Helga Beaver
From San Diego (Parole Officer)
It was walking downtown with an open container. (Gee, I probably shouldn’t be admitting this right in front of my kids.) The ticket was $350. I was with a group of five guys, and I was the only one ticketed. Talk about harassment by a cop. Maybe he was a gay officer that didn’t want to let me just walk away with a warning.
Pablo Martinez
From City Heights (School District)
It was in 1991. I was going west on the 54, and these Filipinos pulled up next to me and honked. They wanted to race. My friend was drunk in the backseat, and he said, “Go for it.” It was his Nissan Maxima, I didn’t care. I got up to 120 and took the lead. But they were too scared to take the bridge to make the 5 north.
John Michael
From Normal Heights (Maintenance Engineer)
Riding my bike, I rolled through a stop sign. I basically stopped, but the cop gave me a citation for $165. There wasn’t even another car in North Park. Oh, wait…I did have a worse case of breaking the law. I was driving when a guy hit my car. My wife and I switched places to make it look like she was driving. It was the guy’s fault, but I wasn’t on the insurance. Now that I think about it, we did that twice. One time we ended up in court. I think my attorney loved me. I just kept saying, “I don’t recall that” when they asked me questions. We ended up winning.
Steven Carrillo
From North Park (Engineer)
I don’t know. Is doing it in a car illegal? What about a bush? I think that might be illegal...maybe it’s indecent exposure or something. I did that just a few hours ago. Those things happen when you have alcohol involved and inhibitions are down and you just don’t care. I’m not really a lawbreaker. I’ve only done small stuff that’s illegal.
Brian Smith
From La Jolla (Real Estate)
It would be driving under the influence. I’ve done that so often…both getting away with it and also being arrested for it. One time I was pulled over and got away with being drunk. The time I got arrested for a DUI, the fine was expensive and my license was suspended.
Lynn Weston
From Oceanside (Pharmacy Technician)
It would be the time I got two tickets in a two-week period. I lived in Rhode Island and was going to Virginia. I was going 80 and the speed limit was 50. It wasn’t a big interstate. The following week, returning, I got a ticket in Connecticut. I was going 70 in a 55 zone. The cop told me he was alerted to me by a truck driver that mentioned a red car coming by that was “gonna blow your doors off.” That was back in 1972, and those are still the only tickets I’ve ever gotten.