Court

I’m a little behind on my blog posts. I still have a few from October to write up and post, as well as a few more recent ones. Here is one from October when I testified in court. It is long and probably boring, but going to court was a significant event for me.  It happened to occur in the week between the 3-hour glucose torture test and the nurses’ freak-out over my blood pressure. October was a hard month.

A year and a half ago, when I was driving home from work, I heard a police siren as I exited an intersection.  The police car was on the other side of the median, going in the opposite direction that I was headed. However, since the median is fairly long, people have to make legal u-turns at that intersection to get to several businesses. On the small chance that the police car would be making a u-turn, I continued to watch in my rearview mirror. After the officer maneuvered around stopped traffic at the red light, the police car appeared in my rear view, almost directly behind me. It was still headed away from me, not making the u-turn. But as I watched, a blue SUV plowed into the side of the police car. There was a huge bang, and dust quickly billowed up around the cars. It took me until the third repeat to realize I was shouting, “Oh my God!” over and over again. As I continued home, I wondered if I should go back to the scene. But there had to be plenty of other witnesses. With rush hour traffic and the way the intersection is set up, I’d be lucky to make it back to the scene, let alone try to get home before it was completely cleared. Initially I thought the driver’s side had been hit, and I didn’t think the police officer could have survived. Although the speed limit is 35mph, people routinely drive 50mph down that road, possibly more if they are trying to beat a red light. Although I hadn’t seen much of the SUV before it hit, I had the distinct impression that it was going fast and didn’t try to stop. I cried a lot that night and prayed continuously that the officer was okay.  I’m not sure when I realized that the mirror reversed the image. I had actually seen the SUV plow in to the passenger side instead of the driver’s side. That gave me some comfort, but I was still worried.

The next day I was still upset by the accident so I called the police station. I told them that I had seen the accident in my rear view mirror, and asked if I should make a statement.  The officer said it might be helpful. The officers at the station didn’t seem very friendly, but I don’t imagine I’d be in a very good mood either, if one of my co-workers was in a serious accident. After I turned in my statement, the officer asked if I would be willing to testify if this should go to court. I said yes, and asked if the officer was okay. I was told that there was only one officer in the police car, and that she was in the hospital, but she would be okay.

After a year I still hadn’t forgotten about the accident, but I was surprised when I received a phone call from a lawyer asking about my statement and whether I’d be willing to testify. The driver of the blue SUV was actually suing the police officer. I said I was still willing to testify, and I received a few follow up phone calls over the next few weeks.

The trial was scheduled 2 days after my full ultrasound. Five days before the trial, I was in the middle of the horrible diet for the 3-hour glucose test, I was still upset with Nurse T. with how she treated me on the phone regarding the glucose test, and I had a regular doctor’s appointment. Of course my blood pressure was high! I told my doctor, “Just let me get though court next week, and I’m sure my blood pressure will come down.” She agreed, but asked me to get my blood pressure checked more often (hence the blood pressure debacle in a previous post). 

I was terrified. The night before, I tried on a few nice outfits. Thank goodness my mom had purchased me a pair of nice black maternity slacks. I’m not sure what I would have worn otherwise. I decided to go with a blue collared blouse and a black blazer. I couldn’t button the blazer, but it looked fine unbuttoned. Mom would have been proud.

Trying to get through security didn’t help my nerves.  I heard, “Make two lines,” so I continued to the further but shorter line. “Empty your pockets,” but all of my stuff was in my small backpack headed into the x-ray machine.  “All electronics must be out of bags and put into a tray,” I heard, as I stepped through the metal detector. Oops. I had left my cell phone in my bookbag. “Whose bag is this?!?” an officer grumbled, while the bag was still in the machine. “Mine, I think, I’m sorry. This one?” I said, as I pulled it off the line.  “I said all electronics must be taken out and put into a tray,” the officer said. “Yes, I’m sorry. It’s my cell phone.” I’m standing there holding the cell phone out for her to inspect, and waiting for her to tell me how to proceed, but she continues to stare at me and doesn’t even glance at the phone. “Is that it?” I ask, not sure if I am asking (1) if my cell phone is the offending object, (2) if that is the only electronics she needs to see, or (3) if I can go now. She just replies, “Yes.” Hoping her “yes” and lack of direction means I can go, I walk away.  Man, all of the TSA agents I’ve ever dealt with were friendlier, even when I forgot to remove my belt.

I found the courtroom easily enough, but the door was closed and the hallway empty. I was at least 20 minutes early, but I didn’t know when court officially started and whether I was supposed to just walk in. So I went to the restroom, and then went back down to the main lobby to ask at the desk. The lady was used to giving directions to a particular courtroom, so there was initial confusion when I tried to ask what I should do. “Yes, just walk in and sit down. When they ask for witnesses, stand up.” She still insisted on giving me directions to the courtroom.

Now there were a few people sitting outside of the courtroom. I walked in, apparently a few steps behind the bailiff. Otherwise the courtroom was empty. I sat down and the bailiff continued up to the front and took his seat. The people waiting in the hallway came in and sat down. One of them went up to the front and asked the bailiff a question. I couldn’t hear most of the conversation, but I did hear the bailiff tell the guy that witnesses had to leave the courtroom. I wondered if I’d know when I would need to leave. Luckily a lawyer type walked in, surveying the people. I half smiled, hoping it was the lawyer I had spoke with on the phone. “Are you here for the <police officer’s> case?” she asked me. “Yes, I’m Rebecca Hoop.” She introduced herself as the lawyer. Whew! I followed out to the consultation area, and met the police officer being sued. She explained that she was still recovering, and had just recently returned to work doing light duty. We sat down and went over my statement, and the lawyer asked me a few questions. Another witness showed up, and I got to listen to his story as well. The lawyer representing the SUV driver stopped by, and had brought pictures mounted on a display board.  After he left, our lawyer told us that the other lawyer didn’t believe his side had much of a case, based on something he was going to ask the judge to decide first. 

Interestingly, our court did not have an assigned judge. After some time, a judge finally appeared and told the court that they had lost 3 judges to a higher court the previous week. That meant that the remaining judges had to fill-in at our court when they could. He looked over the cases. In addition to our case, there was one case of a woman suing a lawyer. The woman did not have her own lawyer. The judge was bewildered. He strongly advised her that she should get a lawyer, because the rules of evidence would apply. Then the judge left and said that he or another judge would be back soon.

We sat in the courtroom for a while, and I chatted with the other witness. A different judge came in and reviewed the cases. He asked the lawyers on our case how long it would take. The lawyer for the officer said she had 2 witnesses present, but 4 had been subpoenaed, and she gave the judge an estimate of 30 minutes. A woman fidgeted in front of us with a subpoena in her hand, and she turned out to be a third witness. Then the judge looked at the other case. He too was concerned that the woman did not have a lawyer, and explained that he would not be able to help her if she didn’t know the rules of evidence. The judge gave a baseball analogy, saying he was the umpire. The woman still wanted to proceed. The judge asked if there was anything he could say to her to convince her to get a lawyer. She said no, because she couldn’t afford a lawyer since the defendant had pushed the case to this higher court. Instead she said she would rely on God.

The judge decided that the other case wouldn’t take very long, so he decided to hear it first. From what I could understand, the woman’s son was in jail, and she hired the defendant to represent her son. She gave him two payments that totaled about $12,000. But according to her, the lawyer never did anything. After several months, he withdrew from the case and would not return the woman’s money. During her explanation, the lawyer objected several times and the judge sustained. She asked the judge if he would like to see the evidence, and he replied, “No, I don’t want to see the evidence.” There was a long, tense pause, and then the judge made a reference to his baseball analogy. The lawyer said some stuff to the judge that I really couldn’t understand, and then the judge seemed to make a ruling, although I didn’t follow it either. The woman and her family left the courtroom.

The judge then called our case. He asked that the witnesses wait in the hallway and not discuss the case with anyone. The bailiff escorted us to the hall, and when we got there, the woman and her family were still standing there.  She turned to the bailiff and asked what had happened. He told her, “You lost your case.”

We stood around for 30-45 minutes. The mother of the suv driver came out and tried to talk to the third witness, so the witness told her not to talk to her, and started reading her bible. I chatted with the second witness about non court stuff, and it helped relax me a bit. I was the last witness called in. I wish I would have thought to ask what exactly I’d need to do. I had to ask the bailiff to clarify where I was supposed to go. Everyone was staring at me and I had no idea if I was supposed to say anything yet. I was sworn in, and then asked to say my name and address. I was so nervous that I was afraid I’d say the wrong thing. So I just went slowly and tried to think about what I was saying.  I think I got it right. Then I was asked to stand beside the display board and use the pictures to show where I was during the crash. I looked at the pictures and froze. I had already seen the pictures, and was sure I knew where I had been. But I started to doubt myself. Was that building the gas station? It didn’t look like the gas station. I took too long and someone prompted me to start talking without the pictures. The lawyer noticed I was shaking, and asked if it was because I was nervous or because the accident was so traumatic. I said it was both. And I told them that initially I had thought that driver’s side had been impacted, and I didn’t think the officer could have survived.  The important part of my testimony was that the officer had the sirens on as she approached the intersection.  Later the lawyer said that I did fine, and it was good to show the judge that the crash upset me.

As I left the courtroom, the officer was called to the stand. The bailiff allowed us back in the courtroom as the judge made his remarks and ruling. The judge said it was clear that there was nothing that the officer could have done differently. He said that although the plaintiff had testified he had been going 35, the pictures of the police car showed otherwise. So the judge ruled in favor of the officer.

In the hallway, the police officer thanked us and gave us each a hug. I found out that the police officer had seen the third witness’ face in her dreams over the past year and half, and it turned out it was because the officer’s car ended up head to head with the witness’ car. The second witness remembered looking up at the traffic lights as soon as the crash occurred and seeing them all red. So the SUV driver was probably trying to beat a red light. According to the other witnesses, the SUV’s radio was blaring and the driver was having an animated conversation with the passenger - his girlfriend. The judge had also noted in his remarks that he thought it was strange that the plaintiff didn’t have any witnesses, not even the girlfriend. After the accident, the SUV driver was walking around just fine after the accident while the police officer was taken to the hospital. And yet he was suing her for chiropractic bills for his knee.

I was so glad the police officer won. It makes me mad the way most people around here completely ignore emergency vehicles.  I wish people would realize that someday they could be the ones waiting for that emergency vehicle to arrive.

 So while pregnant, I testified in court. Not something I do every day. Despite the emotional rollercoaster, I’m proud to have done my civic duty.