Cambridge Municipal Court

Peachy Chips

I was driving with my grandmother on a 70 MPH freeway through Guernsey County, Ohio, around 3 pm, and there were almost no other cars on the freeway. I am a very careful driver, and always drive the speed limit, and have never been pulled over in 9 years of driving. I was driving my grandmother back from an appointment at a specialized psychologist that is a 4 hour drive away from my home. We had gone to continue our consultation about potential paths to take for my grandmother’s onsetting Alzheimer’s. She also suffers from incontinence, and while on the freeway informed me that she needed to use the restroom (she wears adult diapers, but she strongly dislikes going #2 in the diapers to preserve her dignity). Unfortunately, the nearest exit was slightly over 10 miles away, so I sped up to around 90 miles per hour on a 70. I know it was unsafe, but this was one of the FEW times I have ever sped in my life. A few miles later, before the exit, I was pulled over by a cop. When he approached the window, I said very politely that my grandmother was having an emergency. When the officer asked what the emergency was, I said she needed to use the restroom. The officer LAUGHED, but after I quickly explained about her medical condition, he seemed a little apologetic, and promised the stop would be “fast” as he took my license to his car. We waited, and it got to the point where my grandmother had to defecate into her underwear, and was quietly crying as I tried to soothe her and held her hand. I wanted to go to the cop car and ask him to please hurry so she could go clean herself, but I know what can happen when someone, especially people of color, steps out of their car during a traffic stop nowadays. Over 10 minutes later, he came back and said that “unfortunately” he “had” to give me a speeding ticket, even though this was my FIRST offense in 9 YEARS, for what I believe was a reasonable justification for speeding. However, I remained (somewhat) polite throughout the rest of the interaction, and went to go help my grandmother clean up at the gas station. My case was assigned to the Cambridge Municipal Court, and I decided I wanted to fight the ticket. I contacted a traffic lawyer I found online, and during my consultation, he asked me what court the case was assigned to. When I told him it was assigned to Cambridge Municipal Court, he immediately said that he doesn’t handle cases there, and suggested I find another lawyer. I assumed he just wasn’t familiar with the court, so I found another attorney around the area and told them about my case. This time, the attorney told me that Cambridge Municipal Court had recently had new “policy” changes or something that made it nigh impossible for a traffic ticket to be deemed anything other than GUILTY. He said he would “feel bad taking my money” because he knew he wouldn’t win the case, and suggested I just pay the ticket. A third lawyer also told me the same thing, with the same suggestion. I still believed that I could win the case, and that my flawless driving record coupled with the fact that I was in fact speeding for an emergency (not to mention the road was almost empty, and I did not feel like I was being that “unsafe”). So I scheduled to appear in court through Zoom, and explained my side of the story, as stated above. The judge determined that while my situation was “unfortunate” it did not change the fact that I was “putting others in danger” (near empty road) with my speeding for a “non-emergency reason” (it was ABSOLUTELY an emergency). I had to pay the ticket, and it has now increased my insurance costs by nearly 40%, even as a first offense. I am beyond furious with how the court treated my situation, and while I have lived in Ohio for the majority of my life and found it to be quite nice, places like Cambridge Municipal Court are what gives Ohio a bad name, and why so many astronauts are from Ohio. They’re trying to get as far away as possible from Ohio. Shame on the extremely unfair practices at Cambridge Municipal Court.

Kim Diss

Professional staff.

victor jackson

I’m not sure if you guys have had the same experience as me but there was a Angel by the name of Susan who answer the phone and answered my problems she was efficient n timely she’s the MF goat

Steph Rose

State trooper didn’t show up with the evidence yet I still got charged???? Talk about a scam!!!! Where is the justice in the justice system?!