Originally Posted by mattngsx
So I got pulled over for my window Tint today. Below is an outline of the event with the officer. Wondering what other similar stories others might have and if they fought the ticket? I feel I have a good chance winning in court? I'm not looking for feedback like, "you should have just done what he asked, etc..." I gave him options. I feel he could have used a tint strip to check, not just want to use some type of light scanner device? I've heard some horror stories of cops scratching up peoples tint, and didn't want to be a victim.
Legal tint level in Wisconsin according to the officer is 50% front side windows, and 35% rear. With a 3% margin for error. My car is 35% on all windows except the front window and I was not in the mood to give the officer the benefit of the doubt for pulling me over.
I guess with everything that's been going on in the country with cops, its on principles and limitations and actually taking a stand for yourself??? Overall the Officer was a nice guy, and maybe just trying to do his job..? I guess it could have went a lot worse for me being seen in his eyes as probably difficult and uncooperative. I don't think I was, completely, but I did feel like he was wasting my time over something petite.
It is that time of year where there are trying to fill that quota!
5/23/2015
Approximately around 1304 on 5/23/2015 I was pulled over by Officer of the Village of De Forest Police, for possible Tint Violation.
This is a record outlining the event to citation B476695-2. This is documentation written by me on 5/23/2015 after receiving a citation for excessive tinting with the efforts to clear the matter in court.
At around 1259 I was traveling west on CO Road V after washing my vehicle when I passed Officer on the South bound corner of Old Indian Trail and CO Road V in a marked De Forest Police squad. After I passed Officer he proceed to turn east bound on CO Road V.
With the nice weather outside I decided to roll my windows down and open my moon roof . I then noticed right after, while adjusting my mirror that it looked like officer was in a process of making a U-Turn without his warning lights on (346.33), or Officer possibly made a right turn into North Street Plaza to change his direction to west on CO Road V? I quickly checked my speed limit to verify I was maintaining proper speed.
Within two minutes Officer came up behind me within 25 feet and turned on his warning lights, which I immediately pulled to the right side of the road as Officer followed, placed my vehicle in park, and shut of my car off just short of about 75 feet from 4772 W. North St/CO HWY V.
As Officer was approaching my vehicle I retrieved my folder with Registration and Proof of vehicle Insurance from the back seat pocket.
Once Officer approached my driver side, he identified himself as officer and stated the reason for the stop being my window tint looked dark. I replied with, "this is how I purchased the vehicle last year" and he said that was okay, and asked me for my License and Insurance. I handed officer my license and Vehicle Insurance and Insurance card. He asked if my address was current, and I replied yes.
Officer then handed me back my insurance information and told me to hold on. Officer then returned to his vehicle and shortly within a few minutes reemerged.
Officer told me he wanted to check my tint and instructed me to roll up my window. I replied, there's a rear window go ahead and check that.
Officer replied with "no I cannot check that window, please partially roll up your window". I said, "NO, I just washed my car and I do not want to streak my windows because I just cleaned them". Officer told me I must roll up my window up and he gave me a an example size with his fingers. I once again replied with, "NO, and told him the windows are tinted because of medical reasons, so regardless of this outcome I will not remove the tint."
Officer than addressed the matter of what the legal tint levels are in Wisconsin. 50% front side windows, and 35% in the rear sides and that level of tint would be more than enough to cover any medical conditions.
Officer did not request any medical paperwork referencing Wisconsin statue 305.32(4)(B)3.
Officer told me all he wanted to do is test the windows, so he can let me off with a warning and to show me the tint level, possibly to get fixed. I told him I think the windows are all the same tint level and I proceeded to point and suggest one more window on the rear passenger driver side for testing.
Officer said that window would not work, and I said I'm sorry to be difficult but I will not roll up my windows. Officer tells me he will have to give me a violation for what clearly looks to be too dark of window tint, and I only rolled down my windows because I knew that he was going to pull me over...
Officer leaves to his squad and returns to my vehicle with a citation for $98.80 and 2 points. He lets me know of the information on the citation if I decided to go to court. I responded with; "it must be a pretty busy day"? As I witnessed another squad pull someone over during my stop. Officer looks up and said, "yeah".
I then asked, will I probably be seeing you again? He responded with, "maybe". I said, "okay, and thank you", shook the officers hand and said, "bye".
Took some notes of the incident, and proceeded to taco bell to see another squad car sitting in the parking lot.
|