If you have a trial judge telling you that you are lucky, well then you must be pretty darn lucky indeedAnd that’s just what this lowly writer have happened to him. A while back, I have an encounter with a police officer which left me holding a traffic ticket to pay.
This is part 2 of the two-part series on the subject of luck. Read part one here Since I did not think that the ticket was warranted, I contest it in court. It happened like this: we were, (my wife and I) on our way home on a Saturday night from a fashion show in which our son, along with a close friend of his were participants. After we stopped at the friend home to get something for the lad who was sleeping over at our place that night, we continued on our way On route home from the friend’s house, we noticed a car parked in an Alleyway but did not make anything particular of it. We passed by and then noticed that the vehicle came out onto the roadway and was following behind us. On every street that we turned, the car would follow, it took a while but I noticed that it was a police car but, because I’m not a wrong-doer, I don’t go worrying about police cars traveling behind my vehicle, they have as much rights as me or anyone else to be there. After a while, “I saw the lights come shining,” so I pulled over and stopped. An officer came up and asked: where were we coming from if we were drinking. Other than water, and the canned pop drinks my son was, the answer is no. He asked who were these boys in the back seat? I told him that one of them is my son and the other, his friend. He wanted to know which one was mine? He then pointed out that: the boys were not wearing seatbelts. He wanted my son’s name, age etc. asked why he said that he was issuing a citation for not wearing seats with which the vehicle was equipped. He served his ticket and we went our separate ways. Needless to say: I contested the ticket. When the case finally I got to court to find that he (the policeman) did not show so it was just me against them. After I walked the court through the chains of events from where we leave the venue for home that night, up until we encounter the police and then the events up until he issued the ticket. They interrupted my testimony twice to ask if I was a passenger in the car or was I driving, and whether or not I was wearing a seatbelt. I told them that I was driving and wearing a seatbelt. I noticed that the judge and the clerk of the court were discussing a point so I stopped the testimony and waited. Again the judge asked if I was the driver and if I was wearing a seatbelt? Again my reply was- Yes: I was the driver and was wearing a seatbelt. The judge then said: consider yourself a lucky man- on the charge of driving a car without wearing the seatbelt with which the vehicle was equipped, you are acquitted. What I found out later was that the officer wrote that ticket in my name instead of in the name of the person whom he said was in violation, and I didn’t even take the time to examine it. If I did I might have seen that error. Anyways the point here is: the judge said that I was lucky, he is a judge: he should know, but as of yet, I haven’t won the lotteries. Even with all that luck. Hmmm. Who then wants to be my lucky charm?
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AuthorE Lloyd Kelly is an Author, poet and blogger born in Jamaica W.i. to Raglan and Alma Kelly. Now lives in Montreal Qc. where when not writing, he drives a shuttle bus between campuses at McGill university Via: Poetry Foundation
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