to get a copy of the ticket, this time I could actually READ the writing on it. OFFICER URBAN stated the LOCATION of the speeding incident to be at SCENIC VIEW DRIVE and SICKLERVILLE Rd.

I didn’t know where this was (just moved to this town in January 09) so I looked it up on Mapquest. Scenic View Drive is a ½ mile NORTH from the Kali Road turn. I never go up that way to get home, it’s PAST my house.

This finally explained to me what must have happened. The vehicle that nearly hit me came from that direction. Officer Urban must have clocked it as it passed him going in opposite directions. He made a U-TURN and headed after the vehicle. Both vehicles were now heading towards me.

The problem is, a vehicle traveling 65mph covers 95 feet per second. So for every second that Officer Urban took in stopping, making a U-turn, and then accelerating up to 65mph, he lost ground. It’s easy to see that the vehicle was probably 1000 or more feet away from him by the time he (the officer) made it to the Kali light.

If you have ever traveled down Sicklerville road heading towards Kali road, you’ll see that the right hand turn is very pronounced and elongated. There are also trees and shrubbery on that corner. If you are not DIRECTLY behind someone making that turn, you can’t possibly see what goes on in that area. It’s not in the field of vision.

Officer Urban was too far behind the speeding vehicle and missed the near accident.
When he finally did turn onto Kali road, he would have only noticed the distant taillights of my truck turning onto Pondview. I figure he made a guess that if that’s the only tail lights, then that has to be the vehicle that sped past him.

I understood at this point, although I was unhappy. Why? #1. He wrote a ticket for 65, not 64 or less. That’s a big difference in money and he went with the higher FINES and 4 point infraction. In the testimony from the trial, you’ll see that he wasn’t even sure of a speed, he could have written 60 or so, but he decided to STICK it TO ME.

I also didn’t like the fact that he wasn’t willing to talk about what had transpired. And that he felt the need to ticket a guy with a clean driving record who had just pulled up to his house.

I figured I’d see him in court, pull him aside and explain how he missed what happened. We’d have a good laugh along with the Judge at the coincidence of more than one vehicle being in the area. After all, I had the Ace in the hole, my EZ PASS RECORDS.

My hearing was postponed several times by the court which was a major inconvenience.

When I finally did get a hearing in July, I sat in the court room all day and my case was never called. Judge Diamond said because I hadn't spoken to the prosecutor, they had no record of a trial for me. I was there at 12:30pm until 430pm, the officer who wrote the ticket was there.

At 4:25pm, tired of waiting, and no one left in the court room, I said "Judge, I'm waiting for a trial and the officer just testified 10 minutes ago against someone else. He's in the building."

The judge informed me that it was TOO LATE now because the people who do the paperwork for trials are gone, or something to that effect.

I was visibly angry and mad; I just wasted an entire day and no justice?

Judge Diamond asked me “well, what time did you get here?”

I think he was insinuating that I was late or something? I told him “I was here about an hour early waiting in line outside, probably 12:30pm.”

He also asked me "Why didn't you speak to the prosecutor?"

My answer was, "I'm not guilty and not looking to make a deal. People who are guilty make deals. Therefore I have no reason to speak with them."

The judge informed me that "that's how it works here, you speak to the prosecutor and they give us the paperwork for a trial." Hmmmmmmm

(If I already marked on the ticket that I was NOT GUILTY, shouldn't it be ASSUMED that I want a trial? And if I don’t speak to the prosecutor, shouldn't it come up as a TRIAL?)

IF THAT'S HOW IT WORKS, the officer who asks people if they'd like to speak to a prosecutor and hands out numbers when court begins, should have to say "EVERYONE must speak to the prosecutor or your case will NOT be called."

Seems like common sense to me. Why give people the option when there is no option?

Judge Diamond then stated “I’ll make a note that this happened, the next time I see you in here, we’ll call you first, and maybe even throw the ticket out if the officer isn’t ready.”

Okay, that’s fair, I guess.

I got a notice in the mail for an August trial date. As a casino dealer and a full time college student, this date and time was extremely tough for me.

I decided that THEY HAD ALREADY screwed me over several times; I’m going to call and tell them that I can’t make it, postpone it until AFTER the damn summer. Why should my life continue to be inconvenienced because of their mistakes?

The woman at the court didn’t want to allow me to do it. I explained what had happened already and that I had rearranged my schedule several times for them, and also sat in court all day long once. She said, “oh, I do see a note here that you sat in court all day.” She then rescheduled my case for September 9th, 2009.

On September 9th, 2009 I arrived in court for my "trial", I came early, sat in the front row, and made sure to get a NUMBER to see the prosecutor. I ended up being the FIRST one to see the "prosecutor."

Actually, there's a room full of pencil pushers and a chubby guy with an attitude simply stated the charges against me and offered me a $400.00 fine and NO POINTS.

Um, that's supposed to be a deal? I was there for JUSTICE and knew I could prove my case. I wouldn't have accepted ANY type of fine. Nothing less than dismissing the ticket would suffice. In fact, I figured as soon as I show my EZ PASS records which proves the vehicle officer URBAN was chasing couldn't have been mine, this ticket would be tossed.

I told the guy NO THANKS, I'll take a "trial."

DID I MENTION I WAS FIRST TO SEE THESE PEOPLE ON THAT DAY?

I took my seat in the court room and anxiously awaited my chance at a trial.

1:30pm- I watched a parade of LAWYERS with guilty people agree to things that they didn’t do.

2:00pm – continued to watch LAWYERS represent clients.

LAWYERS go first in Judge Diamond’s court, followed by ANYONE who has seen the Prosecutor. Why would guys who are innocent and don’t need a lawyer, have to wait behind people who did something and want a lesser charge? If they’re GUILTY of something, shouldn't they have to wait behind the INNOCENT until proven guilty people?

2:30pm, Judge Diamond calls my name; I get in line behind the people copping pleas. When I get up to him, I said I'm waiting for a trial, he said, have a seat we'll get to it in a bit. Then he says to me “you do realize if found guilty there’s a 400 dollar blah blah blah and a 2400 dollar surcharge?”

My response was, “I’m not guilty, I’ll take a trial sir.” And I had a seat again.

At this point I started rethinking my situation, all of this money for going 15 mph over the speed limit? Then I quickly came to my senses and realized that I had proof that I didn’t do what I was accused of, it’s not like it’s going to simply be the officer’s word against mine.
3:00pm- Judge Diamond throws some guy’s ticket out because the defendant wore a suit to his court room!! He told the man “do you know that you’re the only one here today that was smart enough to wear a suit to court? I’m going to dismiss your ticket. Have a nice day.”

WOW. I had worn a suit the first time that I came to his court and I sat uncomfortably all day long while everyone else was in SHORTS! I decided on this occasion to simply wear dress pants and a short sleeve shirt. Why should I over dress for him, he’s already shown me no respect once.

3:30pm Judge Diamond calls my name again, I get in the line again. When I get up there, I said "I'm waiting for a trial sir" he responded "okay, have a seat. You do know if found guilty there is this charge that charge, etc...

He also states that "if you lose here in court people, don't think that the appeal court will give you a new trial. The only thing they'll do is read the transcript and decide from there. You won't get to add any new evidence. So don't think you'll just take a shot and see if you can beat it."

At this point, it finally hit me that THIS JUDGE JUST WANTS ME to pay money and leave.

Nevertheless, I'm innocent, I can prove it, I'm having my "trial."

4:00pm OFFICER Urban continues to yuk it up in the back of the court room with his fellow officers. He had been working the door all day long. I kept an eye on him to make sure he was around for when my case was called. I was anxious to show him his mistake.

4:15pm After seeing Officer Urban leave the courtroom, I began to panic. He had been there all day, what if he went home and I would have to come back?

I said to Judge Diamond "Judge, the officer has been here all day, can I have my trial?"

There were less than 5 people left in the court at this time!!!
They had even stopped screening people at the door; the other officers were packing up for the day!

The judge agrees, sends for Urban and I take a seat at the DEFENDANTS TABLE.

4:25pm the so called real PROSECUTOR shows up and walks over to me. She comes off as a very pleasant lady and seems to be very empathetic to my cause. I'm frustrated, and a bit angry and anxious. I know this case should be thrown out if I could just show my ez pass records and explain what happened that night.

She brings me into the hallway and I tell her my story. At this point, I'm thinking she'll just decide to drop the charges. She brings officer URBAN into the hallway and he gets a look at my pictures and all of my evidence. I showed them both a map that I had blown up for 40.00 at Staples. It’s easy to see my route and the mistake that he made with this thing. He begins to swear that the vehicle he saw speeding was mine and accused me of coming from a road that I was never on. I begin to argue with the officer as he was basically calling me a liar.

The prosecutor calms me down, because at this point, my blood is boiling with this nonsense.

She then says “have a seat in the courtroom and the judge will be with you shortly for your trial."

At that point, I say "WHAT, AFTER YOU'VE SEEN ALL OF MY EVIDENCE AND KNOW MY ENTIRE DEFENSE???"

She replied "well you have our discovery; you have to disclose yours to us."

I walked away and went back into the court ready for battle.

4:28pm I’M THE LAST ONE LEFT IN THE COURTROOM, JUDGE DIAMOND DECIDES TO HEAR MY CASE!!!!

I notice that the officers have now all gathered near the bench in the left hand corner to observe my case. There’s also the prosecutor and several other people who work for the STATE.

It’s basically me and my AUDACITY to defend myself versus 10 people who are State employed.

The trial begins, the judge asked the Officer to rattle off a bunch of stuff that he’s been “certified” for and to state his experience on the job.

He then begins to SHOCK me with his testimony….

Officer URBAN quickly lies about where the actual stop was made. He claimed KALI ROAD, not PARKTOWN PLACE which even the police report stated. I guess he figured that if the stop didn’t occur on Kali, then he obviously never got close to my vehicle from behind.

(I didn’t think of this at the time, but on the back of my vehicle there were YELLOW, RED, and BLUE bumper stickers along with a HUGE matching MAGNET. These advertised my arcade business and had pictures of MS PACMAN and DONKEY KONG!! You couldn't help but notice these if you ever got behind my vehicle!) Officer Urban never mentioned a description of any kind.

He lied again stating that he "knew" the vehicle that past him on Scenic View Drive and Sicklerville road was a NISSAN truck!!!

He had just seen MY PICTURES in the hallway. I was not prepared for the officer to LIE. I thought he would just state FACTS of what actually happened on that night.

Why did he have to EMBELLISH his story with lies? I was witnessing a MARK FURMAN type moment here.

I pounced on Urban's testimony with the question “Are you sure you stopped me on Kali Road?"

His answer was "I believe so."

I thought for sure that if the officer can’t even match the correct road of the stop with what was in the police report, I was home free. Having this little nugget already in my back pocket without playing the ACE IN THE HOLE (EZ PASS records) I was off to a great start.

In his testimony, The officer stated that THE LIGHTING WAS POOR, SPOTTY, HE HAD TO MAKE A U-TURN and LOST TRACK of the VEHICLE. But was sure it was a NISSAN TRUCK.

HUH??? He stated that it was "11:00 or 11:30, and it was FRIDAY or SATURDAY night", he had no clue about anything other than miraculously KNOWING the vehicle he was after was a NISSAN TRUCK. Outrageous!!!

Is a ticket this important to officer Urban that he has to make things up?

Was this ticket worth exposing his LACK OF INTEGRITY and HONESTY?

I began my testimony. In summary:

I explained that I just left work in AC, My ez pass records show me paying 2 tolls on the way to AC at 6:37pm and 6:48pm. Then I showed my return by paying two tolls at 10:55pm and 11:07pm.

I had left work early on an EARLY OUT.

I explained to Judge Diamond that I was at the 3.00 toll in Egg Harbor at exactly 11:07. My EZ pass record PROVES that.

I take Exit 38 to get to my house. It's only 2.1 miles from the exit. This puts me at a traffic light, facing an opposite direction than the speeding vehicle up on Scenic View Drive where officer Urban said I was.

I was at the Kali Road intersection waiting for the light to turn green. When it turned green, it also gave me the LEFT TURN arrow. I made the turn and from no where, a vehicle made a RIGHT onto KALI road, coming from the officer's direction. It nearly smashed the side of my truck and continued down Kali road. It turned into Cobbler's Cove and was gone. I paused for several seconds before gathering myself. Happy to be alive, I drove carefully home, probably about 10 mph. When I pulled up to my house, the officers lights came on. I had no idea what he wanted.

The officer asked if I had been drinking and blasted my eyes with his flashlight.

I stated no, I just came home from work. He said "I got you going 65 in a 50."

Incredulously, I asked "where?" With a lot of attitude, he yells "ON SICKLERVILLE ROAD."

I stated "I just got on Sicklerville road" then shut up and gave him my credentials.

I told the Judge that “my father was a cop” and that I was taught to say “yes sir, no sir and not to argue. If there’s a problem you can settle it in court.”

(IF YOU READ the transcript of this case, you’ll actually see where Judge Diamond tells me that “if your father was a cop, I would think the first thing you would say is, my father is a cop instead of yes and no.”) WOW I QUICKLY retorted “I’ve never used that.” And I haven’t, I always felt weird about PBA CARDS and dropping names, it’s not my style. Apparently this Judge has no problem playing politics eh?

I explained to Judge Diamond that the officer got the wrong vehicle, I was never up on Scenic View Drive, it's also the opposite direction from where I was traveling and EZ PASS records prove that I would be taking EXIT 38.

Judge Diamond, in his wisdom, begins to argue "why wouldn't you take Exit 41, isn't that closer?"

I stated "NO, it's not. Exit 38 takes me right to my house. Why would I go 3 more miles out of my way? That's not logical."

The judge asked me "is there anything else you'd like to add?" I said “I have my EZ PASS records and the direction of travel that I would take to and from my house, that’s all I can do?”

He said, alright, a bunch of mumbo jumbo and then decided to WITHOLD JUDGEMENT until he can take a ride out by the Exxon station on Williamstown Road. He said he would notify us of his decision by mail.

I had no idea what the EXXON had to do with the case, but it was apparent that he wasn't leaning in my direction. At this point, I was just happy he wasn't handing down a guilty verdict.

I figured, HEY, HE MUST NOT WANT TO EMBERASS THE OFFICER. He'll find me NOT GUILTY and inform me in a few days by mail.

The letter arrived and much to my chagrin, HE FOUND ME GUILTY of going 65 in a 50. Fined me $136.00 total.

He wrote that in his "OPINION", I TOOK EXIT 31 as that "seems like a more direct route to" him.

WHAT?? What person gets off the Expressway 7 miles before his home when he can get off at EXIT 38, only 2 miles from his home?

At this point, I had to question the Judge's sanity and his character.
A quick GOOGLE SEARCH or MAPQUEST would’ve shown that the route for me to take is Exit 38. I didn’t even know what town Exit 31 takes you to!!!

I immediately began looking into the APPEALS process.

That is not a good time. I found a web site with a packet to print out. I went to the Municipal Court and they had conflicting stories of what I was supposed to do.

Needless to say, I figured it all out. I mailed 75.00 to the Superior Court and 100 dollars for the transcripts of the case.

A woman working at the Court was shocked to see that I had lost the case. She said she thought for sure I would beat that ticket. I thanked her for the support.

About 3 months later, I got a letter from the Superior Court Judge Cook. He looked over my case and decided to hear the appeal.

The appeal was much more like a court case than the sham that occurred in traffic court. Judge Cook actually looked for EVIDENCE and inconsistencies. He went through the transcripts of the first trial and saw that Officer URBAN was all over the place in his testimony.

He found Judge Diamond's guess of where I would exit the Expressway to be "SPECULATIVE and WITHOUT EVIDENCE."

He seemed to be a bit embarrassed and annoyed by this case even having to come this far.

I wish officer Urban had been there, but he wasn't. I guess the taxpayers have paid him enough money for this case?

Judge Cook is a real judge with common sense and dismissed the ticket quickly. This ticket was a huge waste of time and costly to me.

I barely had to say anything; he was all over the prosecutor. He shook his head constantly at some of the officer’s testimony. He had a look of utter disgust as he read Judge Diamond’s decision.

So now, after 300 dollars, several days wasted in going to court cases, and lots of anguish over this ticket, I've FINALLY gotten JUSTICE.

I just wish JUDGE DIAMOND and OFFICER URBAN would have to reimburse me the 200 or so dollars that the APPEALS process cost me.

I’m including copies of the ORIGINAL “KANGAROO” COURT TRIAL, along with the delayed verdict. Also, a copy of the EZ Pass record that was used and the APPEAL order and finding is included. Feel free to post this on your webpage. Someone needs to hold these people accountable. They can not abuse their power and get away with it.

Thanks for reading the entire email, I think this should be public knowledge.

I can’t imagine the number of people who have been screwed by Officer Urban and Judge Diamond. It’s clear that they’ll bend over backwards to make money for the State.

The appeal process is not an easy thing to do and there’s a cost attached to it. It’s well worth it however. In Winslow, it seems it’s the only way to have a fair trial.

Sincerely,
Mark V. Collins