Teen jailed in Ga. over paid ticket

Teen jailed in Ga. over paid ticket

www.miamiherald.com

ATLANTA -- A high school student returning home from a European soccer trip got a different welcome than he expected: He was jailed for eight hours over a ticket he had already paid.

Even though he had already paid the $175 fine, the 17-year-old was taken to the Fulton County jail.

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Just another example of how the average citizen gets treated like trash. Since when do they put you in jail for not paying fines? They usually do nothing, or just hit you with more fines.

Now take a look at this from the AP a few months back...

abclocal.go.com...

Ninety-eight percent of those arrested between Oct. 1, 2000, and Sept. 30, 2005, were never prosecuted for illegally entering the country, according to an Associated Press analysis of federal data. Nearly 5.3 million immigrants were simply escorted back across the Rio Grande and turned loose. Many presumably tried to slip into the U.S. again.

The number of immigrants prosecuted annually tripled during that five-year period, to 30,848 in fiscal year 2005, the most recent figures available. But that still represented less than 3 percent of the 1.17 million people arrested that year. The prosecution rate was just under 1 percent in 2001.

We constantly here stories of citizens being wrongfully arrested, while when we arrest illegals we just let them go. Why don't the police arrest and deport illegals? How come the American citizen has to put up with this while illegals are ignored?

www.miamiherald.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Originally posted by AcesInTheHole
Since when do they put you in jail for not paying fines? They usually do nothing, or just hit you with more fines.

That's not entirely accurate. It varies from state to state. When I lived in Ohio I never really had any problems. I live in South Carolina now and in this area of SC if you do not pay the fine before court, it doubles. If you do not pay the doubled amount within 10 days they issue an arrest warrant. After 2 days of the arrest warrant being issued, police begin to show up at your door. They will do a walk through on the house to make sure you are not inside. If you are home, you will be arrest. If you can manage to hide out and not get caught they will lift the warrant only when you pay the fines.

I guess is easier to go after none threatening American citizens than going after illegals on the run.

I live in GA and to tell you the true many of our police force can not run due to been out of shape.

So why run after an illegal when they can just harass legal citizens,

At least they can always get them at the airport.

Originally posted by marg6043
I guess is easier to go after none threatening American citizens than going after illegals on the run.

Sadly this is true. The average citizen is law-abiding, so there is less chance of a conflict. They are much easier to oppress than an illegal, who has a lot less to lose and would probobly run or put up a fight.

of course cops go after crimes that have less personal conflict with the police. Why do you think they don't go after hardened criminals nearly as much as they do for you not coming to a complete stop at a stop sign while making a right turn. easier prey, less chance of getting injured. like a cowardly lion that goes after the sick animals first so that he doesn't chip a tooth on the ones that can fight back.

Here in Texas, especially in anyone of the 5 counties will 1 million or more in population, there's simply not enough LEO to go after all the traffic warrants, so the fine increases after a set amount of time and your driver's license is automatically suspended. So when you get stopped the next time, you've got another violation automatically for driving under a suspended license(bigger fine) and get arrested. You can't insure a vehicle w/o a driver's license and the vehicle being in your name, so they put holds an registration renewal and increase your insurance rate because you now have at least 2 moving violations. It can be something like a $250/year increase per vehicle that insurance companies can legally increase your rate. If you try to renew your license without paying the fine, your license will be confiscated.

BTW At least in Texas, you don't own you driver's license or ID. They are official state property even though you paid for them. If you alter or destroy them, you've committed a crime.

doesn't one get a warrant out for one's arrest if he / she doesn't pay fines