Ticket Fixing

Remember back in December, there was that fatal accident on Hondo Pass? The one where the passenger called 911 and said that the driver, his boyfriend, was driving crazy and the passenger was afraid for his life?

Maybe this will jog your memory, from the El Paso Times:

A passenger was calling 911 for help to get out of a car before he was killed in a Sunday crash Sunday that left the driver hospitalized and facing a murder charge.

El Paso police officials said Tuesday that an arrest warrant on suspicion of murder has been issued for Jesus Alberto Mireles, 23, in connection with the death of his boyfriend, Daniel Nicolas Mendoza, 25, in a crash Sunday morning in the Northeast.

Horrific, isn’t it? Not only the incident, but also that “Sunday crash Sunday” the Times editors let get by.

KVIA added another wrinkle.

A search of court records shows Mireles had been cited for speeding three times between October 2011 and March 2012. Two cases were dismissed, one was disposed of.

In El Paso, if you get a ticket, you don’t have to just suck it up and pay the fine. Instead, you take it to one of those Traffic Ticket lawyers, drop a fee approximately equal to the fine, and he takes care of it. That way, the infraction doesn’t appear on you driving record, and your insurance rates don’t go up. Usually you don’t even have to see the lawyer. You can just drop the ticket and a check off with his receptionist.

Unfortunately, the City is deprived of that legitimate income, but we can always make up for that by raising property taxes.

How, you are wondering, does that work? Right?

The lawyers tell you that they just keep rescheduling the hearing till the officer doesn’t show up, and then they prosecutor has to drop the charges.

Sounds fishy to me, but then I’m the cynical sort. A cynical person might jump to the conclusion that there’s some kind of low grade corruption taking place. And after all, who’s getting hurt? Just the taxpayers, right?

But like that famous Jewish philosopher said, “If I can’t trust you with the little stuff, how can I trust you with the big stuff?”