Criminal Justice
Cop Issues Mayor Duplicate Ticket After Judge Nixes First
Posted Oct 22, 2008, 02:38 pm CST
By Molly McDonough
Apparently unhappy that the mayor of village in New York's Lower Hudson Valley was able to get a traffic ticket dismissed, the police officer rang the mayor's doorbell and issued a duplicate.
The traffic saga for Mamaroneck Mayor Kathleen Savolt began in March, when police officer Michael Petrillo ticketed her for talking on a cell phone while driving.
Savolt challenged the ticket, using an exception to the law.
"I was going to pay the ticket, but I was advised by the people here in the village that as I was an official, there was a clause in the law that said if there was an emergency or if I thought there was an emergency, I could use the phone," Savolt told the Journal News.
The ticket was ultimately dismissed on Sept. 15 in a town court proceeding. But that night, according to the paper, Petrillo showed up at Savolt's home and issued her a new ticket for the same offense.
"He said to me, 'I think the ticket was unfairly dismissed, so I'm issuing a duplicate ticket,'" Savolt said. "So then, once I was issued a second ticket, clearly in some people's minds, it's not a legal ticket, because the case had been closed."
Still, the second ticket is winding its way through the system, and Savolt says it could take another six months to resolve.
Comments not appearing after a few seconds? Try emptying your cache ("Temporary Internet files"), making sure Javascript is activated, and refresh this page.