Not always innocent until proven guilty
“Innocent until proven guilty” is the thing that separates the American justice system from the rest of the world.
The City of Elgin is collecting a bounty of $500 on people pulled over for certain offenses. While I really don’t have a problem with this practice when people are guilty of the charged offense, the city charges all with very few exceptions.
The article on the front page April 17 paper proves it. The featured offense was a man pulled over for failure to signal a left-hand turn 100 feet before the intersection. Really?
I know the person was found to have a suspended license and should be fined for the offense. But when there is another qualified driver in the vehicle, the tow was unnecessary and only for profit.
My personal experience with the administrative towing fee was a family member who was pulled over for DUI. The vehicle was towed, the family member was arrested and after the Breathalyzer showed he was under the legal limit he was still given a DUI.
By the way, he was pulled over for a reason that had nothing to do with driving ability. The adjudication hearing was held before the case went to court and we found out that you don’t have to be guilty, just accused of the offense to have the fee charged to you. Also you have to pay the fee before you get your vehicle back and before your hearing.
Oh, I forgot to tell you, he was found not guilty of the charges after the judge viewed the dash-cam tape of the field test from the officer’s car. The judge stated he saw no probable cause to even test this person for DUI.
I was amazed and disappointed to find that even when you are not guilty of this offense your money is gone and you have no way to get it refunded because your hearing has already been held.
Kudos to the City of Elgin. Keep up the good work. Stomping on one of our country’s greatest founding principles for the sake of revenue is not only offensive, but I think illegal. I hope the ACLU does challenge you and it costs the city more than the $1.5 million you have collected. At the very least you should return the fee to people found to be not guilty of the charges.
Chris Soderstrom
East Dundee