Strawberry Plains, TN asked in Personal Injury, Traffic Tickets, Civil Rights and Libel & Slander for Tennessee

Q: If I'm sitting at a RED light & the driver in front of me backs up, hitting me, why am I getting tickets?

The driver's ball hitch hit our front tag, no damage. Driver continued on. We went to the ATM & are surrounded by approx 5 officers pointing guns at our heads. I got 2 tickets, 1 for leaving the scene & tailgating. We were STOPPED. WE WERE HIT. We were at our bank's drive-thru & my husband was handcuffed. He was the passenger! We are 50 yrs old & don't have a desire to turn into Bonnie and Clyde now. We were told my husband was getting in the back seat reloading, suggesting we shot a gun? My husband vomits he is so stressed. They finally let him out of handcuffs. A Supervisor gets there running up asking where are the 4 active shooters? We can't sleep. We don't leave the house & I'm terrified to go to court over the tickets. Can I hold the police responsible?

2 Lawyer Answers
Anthony M. Avery
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Answered

A: Since no arrest, only a short stop and detainment, damages are minimal. The Tickets(Citations) must be dismissed by the Court. So you need an attorney to go to Court on the Rule Of The Road Violations, and an attorney that knows GTLA law so a Federal Civil Rights Suit can be brought, or at least evaluated. Again damages are a problem.

A: Very sorry to hear the authorities treated you this way. It would certainly appear to be excessive force. You have 2 cases here, traffic tickets and civil rights. You need to discuss with an attorney in your jurisdiction that specializes in this kind of law. Thank you for using Justia, Ask a Lawyer.

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