There is a long list of reasons to fight your Florida traffic tickets rather than just pay them and suffer the consequences that come with the points. One big reason is the higher insurance rates that come along with points on your license. If you live in Orlando you can add another reason to the list to fight your Florida traffic citation, long lines.
Last year budget cuts caused the Orange County Clerk of Courts to cut more than 100 jobs. Now clerk’s offices in Orange, Osceola, Seminole, Lake and Volusia Counties could lose another $5.75 million causing them to once again scale-back. The result will be longer lines according to clerks across the state of Florida.
Monthly Archives: March 2010
DUI Charges First, Explicit Photos Next For Miami Heat’s Dorell Wright
Miami Heat forward Dorell Wright was suspended two games earlier this month after he was arrested for DUI in Miami. He also was driving with a suspended license. Now there is more bad press for the NBA player as a nude photo of him has surfaced on the Internet and been forwarded around via Twitter.
Wright issued an apology through the team saying the photo came from a private Internet chat where someone apparently captured the image from the screen. The person who circulated the photo apparently put it out for public consumption after Wright’s girlfriend commented about how great she thought the father of her child is. According to the Miami Herald Wright is the third NBA player to have nude photos surface on the Internet.
DUI Charges In Bonita Springs Filed Against Teenager Who Hits A Bus
According to mysuncoast.com, a 19-year-old Lee County driver has been charged with drunk driving following an incident in Bonita Springs in which he allegedly rear-ended a bus at a railroad crossing. Lee County Sheriffs report Corey David Craft not only ran into the back of the bus he continued to accelerate until he wedged his car under the back of the bus.
Deputies arrived on the scene and started to give Craft field sobriety tests before determining the teen was unable to stand and stopping those exercises. He was then given a breath test but according to the report on mysuncoastnews.com the results were negligible. Craft then agreed to a urinalysis after a drug recognition expert was called to start a DUI drug investigation.
Seat Belt Violations In Pinellas Reach Double Digits In One Day Operation
There were 10 Pinellas County seat belt violation citations issued Thursday in a one-day seatbelt enforcement detail. On top of the 10 Pinellas traffic tickets that deputies issued there was a criminal citation issued for possession of a controlled substance and a notice to appear for the same violation.
The fine for motorists ticketed for a seat belt violation is $116. The detail focusing on seat belt violations in Pinellas County are being funded by a $20,000 grant from the Florida Department of Transportation. The deputies will continue these details at 23 targeted intersections that have high rates of traffic crashes and fatalities.
Xanax, Marijuana And Alcohol Not A Good Mix For New Port Richey Driver
Jesse Perez didn’t remember much of his drive on U.S. 19 early Thursday morning according to police reports. The 50-year-old apparently had no recollection that he almost hit a police car or hit the median a couple times. There seems to be a good reason for that according to police and a woman who was in the car with Perez. The witness claims Perez was driving drunk and he was on Xanax.
Perez denied the accusations but did admit to having a few beers and mixed drinks. He said he had no idea who owned the Xanax and marijuana police found after searching the car. The officers arresting him didn’t seem to buy that story and charged Perez with DUI, possession of marijuana, possession of a controlled substance without a prescription, possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of a controlled substance. He was booked into Land O’ Lakes Jail on $4,300 bail.
Polk County Violation Of Probation Charge Filed Against Fatal Hit And Run Driver
According to prosecutors, Candy Cummings get a great deal when she pled guilty to a fatal hit-and-run in 2009. She was given no jail time, two years of house arrest and five years of probation. According to TBO.com, the girl has violated her probation for leaving her home on numerous occasions and she now may be going to jail.
The mother of Cummings’ victim was in court and believes the women’s seven year sentence should now be spent inside a jail cell instead of in her living room. It will be up to a judge to determine what will happen next when a hearing is held April 8. Cummings could serve the rest of her sentence for leaving the scene of an accident in a Polk County prison.
DUI Crash leads To DUI Drug Charges For Four-Time Tampa Arrestee Dwight Gooden
Dwight Gooden has had his share off run-ins with the law. The former NY Mets pitcher has been arrested in Tampa four times including two Tampa DUI charges. He is now facing DUI drug charges in New Jersey following a car crash Tuesday. The Tampa native has tested positive for cocaine twice while in the Major Leagues and he was almost sent to prison in 2006 for a probation violation.
The Tampa native was released from jail on his own recognizance despite the DUI charges. Gooden was also charged with traffic violations, endangering a child and leaving the scene of an accident. There was a child in his vehicle at the time of the crash. The article on TBO.com mentions that it is not known if Gooden has a criminal defense attorney representing him on these charges.
Florida Traffic Violation Stop In Brevard Leads To Gun Arrest And Escape
A Brevard County traffic stop led to Owantus Johnson being arrested for gun charges but while in custody he sprinted out of the interview room and escaped. According to the Associated Press, Johnson was pulled over for a traffic violation and that is when deputies found a gun in his car.
Johnson tried to flee when the gun was discovered but was captured and taken in for questioning. His hands were restrained behind his back with a plastic tie but that didn’t stop the 19-year-old from running out of the interview room and escaping the Sheriff’s deputies. He is still at large and wanted on the original charges of resisting arrest without violence and being a felon in possession of a firearm.
DUI Charges Filed Against Two Professional Athletes With Florida Connections
Two professional athletes with ties to the state of Florida were charged with driving under the influence this past weekend. Miami Dolphin running back Ronnie Brown and a Baltimore Oriole pitcher in Sarasota, FL for spring training have both been charged with DUI. Brown received his drunk driving charges in Georgia according to the Miami Herald while Baltimore pitcher Eric DuBose was cited for a DUI in Sarasota.
According to newspaper reports, the two professional athletes received their DUI citations to bookend the past weekend. Brown was charged Friday night in Cartersville, GA. He was pulled over for an illegal lane change and then performed poorly on a field sobriety test. DuBose was arrested in Sarasota early Monday morning. He was pulled over after swerving into oncoming traffic and then almost rear-ending a car.
DUI Checkpoint In DeFuniak Springs And Walton County Nets Just Four Arrests In Four Hour Period
The Walton County Sheriff’s Office, DeFuniak Springs Police, Florida Highway Patrol and Florida Department of Transportation made one DUI arrest during a four-hour checkpoint March 13. Law enforcement set up in an area where there is believed to be a high rate of drunk driving and drunk driving accidents. The checkpoint resulted in 524 stops but only four arrests. Just one was for DUI and the other three were for driving with a suspended license.
While the officers were light on DUI arrests, they did issue 48 Florida traffic citations and eight written warnings. The story did not break down what types of traffic tickets were issued during the stops. It did go into details on seat belt violations and the number of traffic deaths related to drivers and passengers who do not buckle up on Florida’s roadways.