“Really? Seriously?! You’re going to give me a ticket for jaywalking?!?!“
That is what was going through my mind on one fateful morning back in February before I’d had my coffee.
It had started like any typical day, up early to workout, get the kids ready for school, hussle to the bus stop to catch the metro #111, and wake up in time to hop off in front of the King County Courthouse in Seattle.
All was going well until the light at this crosswalk changed to a red hand just as my foot hit the pavement.
Now keep in mind that most crosswalks in Seattle countdown from 10 or as high as 17 to allow for pedestrians to safely make it across the treacherous street and avoid being pancaked by maniacal bus operators or absent minded drivers.
No such luck, the red hand blinked it’s ominous warning and I bolted for the opposite curb. The rubber of my sneakers hit the edge just as the light turned green. My gray area offense might have gone unnoticed by the boys in blue if it hadn’t been for some uptight bus driver who decided to blare his horn in protest of my successful dash.
After waving over my head quickly at the bus in a half-hearted apology I proceeded to power-walk to catch a shuttle to the Starbucks office. All of a sudden a Ray Ban wearing motorcycle cop skids up onto the sidewalk directly in front of me and proceeds to give me the Nth degree for being reckless. Always respectful of law enforcement I politely apologized and assured him I would be more careful in the future.
No big deal, right? An intimidating warning, well faked apology and I’m off about my day. DING! Wrong!
He writes me a ticket! While I am flabbergasted this guy is obviously not to be trifled with so I take it in stride and figure it’ll be easy to get out of or might pay a small fine.
Nope, it’s $56! But since I called the municipal court twice in a month and it hadn’t been filed yet I figured the cop was bluffing and I’m scot free.
Wrong again. He finally filed it, but since I didn’t do anything they tacked on a $52 fee so now jaywalking in Seattle while bums are smoking weed and harassing passersby all around costs me $108 today.
Crimany!!
