coupe_no Posted February 6, 2008 Report Share Posted February 6, 2008 i thought CR had a section for legal questions? cause i might be in trouble. so i got caught driving my jeep along an unpaved road in some farmers property, hes pressing charges, but first i have to go to court for reckless op. off streets and highways now the description of reckless op. is knowingly endangering people or damaging property, but if the trail was already there and i was just following it than i didnt damage anything thats for the traffic violation but when it comes to the charges; there were no signs, no fences, nothing that told me i was entering private property, it was an unpaved road that T'd off at a dead end anybody know where to read up on these things? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tractor Posted February 6, 2008 Report Share Posted February 6, 2008 The general rule when walking has always been if you cross into someones property that does not have proper signs posted at the proper spacing from each other then you are not trespassing. You could be told to leave, but you could not be charged with anything. Now that is walking. In the case of driving you could be liable to fix his grass or other things you might have damaged with your vehicle. Was this "trail" a road at some point? If you let me know where you were I can look it up and see if I can give you some defense in the matter. My 4x4 club runs in to this sort of thing from time to time with land owners and we always end up educating the land owner and the Judges when it comes to legal rights of way. Evan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sully Posted February 6, 2008 Report Share Posted February 6, 2008 You might want to go back to where the "entrance" is and take lots of pictures showing that there aren't any signs posted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coupe_no Posted February 6, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 6, 2008 Was this "trail" a road at some point? If you let me know where you were I can look it up and see if I can give you some defense in the matter. My 4x4 club runs in to this sort of thing from time to time with land owners and we always end up educating the land owner and the Judges when it comes to legal rights of way. Evan no i believe the farmer created it with his tractor to get around, its on the very edge of his property (edit; so its just ruts in the ground) i was in hancock county (about 2hrs away from columbus) i was also told i could go to his house to try a man to man talk about what i can do to make up for it without going to court or having anything go on my record but i will take pics Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tractor Posted February 7, 2008 Report Share Posted February 7, 2008 If you believe that then you shouldn't have been on that road. If he didn't have signs you shouldn't have anything to worry about if it was a branch off of a legal road and you "thought" you were continuing on the road. Now if you were back there rutting it out spinning tires and playing on his property then he has a right to be upset, but it sounds like he's taking it way overboard or your not telling why he's so upset about it. Also what was the road name that you thought you were on? Evan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mensan Posted February 7, 2008 Report Share Posted February 7, 2008 Call a lawyer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cougar1647545494 Posted February 7, 2008 Report Share Posted February 7, 2008 no i believe the farmer created it with his tractor to get around, its on the very edge of his property (edit; so its just ruts in the ground) i was in hancock county (about 2hrs away from columbus) i was also told i could go to his house to try a man to man talk about what i can do to make up for it without going to court or having anything go on my record but i will take pics It may help to talk to him. I got in trouble once for riding my dirtbike on some guys land. He went to every house asking who had dirt bikes and eventually found us. Either way, we apologized, being young stupid kids, and he said ok. What sucked though, is we only cut across a small part of his small field for crossing into two other fields we were allowed to ride in. If that makes any sense. I did have a truck try to chase me and my brother down in our friends field, but two stroke dirtbike > big truck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black ITR Guy Posted February 7, 2008 Report Share Posted February 7, 2008 if you have the option to talk to him start with that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coupe_no Posted February 7, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 7, 2008 definately going to do that tomorrow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Akula Posted February 7, 2008 Report Share Posted February 7, 2008 Just wondering, was it your property? Did you believe it to be your property? Why doesn't anyone ever want to man up? "quick tell me the easy way out of my fuck up" man up, you did something that you probably shouldn't have, admit to it and talk to the property owner. Maybe he just wants people to stop driving on his property. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tractor Posted February 7, 2008 Report Share Posted February 7, 2008 ^BINGO Though we run into people all the time who think we are riding on their property. At least until we pull out the engineers maps and show them we are on a legal road. They always hate that and it usually ends when the engineers office mails them a letter informing them that they have a 200 yr old road running through their property that is still collecting tax revenues and therefore still a legal right of passage to anyone. Evan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cougar1647545494 Posted February 7, 2008 Report Share Posted February 7, 2008 Just wondering, was it your property? Did you believe it to be your property? Why doesn't anyone ever want to man up? "quick tell me the easy way out of my fuck up" man up, you did something that you probably shouldn't have, admit to it and talk to the property owner. Maybe he just wants people to stop driving on his property. Oh come on, lighten up. He thought it was public land and some guy got all anal about it (though understandable, he should probalbly post signs up). I've had to deal with people claiming public land was their own before. As well as people riding / hunting (which really pisses me off) on my parents land without permission. It's not very difficult to stray off. Though, we would always make sure we had permission to ride if we were unsure of the property. Now if he didn't believe it was public, then yea... should've known better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coupe_no Posted February 7, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 7, 2008 oh i have no problem paying for my mistakes, although no actual damage was done, if it was i would gladly pay because i know i messed somebody elses stuff up so i want to fix the problem with the trespassing in a manly way but; i guess i should add that only the owner saw me on his land, no law enforcement, so i cant get a ticket if a LEO didnt witness the violation right? but i did admit i was off road Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragknee66 Posted February 7, 2008 Report Share Posted February 7, 2008 Um that should never be a ticket and for something to be considered trespassing there MUST BE signs posted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragknee66 Posted February 7, 2008 Report Share Posted February 7, 2008 I would be shocked if his county lets him get as far as filling a charge too. I dont think you have much to worry about. And work on getting that ticket dropped too. If your story pans out exactly the way you stated, the cop that wrote that ticket is pretty brainless. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GonneVille Posted February 7, 2008 Report Share Posted February 7, 2008 Um that should never be a ticket and for something to be considered trespassing there MUST BE signs posted. Actually, if he causes property damage, or commits an illegal act, it's considered criminal trespass. If he has been warned to stay off the property before, it's simple trespass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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