Thanx! Thats what I thought to begin with... but my husband didn't want me to cause any problems... My friend in AZ is a cop too and said that they would have to throw it out of court and return my car... (if we lived there) Are there really this may bad cops out there?

My last few encounters with the police have lead me to this belief;
There are the officers who really want to "Serve and Protect" and those who want to "Use and Abuse" their authority.

Law Enforcement alone sounds domineering and heavy fisted. One of my friends calls himself "Law Enforcement" while another friend rather be addressed as a "Peace Officer" Guess which one I would rather have approach me?

You ALWAYS can fight it. Whether you win or not is a different matter.

I have checked Oregon state laws, and just so we're clear, I'm not a lawyer and I can't legally advise you on anything.

http://www.leg.state.or.us/ors/801.html Change the "801" number to whatever section you wish to read, going by the index.

What I found is not good. Your car can be towed because your insurance had expired. If you get the notice of impoundment, you have 5 days to request a hearing to contest it. However, because they car tow it for insurance being expired, this is unlikely to be overturned. Try it anyway. Make sure you get that car back within 30 days of the time set for the return of the vehicle in an impounding order, or they can sell it. I have no idea what all that means, but it doesn't sound like long. Also, you do have to have your lights on, but because it was going from the side of the street to your own driveway, it was iffy. He was blocking your driveway so you couldn't have entered it, but you were still driving on a city street without lights on. It's shady. Hope for a good judge.

I wish you lots of luck. Please let us know the outcome.

No we we were not driving without our lights on we had parked our vehicle in front of our house when they had the driveway blocked. We shut our car off. When they backed up we started the car and pulled in a few feet from where we were parked.

They were at my neighbors and approached us as we were getting out. Anway...we are fighting it. But I will look that up, thanx!

I know. That's the way I see it too. I'm just telling you how a judge might see it. They may say that the lights were off and your car moved on a public road. Not fair, but a possibility you need to be aware of.

I agree with you on this one too! Unfair as it maybe, the law is the law! But as you said fight it anyway! Already lost my car can't lose much else... I won't know I guess until we go to court... I maybe more pissed that I just bought that car. = ) Thats my luck these days.

Sounds like good advice about an attourney - but what about consumer groups or motora vehicle organistions? Sometimes they help.

I didn't think about that. I will see if I can find a group like that, I am sure that they can give us some good advice at least!

I never thought anything bad about any law enforcement until I had a similar occurance hapen to me. Four years ago I was driving down the expressway and I got pulled over. Honestly, I had no idea why. I asked the officer this and he said, "Don't get smart with me." 20 minutes later he begins asking me all these questions - do I have a gun in the car, do I have drugs (no and no), then he asks do I have insurance and do I have renenwed plates (yes and yes). After several rounds of questioning he tells me that my 2001 Mustang (probably the most popular car at the time) looks like a car used in a robbery. He needed to search the inside. I said, "OK." Hell, I just bought the damhn thing, there wasn't anything in it besides some groceries. So the cop searches. He even goes through my groceries. He pulls a SEALED bottle of red wine from a bag and says, "Have you been drinking?" Obviously I say, "no." Then he has me do all kinds of stupid sobriety tests right there on the side of the road! Finally he decides to write me a ticket for one mile over the speed limit!!!! I was outraged. I did go to court and nothing was done about it. This is supposedly their "standard procedure" for certain cars that "look" like crime cars.

This is exactly what is pissing me off! And for every law to help and protect us there is one to screw us. There is nothing worse than minding your own business and to have a cop harass you! I am finding that I am not the only one who has dealt with this issue.