One of the things I hate seeing as a prosecuting attorney is an individual showing up for court and finding out he or she spent the night in jail or was arrested during a routine traffic stop for an unpaid parking ticket. Yes, you read that right – a parking ticket. More frustrating is when the individual never received or knew about the parking ticket. Although rare, this situation certainly happens.
While you might think that such a simple oversight could never lead to you being arrested and spending a night in the clink, but you would be wrong. Here are a couple of examples of how this could happen to just about anyone.
Let’s say you buy a brand-new car. You register your car at your current address, but a few months later you move to a new location without registering the car at the new address. One night, you get a parking ticket, and some clever hoodlum, or even the wind, runs off with that citation. You carry on about your business having never known about the parking ticket.
You fail to pay the ticket within the time specified on the citation, and my office sends out a letter to the address listed on the registration (your old address). This letter states that if the citation is not paid within a certain amount of time, I will file criminal charges. Since you moved to a new address, you don’t receive this letter or any notice of the court proceedings. As a result, you fail to appear in court, and a warrant is issued for your arrest.
One day you get pulled over for speeding, get involved in an accident, or have some other encounter with law enforcement, and that is when you are asked to get out of your car and get placed in handcuffs. You are now on your way to spend some time at Casa de Gage County.
Another way this can happen is when you allow someone else to drive your car. Say maybe, your kid. For example, let’s say Little Johnny gets a parking ticket, but doesn’t want to get in trouble with his parents. Little Johnny never tells mom and dad about the ticket he got, and it is registered in their name. Something happens and we can’t track down the parents for the letter or notice, and voila! Before you know it, mom and dad now have a warrant out for their arrest.
Yet another example of this situation is when someone sells a car privately to another person. In this scenario, you are getting ready to move to a new location and need to sell a vehicle you own. You sell your car to someone, and that someone never gets the title or registration put in their name. Next thing you know, they’ve accumulated a parking ticket or two and everything is still in your name. From there all of the letters and notices go to you at your old address, you’ve missed court, and now you have a warrant out for your arrest.
Now that I’ve explained how a parking ticket can result in an arrest, let’s discuss some ways to help avoid this situation.
- When moving to a new location, make sure to update your registration as soon as possible; and set up a forwarding address;
- Avoid letting others use your vehicle;
- If you do allow someone to use your vehicle, make sure it is someone you know and trust;
- Speak with your kids about the importance of taking care of a parking ticket (and how much more trouble they’ll likely be in when mom or dad get arrested);
- When making a private vehicle sale, be sure to get and keep a bill of sale (this is usually the only way I can prove that a sale of the vehicle was made); and
- When privately selling a vehicle, make sure the title and registration are changed from your name.
Taylor Rivera
City Attorney