Houston Man Sees Day in Court After Over Two Years

June 5, 2009

When Nick Cooper, a resident of Houston, Texas was given a ticket for turning the wrong way down a one way street, he felt that he was being targeted. He had been handing out apples to a group of homeless people in an alley, when a group of police officers came along and told the homeless to get moving.

Cooper took photos of the officers, with the intention of posting them to his blog on indymedia.org. He got back into the car, drove a half of a block and stopped at a stop sign where an officer was standing. According to Cooper, the officer told him to take a wrong turn down the one-way and stop. He assumed so that they could talk about the photos. However, to Cooper’s surprise, he was handed a ticket from the officer for breaking a traffic law.

The officer denied that he told Cooper to turn down the street, but was not given this opportunity until nearly two years after the incident. Cooper was forced to continue to fight for his right for a trial four times. He claims that each attempt was mysteriously postponed. He believes that the city of Houston was trying to deliberately force drivers to plead guilty to traffic violations, by postponing trials.

Cooper was later found guilty of the traffic infraction and charged a fine of $100.