Kenyatta Sheffield, a part-time officer with Lawtey Police Department allegedly had his own pay-as-you-go program for speeders. Sheffied is accused of letting speeders pay fines in cash to avoid any court appearance — calling it a “roadside fee.”
When a woman complained after he allegedly told her that she could pay a roadside fee of $191 to avoid any points on her driver’s license.
What is fascinating is that, when the woman did not have the cash, Sheffield allegedly escorted her to an ATM — a friend later told her that the whole thing was suspicious.
For the full story, click here.
An officer displays good old Yankee ingenuity and the department turns on him because he is black. Injustice in its purest form.
This is not Yankee ingenuity. It has been a common shakedown in Mexico for many years, and yes, the police also offer to drive you to an ATM if you claim you don’t have the cash. One difference though: in Mexico, the choice is not cash or points–its cash or jail.
Gingerbaker….
What does his race have to do with it? Do you honestly think that just because he’s black, he got in trouble for doing this? Do you think a white guy would have gotten away with this?
Personally, I think he got in trouble for doing this because it’s against the law.
I just can’t believe that people fell for his line of crap though and that no one he pulled over called BS on him and reported his actions to the State Attornery General. In Indiana, we have an infraction defferal program, in which you pay a little extra on the fine (the amount varies based on the type of infraction you recieve) and in six months if you do not get any other traffic violations, the points come off your license.
Dang it, just like printing money, drug trafficking, banking, loan sharking, you name it. The Government just hates any form of competition. They don’t want the middle man cut.
The one that I thought was funny, was the wife of a colonel in the US embassy in Bogota. She was sentenced to five years after being convicted of sending cocaine back to the US, via the State Department mail.
http://members.fortunecity.com/anncol3/eng_nov/991101_wife_coca.html
Sally,
They may come off of your official license. However, the Insurance Company keeps a separate registry and jack your premiums up anyway. I had a client once that got stopped for Drunk Driving. It was taken off of his Master driving record. It showed up on his insurance a year later.
Sally
What does his race have to do with it? Do you honestly think that just because he’s black, he got in trouble for doing this? Do you think a white guy would have gotten away with this?
Knowing the town of Lawtey, yes.
Lets just say that it would be more likely than not, that someone white would have been given other options other than being arrested.
You have Lawtey, Starke and then Waldo off U.S. 301 which is used to gain access to Gainsville and the University of Florida. Needless to say home games at Florida, 301 becomes very busy with lots of people in a hurry.
It’s a 20-25 mile stretch between the three towns. The Florida Highway Patrol has white stripes marked at quarter mile distances on 301 so they can calculate your speed from the air.
It’s common to see 5 to 6 cars pulled over at a time because you end up traveling in packs, someone is always on your ass.
And Waldo ? just google Waldo Speed Trap. AAA number one rated town in the entire country. You can get a ticket for 1 mile an hour over the posted speed limit.
What happens is, as you approach the towns the speed drops from 65 to 45 and then 35 going threw the town. If you pass the 45 sign going 50 bam, get a ticket. Same said for the 35 sign.
Country Radio is extremely popular in this area.
No watt I mean, Vern, I mean Miss Sally.
bdaman,
He got busted for it not because he was black, but because he was stupid enough to take her to an ATM machine.
Cameras equal evidence as do transaction records.
What a dope – well, got to give him points for his creativity.
Sally:
I think Gingerbaker was being sarcastic.
Exactly Buddha!
“Would it be possible to pay the fine on the spot Officer?”
Ahhh, a familiar phrase in the land of my tropical hideaway.
Bdaman speaks the truth. I went to UF as an undergrad and can tell you that Lawtey, Starke, and Waldo are reprehensible towns that have little going for them to make people want to stop there, so they view passing motorists as nothing but slot machines that they can try to cash in on through tickets.
It doesn’t surprise me at all that an officer tried to extort passing motorists, since that’s exactly what the city is doing writ large.
Buddah use google earth, zoom in and scan around. You’ll get the picture.
James M, all one needs to do is read Triple AAA’s travel advisory for the area to see what I’m getting at. I’m sure the judges in those counties where Levi’s and cowboy boots under those black robes. Some probably where white robes with hoods at night for their meetings in the woods.
Judging by this man’s name he may be from Africa and it is “normal” in Africa (certain countries anyway) to take a little off the top to be able to live. Bribery is a way of life in some of those countries.
Certainly not an excuse but maybe he thought it would work here as well. I would certainly pay a hundred or 200 hundred to keep the points low, it sure beats 450 for a lawyer from that town. Except the lawyers have a legal racket approved by the government. As AY said above the gov-mint hates the competition.
bdaman,
As a Southerner I know racism exists as do filthy little speed traps. But this is a case of being a bad cop while stupid, not a case of being a bad cop while black.
Buddha,
I’m with you on that point
Maaarrghk!
1, June 1, 2010 at 10:50 am
“Would it be possible to pay the fine on the spot Officer?”
Ahhh, a familiar phrase in the land of my tropical hideaway.
—–
Shortly after the 55 per hour speed limit was imposed I read that one of the big, mostly empty North Western states had started a program that sold coupon books for speeding that you could buy everywhere- $5.00 a coupon and the speed over the limit was blocked out at a figure like $1.00 per mile. If you got stopped for speeding you just tore off your coupons and gave them to the officer. I don’t know if that was a hoax or not but I read it in the St. Louis Post Dispatch and it seemed like a good idea to me.
Joke I heard…
A New Yorker driving a big Cadillac was stopped for speeding in a small Southern town.
Cop, wearing mirrored sunglasses, leans in and draws, “Son, I’ve been waiting for you all day”.
Driver looks at cops and says, “Officer, I got here as quickly as I could”.