Defend the 4th Amendment - BOLT v CHP
Donation protected
We are a short time away from our target date to file the federal lawsuit against officers who wrote unconstitutional helmet tickets, violating your 4th Amendment Right.
If you prefer, deposit the donations into the Trust Account at your local Wells Fargo bank.
Make the check payable to:
Defend the 4th Amendment - BOLT v CHP lawsuit
Account number: 5587542548
Send scanned copies of your helmet ticket to
[email redacted]
preferrably pdf format.
We will be issuing subpoenas to police officers who wrote helmet tickets without the probable cause required by the federal Judge in the Easyriders v Hannigan case.
We will be asking the Judge for an Order to Show Cause for each ticket these officers wrote.
Overview of upcoming federal case:
In 1995 BOLT sued the CHP in federal court, showing that the CHP, and other police departments, were using visual criteria to determine if a helmet is legal - a violation of the decision in 1992, Buhl v Hannigan.
It was shown that officers have no standard (lawful) way of identifying Probable Cause when charging someone for a helmet violation. 1000 police officers equals 1000 different helmet laws.
The federal Judge issued an Injunction - forbidding police from writing a helmet ticket without Probable Cause. Probable Cause was defined (limited) for helmet cases, by the federal Injunction, as Manufacturer Recall Notice and/or actual laboratory test results showing non-compliance, for the size, make and model the rider was wearing.
To this day, almost every helmet ticket is written without any laboratory test data or Manufacturer's Recall Notice. We have collected evidence of the 4th Amendment violations, and violations of the federal Judge's Injunction, for 7 years. There is enough evidence to show that Law Enforcement Officers and their Department Supervisors do not care about following the law or a federal Judge's instructions.
When we file for an Order to Show Cause, it is essentially asking the federal Judge to ask the police officers to show justification for writing the tickets. Did they have Probable Cause before they wrote the ticket?
Not one of the 275 tickets we have on file were written by a police officer who had the required Probable Cause. We will be able to show that not one ticket written in California was written legally.
Police clearly do one of only 2 things regarding helmets; either violate riders' Rights, or don't enforce the helmet law at all.
We believe we can propose this to the federal Judge this time:
The only way law enforcement procedures have not violated citizen's Rights (relative to helmets) is by not enforcing the law at all. This is reason enough to put a stop to ANY enforcement of the helmet law.
We will need to Subpoena 35 to 70 police officers for this action, to show the Judge a clear pattern and practice statewide, of rampant Rights violations by police officers.
The attendance fee for Federal subpoenas is governed by and described in 28 USC 1821. Witness fees are $40.00 per day and $.48½ per mile, round trip from the witness' residence to where they must appear. The subpoena must accompany the attendance fee, otherwise the service is invalid.
Subpoenas cost $50 (usually) to serve to the appearing party.
Plus $40 per day. At this rate, depending on where the officer lives, we are looking at somewhere between $4200.00 and $5600.00 just to get officers to answer the questions proving they acted illegally.
The filing fee is $400.00 to get the suit started. Mileage must be paid to the officer when the subpoena is served.
We hope to do this without hiring an attorney, saving $40,000.00 or more.
I am certain we can get this ruling to force police officers to only write helmet tickets to riders who aren't wearing anything at all on their heads, and we can do it for less than $12,000.00.
The bulk of the cost must be paid for before the suit goes to court, as the subpoenas are the main cost and must be done at the time of service. This is why BOLT needs donations right now.
Thanks in advance for the donations, and for spreading the word.
If you prefer, deposit the donations into the Trust Account at your local Wells Fargo bank.
Make the check payable to:
Defend the 4th Amendment - BOLT v CHP lawsuit
Account number: 5587542548
Send scanned copies of your helmet ticket to
[email redacted]
preferrably pdf format.
We will be issuing subpoenas to police officers who wrote helmet tickets without the probable cause required by the federal Judge in the Easyriders v Hannigan case.
We will be asking the Judge for an Order to Show Cause for each ticket these officers wrote.
Overview of upcoming federal case:
In 1995 BOLT sued the CHP in federal court, showing that the CHP, and other police departments, were using visual criteria to determine if a helmet is legal - a violation of the decision in 1992, Buhl v Hannigan.
It was shown that officers have no standard (lawful) way of identifying Probable Cause when charging someone for a helmet violation. 1000 police officers equals 1000 different helmet laws.
The federal Judge issued an Injunction - forbidding police from writing a helmet ticket without Probable Cause. Probable Cause was defined (limited) for helmet cases, by the federal Injunction, as Manufacturer Recall Notice and/or actual laboratory test results showing non-compliance, for the size, make and model the rider was wearing.
To this day, almost every helmet ticket is written without any laboratory test data or Manufacturer's Recall Notice. We have collected evidence of the 4th Amendment violations, and violations of the federal Judge's Injunction, for 7 years. There is enough evidence to show that Law Enforcement Officers and their Department Supervisors do not care about following the law or a federal Judge's instructions.
When we file for an Order to Show Cause, it is essentially asking the federal Judge to ask the police officers to show justification for writing the tickets. Did they have Probable Cause before they wrote the ticket?
Not one of the 275 tickets we have on file were written by a police officer who had the required Probable Cause. We will be able to show that not one ticket written in California was written legally.
Police clearly do one of only 2 things regarding helmets; either violate riders' Rights, or don't enforce the helmet law at all.
We believe we can propose this to the federal Judge this time:
The only way law enforcement procedures have not violated citizen's Rights (relative to helmets) is by not enforcing the law at all. This is reason enough to put a stop to ANY enforcement of the helmet law.
We will need to Subpoena 35 to 70 police officers for this action, to show the Judge a clear pattern and practice statewide, of rampant Rights violations by police officers.
The attendance fee for Federal subpoenas is governed by and described in 28 USC 1821. Witness fees are $40.00 per day and $.48½ per mile, round trip from the witness' residence to where they must appear. The subpoena must accompany the attendance fee, otherwise the service is invalid.
Subpoenas cost $50 (usually) to serve to the appearing party.
Plus $40 per day. At this rate, depending on where the officer lives, we are looking at somewhere between $4200.00 and $5600.00 just to get officers to answer the questions proving they acted illegally.
The filing fee is $400.00 to get the suit started. Mileage must be paid to the officer when the subpoena is served.
We hope to do this without hiring an attorney, saving $40,000.00 or more.
I am certain we can get this ruling to force police officers to only write helmet tickets to riders who aren't wearing anything at all on their heads, and we can do it for less than $12,000.00.
The bulk of the cost must be paid for before the suit goes to court, as the subpoenas are the main cost and must be done at the time of service. This is why BOLT needs donations right now.
Thanks in advance for the donations, and for spreading the word.
Organizer
Mark Temple
Organizer
