Well...second trip to court, but first time to actually have a full court hearing with a missionary.
It was so exciting!
Elder Starr was summoned back as a witness and brought his companion...all that security stuff...
Well over a month ago, Elder Hebert, above, was hit while riding his bike on a sidewalk, then into a crosswalk due to heavy construction leading up to the intersection in question. (See earlier post)
The resulting trip to the ER and one stitch to fix his leg were no big deal.
The citation however was. Fines are steep for these citations. And after looking up the code he was cited for...we felt he was innocent.
A month ago, we brought him to see the judge and that was interesting. The judge was lessening fines all over the place and dismissing things for tons of people, but when he got to Elder Hebert, he just said that if the officer cited him, he must have had a good reason and he could go to court to settle it.
Funny thing was, it was the officer at the scene who told us to take photos of the area and that the judge would just dismiss it because it was such an obscure city code...
So obscure that the officer did not understand it. The judge did not understand it. We looked it up and it was pretty clear to us that there was no law against riding on the sidewalk in an unposted area...so he pled not guilty.
Lots of work that could have been avoided if they just looked to read the law in the first place before citing him.
(Looks like MEN IN BLACK here outside the court!)
Funny thing was, we had a chance to chat again with the man who hit Elder Hebert...a really nice guy! We also spent about 20 minutes talking again with the officer afterwards...about his family and problem grandkids and such. We had gotten to know him at the hospital after the accident. He feels comfortable confiding in and talking with us. It was really cool. The Lord works in mysterious ways.
GOOD JOB ELDERS ON STANDING UP FOR TRUTH AND JUSTICE!
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