Eric00zx12r
Novice Class
Posts: 97
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posted May 20, 2002 01:38 PM
Deals Gap
Got this from over at sportbikes.net
Hope this didn't happen to any of you. Two stories.
Two different guys talking about being ticketed for "drag racing"
I've heard about this kind of crap for years now but never from someone who it actually happned to.
Glad I always rode on the weekdays when I was there
1)http://www.sportbikes.net/forums/showthread.php?threadid=73998
First let me say that this is a rant. I am royally pissed, and will be fighting this every step of the way through legal means. Normally I would not post such personal matters up here, for all to hack at. I am however, making the exception, in the hopes that this does not happen to you. I am not trying to flame anyone, annoy anyone, etc. If you were at the Gap today, and had this happen to you, then you know where I am coming from.
And, I am most aware that most riders say from the get go, that "It was not me! I swear!" or "It was not my fault!" My point of the rant, in short, is for the officers to show proof, and hone the execution skills of these supposed captures.
Normally, I am all for Sheriff Patrols. These include license checks, and etc. I, more than most folks, understand the stuff that these officers have to go through, put up with, and etc., to perform their duties. I have many a friend and family member who is either a state, county, or city officer. I have the utmost respect for almost all of them.
However as of today, I am extremely disappointed in Blount County, and the sham scheme that they put on this afternoon at the overlook, and at the camping site down on the lake.
If I am in the wrong, and I did something wrong, then I will own up to it, and pay the fine, and etc. like I was raised to do so. But if you are yanking my chain, you are going to have one hell of a fight! And what about our lovely little motto? Innocent until proven guilty; beyond a reasosnable doubt, right?
Read on.
Though I have to work in Charlotte, I am from Sevierville, and call it home. I left Sevierville this morning (05-19) and drove at a brisk pace down 66, and turned right onto Wears Valley Rd. For us locals, this is Highway 321. I took 321 all the way to Townsend, and made a right onto scenic 73. I followed 73, to the base of the Foothills Parkway, whereas I made a left. I took the parkway up and over, and made my final left at the lake, and began my approach to the backside of the Dragon. This is exactly a 50 mile ride. Note that I am listing this, to show that I had plenty of time to "warm up" and get comfortable.
As I drove around the lake, I noticed that at one of the campgrounds, there was a state trooper, and a Blount Country Sheriff out of their cars, and talking to some campers. I assumed that this was just a routine check to see if the campers were behaving themselves.
I reached the entrance to the Dragon, and began my run. All was well, until about the 3rd curve, where I came across a Toyota truck pulling a huge trailer, half loaded with cinder blocks. I immediately thought to myself that even if I were to pull over and wait on him, the run up to the overlook was pretty well shot to hell. I stayed behind him, until I reached the overlook; I saw no cars on the side, and did not see anything other than bikes coming down.
I get to the overlook, and pull over, because I see an acquaintance that I met yesterday afternoon whilst chatting with Ron and Nancy, who run www.tailofthedragon.com Turns out that on his run from his hotel to the overlook, he broke down. He seems to have lost most of his oil. As we were talking, I offered to make a trip down to the C.r.o.t and grab him a quart. He gives me the moola, and off I go.
Half way down the run, I spot a rider off of the side of the road. This is right at Parson's Branch, where everyone likes to have his or her bikes take a drink of that clear refreshing water. I turn around to check, and see if all is all right. I am relieved to find that another acquaintance, Tyler from Clemson, has already stopped to help the fellow, and even though his bike is hosed, the rider is fine. Darryl is there as well, and offers to jet down to the C.r.o.t to see if Noah can bring the truck up to help this rider out. I fill Tyler in as to why I am running to the C.r.o.t. and I am just preparing to leave, when a Tennessee state trooper stops to ask if everything is all right. We reply all is fine. As he starts to leave, we notice that there are about 10-15 riders behind him. We all laugh, as we knew that their run up to the overlook would suck royally.
That event all finished, I left Tyler to help the downed rider, and off to the C.r.o.t. I went. I get there, and am surprised to find that not a lot of folks are there. I am in and out of the store incredibly quick. I commented to Mike that the store would probably get slammed, because it was getting warmer by the minute. He smiled, and said he sure hoped so; more money!
I start my run back up to the overlook. Mind you now, that I have been gone for almost 40 minutes. As I come back up onto Parson's Branch, I notice that Tyler is gone, but that Darryl is with the downed rider, and he is taking pictures of riders as they scoot on by. I wave, and keep heading up.
I finally get back to the overlook almost 1 hour after I left. My acquaintance, and Ron are ragging on me because it took so long to get back. I informed them as to what I saw. Anyhoot, I help my acquaintance put the oil into his bike, and we run into RoadRacinChick and her boyfriend from over at Wheeler's. We talk for a while, and then we all decide to make another run.
As I am suiting up, a green minivan pulls up, and out pops a fellow who flashes a badge, and states that he is from the Blount Country Sheriff's office. He wants to see my license, registration, and insurance papers. He also asks this information from my acquaintance. I think to myself, not a problem, as I have all of these items, and he must be doing a random check. Note above, that I said I have no problems with this; they are doing their jobs, and this is part of it.
He asks my acquaintance and me if we had video cameras attached to our bikes, or on our persons. Now reflecting on this question, it suddenly dawns on me that he wanted to ensure that we were not taping his allegations. Why, I wonder? He notices that I am supposed be wearing glasses, and proceeds to drill me as to why I do not have them on. It takes almost a sobriety (you know the deal...follow the finger, etc.) test for him to notice that I have contacts in.
I hand everything over, at which point he tells me that he has me, and my acquaintance on video tape "DRAG RACING". He refuses to tell me where, when, and by whom. He refuses to show me the tape, and states that he does not have to show it to me, based upon the amount of riders that were out on the Dragon today. When I continually press him on the matter, he finally tells me that if I wish to persist with my questions, that they would be happy to take me to jail, where I could post a bond, and meet with the magistrate come Monday morning.
Hrm...since I had to be in Jacksonville on business the next morning, I shut my mouth for a few minutes, and just listened. This guy had a partner in the back of the van, and they began talking amongst themselves, about how my bike was the one they were after, and etc. and etc. They have the door to the van open however, and as I am waiting for what ever they are up to, I look inside. Guess what? No camera, no digital camera; nothing at all to record if a rider was screwing around or not.
As I am standing there, waiting for them to do what ever they are going to do, I am becoming more and more pissed. How dare they accuse me of something that I did not do?! I know that if I proceed to make a scene, then they will impound the bike, and cart my sorry (_l_) off to jail; but I take it VERY personal when someone accuses me of something that I had nothing to do with. My acquaintance felt the same way. He proceeds to tell the cops that "no disrespect, but you got the wrong guys." He goes on to explain that he has been broken down, for quite some time, and that there is no way in hell they got him on camera. After a few minutes of heated discussion, the cop relents, and lets my acquaintance go. Not so with me; he has it set that he is going to write me up.
After about 10 minutes, he tells me to suite up, and to follow him down to the lake, "where other officers will issue you a citation." I think that this is weird in itself. If I did as they say I did, then why are they not the ones writing me up? I think to myself, ok, I will go with, and I will see this alleged video for myself.
My acquaintance offers to go with, to ensure that all is legit. When we get to the bottom, lo and behold! Remember all of those riders that I mentioned up above? Well, they are all down at the lake, getting tickets! As the cops are taking their sweet time writing things up, I have a few minutes to speak to some of the riders. They tell me that all of them are being written up for...surprise..."DRAG RACING"!
Now forgive me, if I appear to be ig-nor-ant...but drag racing is when two or more vehicles are racing one another, to win some sort of competition. Correct? Someone enlighten me? Like I said, I spoke to most of these riders, and they all stated that there was no racing going on. Almost all of them said they came around the corner, and the trooper was in the middle of the road, waving them all over to the side of the road. He took their licenses, and made them follow him down to the lake.
Note------During all of this, Darryl drives by, with video camera in hand, taping all of us. I wave, as who knows, I may be on one of those FOX T.V. specials...When The Dragon Bites!
Anyhoo, they write all of us up, and tell us that we are all free to go, so long as we do not return to the Dragon for 3 hours. Well crap...that just blows the whole damned day. I ask my acquaintance to go back to the overlook, and say good-bye to everyone for me, as I am now "grounded' and can not go back up to say so myself. I decided to just pack it in, go back to Sevierville, load up, and head on down to Jax.
As I drove back though, I just got madder and madder. I am from these parts, and I am always hearing of the b.s. that the local cops are pulling. As I drove, I made up my mind that I was not going to take this, and that I am going to fight it fully. Ron says I should just leave it alone, and pay the fine; if I were guilty of something, then I would agree. But I am not, and they have not shown me one shred of anything to say otherwise.
So, I got to the house, and called an old family friend, Judge Ron Reagan from Sevier County. He says that I have a right to ask for "Discovery of the video" to see if I am indeed on it. If I am not on the tape, then they have no case. So, come tomorrow morning, bright and early, guess what I will be doing?!
Again, I normally do not post my private laundry. I am doing so, to let ya'll know that the cops are out in brute force at the Gap, and are probably going to be for some time, thanks to the mass amounts of wrecks that have been happening.
Again, I must stress that I do not harbor ill feelings towards law enforcement, so please no flaming. I do however have a problem with an officer not paying attention, and accusing a rider, when that rider is innocent. And if you are going to accuse, then have the evidence to back it up, right then, right there.
I am not a good writer; if this bounced all over the place, I apologize. I am still peeved, and it shows in my writing skills.
Be safe out there ya'll.
2)http://www.sportbikes.net/forums/showthread.php?s=1bdc7462afd5c47b2a8efe3413998adc&threadid=73959
Long story short...
This weekend my buddy and I headed down to Deals Gap. We came all the way down from North Jersey.
Today while riding threw the Gap a cop waved us over along with 7 other sportbikes. He took our licenses and made us follow him. Down at the bottom of the MTN waited 3 other cops. The cop wrote us all up for "Drag Racing" and we saw a plain old Dodge Caravan pull up and out came 2 plain clothed cops. They where filming everyone up there.
Now I got a MANDATORY court date I have to come all the way back down from New York to go to!! Needless to say..I am very upset. The Gap was incredible, but this just totally ruined the whole thing.
Anyone out there who rides Deals Gap know anything about these Drag Racing tickets and what has happened to others in the past who have got them?
Thanks...
____________
Eric
00ZX-12R
Candy Persimmon Red
  
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