Flagler Beach backs off $1,151 tag fines
By FRANK FERNANDEZ
Staff Writer
Antonio Gonzales -- who was slapped with a $1,151 citation for having his motorcycle's tag mounted vertically -- got some good news. Flagler Beach has reduced his fine to $101.
The city did the same with the other $1,151 citation for a vertical tag its police department issued recently, said Libby Kania, assistant to the city manager. The Police Department will not issue any more $1,151 fines for vertical tags, opting instead for the $101 fines, Kania said Friday.
"There was just a mistake made with which statute was placed on the citation," Kania said. "They are not going to be writing that particular statute anymore."
Kania, who rides a bike herself, said she hopes the state Legislature straightens out the confusion with the law.
ABATE, a motorcyclists advocacy group, said the problem is "a very poorly written law" meant to target riders who intentionally conceal their plates. ABATE said it expects the law to be fixed this legislative session.
Gonzales said he works as a caretaker for disabled people in New Mexico and lives from paycheck to paycheck. He was riding along State Road A1A enjoying the ocean view when he got the huge fine.
"That's just crazy," he said.

 

You know, the cops they hire nowadays, have ABSOLUTELY ZERO COMMON SENSE.
who in their right (write) freakin mind would even write such a dumb *** ticket?
The people they hire now are mindless robots. They do as they are told, they don't think for themselves. It's more about, "who I can screw over" rather than enforcing the law. what a bunch of horse **** piled high.

 

The mistake on the ticket gets hime out of it completely.

 

Yep, I would think changing the ticket's classification to the $101 fine will make it a non-moving equipment violation which would not be applicable to vehicles registered out of state.

 

WOW! Cop bashing never gets old does it? Find a problem and somehow, someway, somebody is gonna figure out a way to blame law enforcement officers.

Everyone knows that these laws were not written for the cruiser crowd. They were written for the jacka$$ squiddies doin 130mph down interstates whos tags are barely legible to begin with. The problem comes in that it would be unconstitutional to specifically target the laws to ONLY address sportbikes. Now you, nor I, know all the facts behind this case. This guy might have been hit with just the equipment violation. Or he might have been driving like a moron and he got hit with speeding, improper lane change AND the equipment violation. Maybe he was just being a pr!ck and needed an attitude adjustment? Maybe the cop did just dislikes bikers and used this law to his advantage. Neither one of us know. None of those possibilities makes him a "mindless robot". The cop is a person just like you. Get over it.

Now instead of blaming the cops, why dont you blame the legislators who wrote a bad law.

 

I agree 100%, the cop is just doing his job just like you and I do everyday. They have 'rules' to go by just like I do. Lawyers/Politician just have too much time on thier hands and insist that they are doing thier job when they make a new law. Just my opinion.

 

Dude, these LEOs hold our liberties in their hands. Your argument shows exactly why they can be part of the problem. They are held to a higher standard than just anyone else doing their job. When they took the job they agreed to the higher standard. if they do not wish to have the obligation then get a different profession.

 

While the cop might be just following orders and doing his job, many people have stated the same thing in the past right before the noose tightened around their necks. I am a supporter of LEO's and know quite a few, the ones I know are not mindless robots, they are well educated and think things through. I have only ran across a few that were a-holes in my life, and most of those were just reacting to my long haired leather jacket wearing attitude when I was a younger jagoff. I will say some of the overly sensitive LEO's on this forum that feel a need to defend all LEO's all the time are not doing themselves or their profession any favors.

 

Playing devil's advocate. They also agreed to enforce the laws they are sworn to uphold. Would you prefer each individual cop decide what laws he agrees with and only enforce those? Hope they don't hire someone good with murder based on the bashing I see around here..........then again, I might be inclined to move to his jurisdiction. just sayin'



FWIW, I don't agree with the law whether is enforced on sport bikes or cruisers doesn't matter to me. I also think think that the city should have stated the official position to it's officers prior to the first ticket being written, not wait until after they get media attention. Up until that point, the individual officers are doing what they are being paid to do, enforce the law. You can thank the USSC for taking away the duty to protect and serve.

 

They do have rules to follow, but isn't a warning allowed? Why ticket someone, for something they had no idea was wrong? Especially a ticket for over $1000. Could they not of walked up and said, hey here in Florida your tag is displayed incorrectly, explained the law, and pointed him to some local dealers to correct it? Would this scenario not been within the rules?
Isn't the fine to punish someone for knowingly disobeying the law? Ignorance of the law is not an excuse, but a new law and not being from Florida should of been a good indicator the tourist was not purposely being ignorant.