Mud in Road

bigmaninds

Member
Joined
Jul 4, 2013
Location
Hendersonville
I went camping last night out towards pink beds or 1206. We drove to our campsite in my Jeep and I had to go thru some mud. We set up camp, drank 3 beers, and ate 2 chili dogs a police officer shows up. He accused me of making big ruts in the mud, I told him I did drive thru it to get to my campsite but did not drive constantly thru it and the rut was there the 2 other times we camped at the same campsite.

He ended up giving me a ticket for off roading. He kept on threatening me to take me to jail and impound my Jeep and all of its contents. The officer was very aggressive, he even asked me if my buddy and I are sleeping together which was very odd. He wanted to know where he was going to sleep and where I was going to sleep.

Your thoughts on ticket? I was told that off roading of any kind in NC is illegal except on private property. Is this correct? In AZ we had thousands upon thousands of acres to run free in and the forest service never gave any one heat.
 
That doesn't sound Quite right, as the US Forest service provides Many camping sites, & some off road trails. The US Forest Service is Not Private property, even if they do have the right to close it!
 
It's pretty simple, really.
There's 2 kinds of land.
Private property, and public property.
Public property - you have to abide by the rules of the state and the Forest Service for that area. You can be there IF allowed.
Private Property - if it's yours, or your have the permission of the landowner... you can do whatever the hell you please. Popo have no authority. If not yours or your friends.. well then your trespassing and they can ticket you for being there and whatever your damage in the process.

Helps to know the laws before you get in trouble...
 
Any experience I've ever had where a law enforcement officer approached me at any time and depending on who was with me, consumption of alcohol was a huge factor in who got ticketed, banned, searched or taken to jail. If they see you consume alcohol or it in your posession they will 100% of the time assume you are littering and making poor choices and cause you absolute hell.
 
ai1090.photobucket.com_albums_i368_bigmaninds_image.jpeg

So to clarify this is a public campground in the National Forest, there are 2 definitely roads here. Going to right of way you come to this go to the left heads you out of the campground, go to the right leads you to the campsite, going right is the only way to that campsite. You can see our trucks there. He gave us a ticket for going 1 time thru the mud to head to our campsite. He said we caused "all" the damage when the we have been there about 3 times and it was always like that. There are no signs saying saying do not go thru road on left. The citation was 125 it was for "off roading" isn't this part of the road?
 
sounds like he was having a bad day... saw where you drove through the mud when you might could have chose a different way to get to your sites without going through it. It's your word vs his now and he is probably gambling you will just pay it and go on with life. Now there is your question. Do you fight it or just say fuck it and pay it and not go back to that area.
We can all second guess what was going on,how he approached you,how you handled his assholiness at that time,etc. but only YOU can make the desission on what to do next.Where you in the right? Do you feel like you were in the right? Can you prove it to the "man" without a question you were in the right?
 
It looks like the "mud" is freshly churned up as if somebody kicked it while driving through the puddle recently. If you're rigs were mud splattered and drippin that's an abundance of evidence that you were destructing a road/path that somebody maintains @ the campground. I'm guessing the LEO has been trying to bust whoever for diggin up the wet spot and you were there this time. It is unfortunate but very often once a hole/rut is made along some path/road every other A-hole who drives by has to rut it up again until the path/road is a mess. The road and parking lot @ a local boat ramp is all messed up by A-holes who do donuts and make ruts in the gravel lot/ road and sides of the road more all the time.
 
Fight the ticket if you were in the right.

Also get his badge number and file a complaint.

Then have your friends file complaints.

That or maybe offer him to sleep between you and your date, er I mean "buddy" that was with you.
 
Back
Top