Suspended Driver Keeps Getting Tickets and Then Let Go

Welcome once again to Leato's Law. Here's Steve Leato. — I've watched a lot of videos about the police pulling people over at the side of the road for traffic infractions. And occasionally you'll see it where somebody gets busted for, I don't know, operating under the influence. And they're begging with a police officer, please just let me go. And I've seen a police officer say, I can't cuz you go and do something bad. Um, it makes us look bad. That would be on me as well as you. I've also did a video not so long ago where I mentioned that somebody had gotten something like 70 license suspensions in their driving history. Uh so Sean sent me Steve, check this out. It's kind of a combination of those two ideas from tmj4. com. The Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office acknowledges a mistake allowing a driver with 35 suspended license tickets to drive away after a traffic stop. pulled over and ticketed for driving while license suspended and then they let him go and drive while license suspended. Uh Ben Jordan and Ariel Campos wrote this. The Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office is acknowledging one of his deputies made a mistake by issuing the wrong citation that allowed a driver who'd been caught 35 times for operating on a suspended to drive away after the traffic stop. TMJ4's Lighthouse investigative team has learned the same suspended driver was pulled over a day earlier at the beginning of May and resulted in the same outcome. Dash camera video from a different police department shows that the man from Milwaukee was allowed to drive away after receiving two tickets. Uh he'd been caught on an earlier occasion running a red light and he was issued a pair of tickets and sent on his way. Less than 24 hours later, he was pulled over by Milwaukee County Sheriff's Deputy for high speeds on National Avenue. One of the things that I've noticed also is that some of these people who keep getting these kinds of tickets keep calling attention to themselves by the way they drive, meaning they can't blend into traffic because they're somehow not quite capable of it. Which makes you think that maybe there's a good reason for that license suspension. The deputy and the officer both knew that this man should not have been behind the wheel. Officer wrote him a ticket for operating on a suspended license. The deputy cited him with operating without a valid license, which is different. On backtoback days, he was allowed to drive away right in front of the police. The And think about this. You commit you commit a crime or an offense, take your pick, in front of a police officer who issues you a citation for that offense and then you go and commit the exact same offense immediately. And what's worse is when the police officer goes, "You're free to leave. " Implying that they're okay with it since they wrote you for the first time, the second time is kind of like a freebie. The Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office inspector says that's not what's supposed to happen. Oh, our own policy. We do not allow that to happen. We're not going to stop someone, write them for operating after suspension, and then allow them to drive off. Inspector said the MCSO is still reviewing whether the deputy violated department policy. However, the inspector says the MCSO has already determined that if the deputy had given the man the right citation, he would have been towed and arrested. So, it's unclear if he reduced the ticket to allow the guy to drive away or simply was giving the guy a break. We don't know. We did determine that he had a prior operating without a license from about 2 years ago. In that event, he should have been taken into custody and should have been issued an operating without a license, second and subsequent, which is an elevated offense. That was our procedural error on our behalf. We are working to fix that error. A second or subsequent operating without a valid license violation is a crime. And see, keep in mind that many of the things that people do behind the wheels of cars are civil infractions. Speeding five over, civil infraction. Um, illegal lane change, civil infraction. Reckless driving, most places, misdemeanor. That's a crime. It's a crime. So, not everything that happens behind the wheel of a car is a civil infraction. So, this is a low-level misdemeanor. That is the second or subsequent operating without a valid license. But charges can only be issued for that offense if the driver has never had a license in the past. In this case, MCSO says it determined that the man has never had a valid driver's license. A retired Milwaukee police patrol officer says law enforcement agencies are allowed to make their own policies on what to do with a suspended driver's car after a traffic stop. And it does vary from department to department. Back in February, TMJ4's Lighthouse investigative team exposed how this one particular guy keeps getting caught behind the wheel despite not paying

$5,000 he owes in Milwaukee municipal traffic tickets alone. Court records show the most common ticket he's received is for operating while suspended. Do you think drivers should be able to take off after a traffic stop if they are suspended? A reporter asked. No, they shouldn't. And that's the uh police officer speaking um who uh is speaking to them about police procedures. He's a retired Milwaukee police patrol officer. No, they shouldn't. Most agencies just write the citation, make them get a ride or tell them they have to get a ride, but absolutely they're not allowed to just drive away. Now, the guy didn't show up on two previously scheduled interviews with TMJ4. He did not respond to the latest interview request despite several attempts. TMJ4 reached out to the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee police to ask whether their officer followed department policy by allowing the man to drive away after traffic stop and they didn't respond either. Um, and I've told the story once or twice before and I apologize to longtime viewers who've heard it, but I was once sitting in a courtroom and the courtroom was in Berkeley, Michigan, which is a suburb of Detroit near Woodward Avenue. And in that particular courtroom, there's a large window facing the parking lot. And there's the judge's bench up there, the windows back there, there's a gallery here, and then uh if there's a trial, I believe the witness box is over here. Court reporter and the jury would be over here. But every courtroom is laid out a little differently, but in this courtroom, that's the way it was. Big old window back to the courtroom. And um I saw a woman get called before the judge and she was there to take care of a ticket. And the judge said um I see you've been ticketed for driving on a suspended license. And she said yes. He goes, "How do you plead? " He goes, "Guilty, responsible. " And he goes, "Okay. " And he levies a fine. He says, "Here's how much you got to pay. Can you pay that today? " And she says, "Yes, I can. " He goes, "Do you know why your license is suspended? " And she goes, "I've got a whole bunch of unpaid tickets in other courts. " And he said, "Okay, so you understand that paying today's ticket won't solve your problem. You need to pay those other tickets also. " And there's a whole process and it can be cumbersome. But if you've got a bunch of tickets in different places, you got to go around and get them all taken care of, then go to the Secretary of State's office, bring the evidence with you to show that you've taken care of these things and then get your license taken care of. They can do that. And she said, "I I understand that, your honor, but I'll take care of today and then I'll you know. " And so she leaves and the judge turns to his bail and goes, "How much you want to bet? " There a little inside thing apparently. And uh about 10 minutes later, the judge turns to Bale and goes, "There you go. " And we all turned and looked and we saw her get in her car and drive away. So she had driven herself to court and drove away from court on a suspended license and she had just pled responsible to driving on a suspended license. Um, so she's playing roulette there because if she gets pulled over again, she'll get another ticket. And so whatever I mean, she's already in a hole trying to get out of it and she's occasionally digging herself deeper in. And I understand I've met people who say, "Steve, if I can't get to work, I get fired, lose my job, lose my house. " But I also, you know, understand that there's a laws there. So, you gota you got to figure something out. So, it's a wild story. But the guy has 35 suspended license tickets. And there's an implication here somewhere that he's never had a license. And yet, they ticket him and let him drive away. And worse, it says here he's got $5,000 in unpaid traffic tickets alone in one jurisdiction. So when you ticket him and he drives away, it appears that all he does is just toss the ticket and never show up in court. So that is a problem also. But every now and then we also hear about horrific accidents caused by people who shouldn't be on the road. So also that. So that's from tmj4. com. MCSOS Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office acknowledges a mistake allowing driver with 35 suspended license tickets to drive away after traffic stop. Sean sent it. Thanks a lot. Ben Jordan and Ariel Campos wrote that. Questions, your comments, put them below. Talk to you later. Bye-bye. — Thank you for watching Leato's law, law of window cleaning. It's on the other

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