Tickets issued in South Pasadena school bus sting may be dismissed

The South Pasadena Police Department has requested that more than 150 traffic citations issued Wednesday to drivers during a school bus sting be dismissed.

Designed to nab motorists who violated a vehicle code that requires drivers to stop for school buses with flashing red lights, the sting involved two police cadets walking on and off a school bus parked on Huntington Drive near Milan Avenue.

However, the vehicle code says drivers may not pass a school bus with its red lights flashing when it is “stopped for the purpose of loading or unloading any schoolchildren.”

After meeting with the city attorney, the Police Department decided this morning to ask the courts to dismiss the citations, which were reported earlier to be $500 each.

Citations start at $150, but with added penalties they can rise as high as $1,000. “We didn’t meet the requirements for this code,” Capt. Richard Kowaltschuk said.

 “Although we will be asking for the citations to be dismissed, we have to remember the reason we did it on this street was we had in fact gotten a complaint from someone who lives on that street who has a child with a disability who uses a school bus.”

The sting was set up after the department was contacted by April Cash and her husband, Ryan Bodily,  whose 6-year-old daughter, Zoey, is deaf, mentally disabled and blind in one eye.

The family lives on Huntington and fears for Zoey’s life when she’s being dropped off by her school bus. “People never stop, and she’s been riding that bus for the last 2.5 years,” Cash, 32, said. “She’s strong and she’s gotten away from us and started running down Huntington.”

Cash was surprised to learn that the department was asking for the citations to be dismissed.

 “That’s really upsetting,” she said. “If they need a decoy in the future, I’m happy to be with my daughter as she gets on and off the bus for as long as it takes to make sure she’s safe.”

Matthew St. George, a Superior Court commissioner in Alhambra, was at the site for the sting, but, according to a Police Department statement, “he was present to observe the operation, but does not provide legal opinions.”

Kowaltschuk said that if the department’s request for dismissal is approved, letters will be sent to those who received tickets during the sting, informing them they do not have to appear in court. “Absolutely there was an error made, and it doesn’t look good on us,” he said. “We made a mistake.”

-- Corina Knoll

Comments

[davox]

As one of those ticketed for driving past this chaotic scene and bewildered by what unfolded (and fully prepared to use all my efforts to contest the infraction), I commend the South Pasadena police department for recognizing in hindsight that this operation was flawed. Not only did it not comply with the law because the bus was not parked for the purpose of loading or unloading children, it did nothing to advance the legitimate public policy objective of protecting our children (and if anything, it created a hazard to innocent people commuting to work in the morning). I would respectfully submit that the City of South Pasadena and adjoining communities that participated in this operation could take guidance from legitimate sting operations operated by communities such as Fontana--in those cases police officers are assigned to follow real school buses to stop motorists for actual violations of California Vehicle Code Section 22454. Again, however, I commend the city for recognizing its error and taking actions to reverse it--that is not a common thing these days.

[Citizen]

The Police should be sued for a waste of taxpayer money. The amount of time charged for bringing the poorly realized and even more poorly executed sting into play must be accounted for somehow. These officers and all people involved should be fired.

Yes public safety is a concern, but there should be much more important issues for the police to deal with than this traffic stop.

The complaint of a mother that can't control her child should not control the direction of the resources of the public.

[Christopher]

People who blow past school buses with flashing red lights deserve to have their licenses suspended. This is even worse than not stopping at a crosswalk, because children trying to cross have an obstructed view of traffic coming from behind the bus. What if a child gets hit -- and we find out that the motorist had previously received a ticket, but the city pardoned it? I'd say that makes the city liable for damages. Bottom line: laws are on books for a reason. We either enforce them, or we changed them. We should not simply look the other way.

[Mark Serrano]

The world would be a much better place without the "keystone cops" and antics of the Mayberry RFD/South Pasadena Police Department. Are they still using their squad cars for places to have illicit affairs while on duty?

[Frank]

One person in pasadena is concerned and the PD sets up a sting using serval cops that could be arresting criminals. But in East LA if a person calls to complain about the Gangs and shootings the PD doesn't do a Damn thing. That's why the other story about the poor living conditions in poor neiborhoods is true. The rich are taken care of and listened to, and the poor are left for dead and ignored.

[Richard]

Refreshing that the Police Department admitted the mistake, which is commendable. What they were trying to accomplish was commendable as well bringing attention to a very serious problem.

[PEDRO SANCHEZ]

Good, Justice has been served.
If I were the parent of a 6-year-old daughter, who is deaf, mentally disabled and blind in one eye, I would walk her to the bus. Take responsibility for your child, I would not let my able bodied 6-year-old child walk down the street by herself no way.

[peter C]

Thank you, LA Times, for running this story and the follow-up. I use Huntington Drive on a daily basis for my commute, and Wednesday looked like a scene from a movie set, with about 15 cars pulled over by motorcycle cops in the space of less than 1 mile. I could easily have been one of the drivers issues one of these faulty, legally-questionable tickets. The whole idea of setting up a sting, with actors pretending to be school children getting on and off a school bus where there are NO SCHOOLS sounds like entrapment. There was a comment from the previous story that if you stop on Huntington Drive in the middle of the road, you'd get rear-ended and I have to agree with that statement 100%. Huntington is a busy road with a few stop lights. I hope that the drivers who were issued these so-called tickets hire attorneys and sue the collaborating cities for this nonsense. My understanding is that this was not just the South Pasadena PD. Alhambra, Monterey Park and San Gabriel PDs also participated. What a joke that 2 days later, a police captain has to admit that he didn't meet legal requirements!

[substudio]

I think it would be more fair for the police to put the sting to use at the time the student were attempting to cross the street.

To me that would make better use of catching any perpetrator breaking the law.

[GT]

"Zoey, is deaf, mentally disabled and blind in one eye."

“If they need a decoy in the future, I’m happy to be with my daughter as she gets on and off the bus for as long as it takes to make sure she’s safe.”

“She’s strong and she’s gotten away from us and started running down Huntington.”

You would voluteer your child for a police sting and cannot control her yourself - if she was injured as a decoy you'd sue the city. Looks to me as if the parent wants action when they should be more attentive - if the bus isn't to your liking take the child to school yourself - thats right get up early, before you go to work and do it yourself.

[Mike Corleone]

Dismissing the tickets is the right answer. Hopefully nothing gets mismanaged and the insurance companies get sparked for rate increases to the sting 'victims'. All the wasted resource of this ill-advised operation, yet what accountability?

[John J,]

This shows how foolish and ill-conceived this whole thing was. The cities of San Marino, Alhambra, South Pasadena, San Gabriel, Monterey Park and Sheriffs should be ashamed of themselves. What a waste of taxpayer's money, Too many cops with nothing to do, seriously!

[RRW]

I was pulled over after I continued on the inner lane when the red traffic light was cleared at the intersection of Huntington Dr. and Marengo Ave. around 9:35am, there was NO "so called" YELLOW school bus; Instead, many trucks from "King Kong Production Vehicles, Inc" (http://www.kingkongtrailers.com ) parked on Huntington Dr. before and after Fletcher Ave. There was a temporary sign on one of the WHITE trucks says "SCHOOL BUSES"! WOWOWOW......how convenient to generate revenues like that! I was talking to myself, "what kind of school buses look like that, they look like movie production trucks to me and maybe they are shooting a movie"; it was before all the chaos began.....

City and Police Dept of S. Pas. owe the public an apology of wasting manpower from ALL police dept from the vicinity cities involved (San Marino, Alhambra, Temple City, Monterey Park, etc) and creating public danger in rush hours at a thoroughfare as Huntington Dr. ASHAMED of them!!!!

April Cash and Ryan Bodily should not be upset about the request for dismissal of those citations, they should feel upset about that Police Dept of S. Pas. didn't conduct this operation in a right way, which is very unfair to the public. It went out of the way of good intention to educate people not stopping at a school bus stop sign when loading and unloading schoolchildren. If April Cash and Ryan Bodily were at the scene on 6/17/09, they would understand too!!!!

[RRW]

" People who blow past school buses with flashing red lights deserve to have their licenses suspended. This is even worse than not stopping at a crosswalk, because children trying to cross have an obstructed view of traffic coming from behind the bus. What if a child gets hit -- and we find out that the motorist had previously received a ticket, but the city pardoned it? I'd say that makes the city liable for damages. Bottom line: laws are on books for a reason. We either enforce them, or we changed them. We should not simply look the other way.

Posted by: Christopher | June 19, 2009 at 05:19 PM"

YES! "People blow pass school buses with flashing red lights deserve to have their licenses suspended.", I TOTALLY agree with you, Christopher. How about people pass WHITE movie production trucks with a sign hung says "SCHOOL BUSES", without any schoolchildren present? Should they have their licenses suspended too? You need to be there to realize how crazy and stupid the whole entrapment was set up! HOW ABOUT OUR SAFETY when we stopped our cars in the middle of the road at 40 mph; are our lives less worthy than children??? I always pay EXTRA attention to any kind of STOP signs, do you think it's fair for people like me to be tricked like this? Police should be protecting us from criminals, not the other way round TAKING ADVANTAGE OF INNOCENT CITIZENS!

Even after 3 days, I am still so traumatized by the whole set up and still can't believe what happened to me and other 159! What are the differences between US police and 3-world countries'??? I don't commend the City nor Police Dept of S. Pas mending their mistakes AT ALL, because they know in their hearts that whoever signed off or came up with and involved in this operation should feel lucky that they are not sued by all 160 people ticketed!!!!!!!

My husband took the same route to work around 8:15am (I passed there around 9:35am), he thought there must be a SEVERE accident to be such chaotic with tons of police involved.

I went back to the scene the same day after work to take pictures as my evidence when I appear in the court and contest. City and Police Dept of S. Pas should learn their lesson; DON'T TAKE ANYTHING FOR GRANTED: DON'T ASSUME PEOPLE ARE BLIND AND DEAF OR WON'T FIGHT AND DEFEND THEIR RIGHTS!!!

[NR]

So now police chief Watson backtracks and says Commissioner Matthew St. George was there on-site at the sting to "observe" not to "provide legal opinions." As a commissioner, St. George is like a judge who hears minor matters and has a duty to be neutral. He's no longer a prosecutor (his former position) where it was his job to help the police.

What on earth was a supposedly neutral judicial officer doing spending his free time as a consultant for the police? Is St. George's obvious misreading of Cal. Veh. Code 22454(a) ("for the purpose of loading and unloading any schoolchildren") an example of the legal skill he's exercising as a commissioner? When he runs for judge (which all these commissioners do), why would we ever want to vote for someone who green-lit such a poorly executed sting whose sole purpose appeared to be to tax the citizens he is supposed to represent?

I got one of the tickets and I'm still upset about it. Even if they dismiss the tickets, I'm still going to attend the South Pasadena City Council meeting on July 1 at 7:30 at 1424 Mission Street and I urge everyone to do the same. Questions about this horribly misconceived sting including St. George's actual involvement still need to be answered. Kudos also to writer Corinna Knoll too for her clear-eyed and balanced reporting which brought much-needed focus to this local issue.

[Ryan]

To RRW,

I was at the scene. It is funny that you didn’t see the 45 foot long yellow school bus parked at the corner of Huntington Dr. and Milan Ave. It had flashing yellow and red lights, a stop sign with flashing lights and even had one foot tall letters on the back of it that read “School Bus….STOP WHEN RED LIGHTS ARE FLASHING”. The movie trucks that you and others are pointing out were on the other side of Fletcher before the light. I watched the operation for nearly one hour. I saw the first cycle of the red flashing lights when there were no police bikes on the side of the road. Sixteen cars drove by the bus with out even slowing, most were still accelerating. In the hour I was out there I saw several vehicles stop for the bus. It is not my fault if you were not paying attention to your surroundings. The truly scary thing is, if you didn’t see the 45 foot long yellow bus with flashing lights then how are you ever going to see a small child in the road.

[Ryan]

GT:

We work the night shift. We are up long before you get up every day. We just don't get home in time to take her to school.

[Ryan]

Pedro,

Our daughter is walked onto and off of the bus everyday. The normal isn’t the issue. What happens when she pulls away and runs? Does she stop because we are calling her? Does she stop because cars are honking? The answer is no. She stops when we catch her or a car hits her. She deserves the same protections and other children. These are actually the children that this law was written for. Children run around the front of school busses all the time. I am sure if it was your child you would want the public to stop for their bus and not honk, flip off and yell at the driver for stopping.

[tiff]

so they did realize that the vehicle code stated for schoolchildren, good job catching it after the police department casued chaos. if someone got hurt in this incident South Pasadena would have a huge lawsuit on there hand for conducting an ill runned sting operation. on another note, if the parents of this disabled child are concerned about there kid getting on and off the bus, wouldn't asking the school bus company to drop the child off at the side that her house is located on be better and safer for her. more importantly, if the city realy did care, they would add more crosswalk interrsections, with traffic lights to help pedestrians cross the street safely. and another thing,

[known]

It is to bad that the police dept acted so quickly and not be presentable with the actions that they made. they cost people grief and headache and mental pain because of this shame less act.

Shame on you Ryan Bodily and April Cash (Who are both on FaceBook by the way) for NOT doing your home work and getting the law straight before taking any action.

My heart does go out to the child though but shame on you both for being parents but not acting according to the law.

Shame I say!

[Durant]

Injustice anywere is A threat to justice everywere.
I to was given a citation on that caotic morning. It was a nightmare of a seen. The officers involved should ask themself why their officers? They need to serve and protect, they need to hold themselfs to high moral standards. Can they look themself in the mirror and say this opperation did that? Let's not have School buses stop on freeways, I mean Huntington drive an old fasion freeway. Let have the school bus park on the close side street were it's more safe.

[Ryan Bodily]

I would like to thank the South Pasadena PD and everyone who has shown support in this matter. I called about a month ago to complement a South Pasadena PD officer for making a traffic stop and citing the driver for 22454 CVC. In the last eight months I can think of maybe 8 cars that had stopped for the school bus. As a result South Pasadena PD set up this sting. During the sting they cited 150+ drivers. South Pasadena PD decided to request that the citations be voided. This was very admirable of them; they could have said let the courts decide when people fight them. I can tell you I personally could care less about the citations being voided. Why, Monday morning the bus stopped in front of my residence and I loaded Zoey onto the bus and at noon when I got her off the bus every car stopped on Huntington Dr. There was no accident caused and there was no motorist yelling, cursing at the bus driver and no one was honking. Why, because this sting made the public aware of the issue at hand. People passing school buses when children are loading/unloading. I know the response is that they are afraid of getting a legitimate $500 ticket and I am happy to have that be the reason if it keeps my kid and every other kid out there safe. To all of the drivers who stopped, I say Thank You.

[Pissed Off resident]

HOW DARE you people that are telling the PARENTS that they should take their kids to school, or have the bus driver drop/pick up the child on another street/location, or other BS comments/suggestions to the parents , you should be ashamed of yourselvs! I bet NONE of you know what it's like to have a disabled child. Do you not KNOW that a disabled child is likely to RUN into the street because of their lack of understanding of safety and THAT is why they have buses with stop lights and signs and IDIOT drivers like the ones that got the citations didn't care enough to stop or follow the law.

You want to blame the child's parents? No blame yourself for being a dumb person and not understanding the purpose of the signs and the lights, dont' blame parents when children in gnereal are known for running into the streets, especially disabled children.

You know what justice is? Justice is just dropping down the charges and $500.00 fines to a lesser charge and STILL citing all of the 160 drivers. Instead of the $500.00 fine which was for the crosswalk you should STILL get cited for the lesser charge of just NOT NOT stopping for the light/sign which is $350.00..you are lucky that's not happening, even though it should. Shame on you HORRIBLE drivers and complainers. START stopping for the bus signs and lights and learn your lesson!

[RRW]

Ryan,

Firstly, I like to clarify that I agree with the Code 22454(a) 200%, please don't get me wrong on that. Secondly, can you tell us if there was ANY schoolchildren around that 45 foot long yellow school bus since you were on the scene and had an whole hour observation (FYI, I was pulled over around 9:35am, not the first round at 8:15am)??. Maybe we are not on the same page in regards to the definition of code 22454 (a); the vehicle code says drivers may not pass a school bus with its red lights flashing when it is “stopped for the purpose of loading or unloading any schoolchildren”. Thirdly, were those big WHITE movie trucks with one of them hung the sign "SCHOOL BUSES" just there for movie production, or also part of the operation to DISTRACT motorists?? Last but not the least, LA Times: “Kowaltschuk said that if the department’s request for dismissal is approved, letters will be sent to those who received tickets during the sting, informing them they do not have to appear in court. “Absolutely there was an error made, and it doesn’t look good on us,” he said. “We made a mistake.”

All I’m trying to say is, this operation is flawed to begin with; why should 160 people have to pay for Police’s mistake/error, but not the one who was responsible for? If it was done legitimately, no one should have a word of not paying their fines!! Please understand that NO one is against you and your family, neither the law. We have our right to voice out when justice was not served in a right way. DOING GOOD THINGS IN A WRONG WAY IS STILL WRONG!!

[FYI]

Schoolbus: Meeting and Passing
22454. (a) The driver of any vehicle, upon meeting or overtaking, from either direction, any schoolbus equipped with signs as required in this code, that is stopped for the purpose of loading or unloading any schoolchildren and displays a flashing red light signal and stop signal arm, as defined in paragraph (4) of subdivision (b) of Section 25257, if equipped with a stop signal arm, visible from front or rear, shall bring the vehicle to a stop immediately before passing the schoolbus and shall not proceed past the schoolbus until the flashing red light signal and stop signal arm, if equipped with a stop signal arm, cease operation.
(b) (1) The driver of a vehicle upon a divided highway or multiple-lane highway need not stop upon meeting or passing a schoolbus that is upon the other roadway.
(2) For the purposes of this subdivision, a multiple-lane highway is any highway that has two or more lanes of travel in each direction.
(c) (1) If a vehicle was observed overtaking a schoolbus in violation of subdivision (a), and the driver of the schoolbus witnessed the violation, the driver may, within 24 hours, report the violation and furnish the vehicle license plate number and description and the time and place of the violation to the local law enforcement agency having jurisdiction of the offense. That law enforcement agency shall issue a letter of warning prepared in accordance with paragraph (2) with respect to the alleged violation to the registered owner of the vehicle. The issuance of a warning letter under this paragraph shall not be entered on the driving record of the person to whom it is issued, but does not preclude the imposition of any other applicable penalty.
(2) The Attorney General shall prepare and furnish to every law enforcement agency in the state a form letter for purposes of paragraph (1), and the law enforcement agency may issue those letters in the exact form prepared by the Attorney General. The Attorney General may charge a fee to any law enforcement agency that requests a copy of the form letter to recover the costs of preparing and providing that copy.
(d) This section also applies to a roadway upon private property.
Amended Ch. 1296, Stats. 1990. Effective January 1, 1991.
Amended Ch. 624, Stats. 1992. Effective September 14, 1992.
Amended Ch. 589, Stats. 1993. Effective January 1, 1994.
Amended Sec. 3, Ch. 647, Stats. 1999. Effective October 10, 1999.

[Pissed off Commuter]

April & Ryan,

You two must be very influential residents in South Pas. One complain gathered 6 cities' police force involved in the sting on 6/17. Why can't so much police force spent on those real law breakers that honking, yelling, not stopping and accelerating by your daughter's school bus? Why did the Police Dept choose that day for the operation when so many gigantic movie trucks parking there which itself was distracting enough. Regardless of this operation is flawed or not, it's really hard for people not to wonder what's the real intention behind it. Of course, you could care less if those citations got voided or not, because you were not the ones who were cheated and you got the result you wish for even it was not done right! I feel bad if that is going to be the way how you teach your kids; get what you want by any means!

Pissed off Resident,

People were ticketed for violation of CVC 22454 (a) on 6/17, not code of not stopping at a Stop sign. So you don't have to tell us which less fines we should get. You should tell police enforcing the law know better what they are doing , as simple as that. If those citations are not going to be dismissed, I promise you that you WILL NOT miss any one of us in the court and wasting more taxpayer's dollars and time to contest this JOKE.

[Ryan Bodily]

RTW,

Thank you for your response. The movie trucks were not part of the sting. I spoke to the Lieutenant that was on scene and he took a moment to outline their operation. The sign "school bus" on the truck was a warning to on coming traffic. They should have included "Police are citing, make sure you stop".

There were some school age children in the area but they were not loading or unloading from the bus. So, even with them there the operation is still flawed. The vehicle code is very specific about the children loading and unloading. I would be careful driving through South Pasadena, San Marino, Monterey Park and Temple City. You can count on them having some 14 year old explorers next time instead of the 20 year old cadets.

The police were absolutely right to request the citations to be revoked. They were not written correctly. You are right that doing good things in the wrong way is still wrong.

[Ryan Bodily]

Known,

First of all we are on facebook, thank you for doing your homework, but wait there are several of us there and we are both blocked anyway. Last time I checked I did not set up or execute this sting operation. I wasn't even aware that it was happening until I walked outside and saw it. Your misguided and idiotic post would apply if April and myself were on the motorcycles issuing the tickets. But sense we were standing on the sidewalk watching you need to direct this somewhere else.

The law clearly states that vehicles must stop for a school bus with the flashing red lights and stop sign, if the buss is equipped with one, when children are loading or unloading. So when I called to compliment the officer who cited a driver several weeks before the operation it was a legal stop. Why, because I was loading my child on the school bus with the red lights flashing.

If you were even half a man or woman you would have put your name on this. You were quick to put my name on it. So, Shame I say!!!!!! Your an Idiot.

[claudia]

apparently they learned how to do it correctly and are continuing to stage stings. was caught in one myself yesterday 7/15 along with 9 other people. i don't think we'll be able to get these dismissed

[claudia]

they must be getting pretty desperate to make money somehow in this recession and i resent it, especially not being a resident of south pasadena!

[Chris Lee]

yea i was just hit with one 30 minutes ago, was obviously staged seeing as i saw no one near the bus. Almost exactly the same area as mentioned in the article