Police can impound car driven by boyfriend with suspended license
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BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KBAK/KBFX) — When Emily Voelker made the decision to move to California, she was expecting a warm welcome. What she got was much different. Voelker, who settled in California City, said a recent experience at a Bakersfield police checkpoint changed her perception.
"Me and my boyfriend decided to go through downtown Bakersfield and check it out, because we're new to the area." Voelker said
Voelker's boyfriend Jeremy Ness was driving her 2008 Mustang when the pair encountered the DUI checkpoint. Ness was busted for driving on a suspended license.
Voelker said since her license is valid, and she owns the car, she believed she would be able to drive it home. She quickly learned she was wrong.
Police impounded the Mustang. Frustrated and confused, Voelker said she and her boyfriend took to researching on the Internet. She found a vehicle code she believes allows unlicensed drivers to call a license driver to take their car home from a checkpoint.
Bakersfield Detective Uriel Pacheco said the vehicle code in question, officially known as vehicle code 2814.2, only applies to drivers who don't have licenses. Drivers who have a license that is suspended or revoked are not covered under the code.
"Me and my boyfriend decided to go through downtown Bakersfield and check it out, because we're new to the area." Voelker said
Voelker's boyfriend Jeremy Ness was driving her 2008 Mustang when the pair encountered the DUI checkpoint. Ness was busted for driving on a suspended license.
Voelker said since her license is valid, and she owns the car, she believed she would be able to drive it home. She quickly learned she was wrong.
Police impounded the Mustang. Frustrated and confused, Voelker said she and her boyfriend took to researching on the Internet. She found a vehicle code she believes allows unlicensed drivers to call a license driver to take their car home from a checkpoint.
Bakersfield Detective Uriel Pacheco said the vehicle code in question, officially known as vehicle code 2814.2, only applies to drivers who don't have licenses. Drivers who have a license that is suspended or revoked are not covered under the code.
Cherie, all I have to say is pull your head out of the sand. No expects you to screen every piece of mail but the ones marked DMV might be important. I'm guessing you got a ticket you forgot to pay or show on and that was the reason for the suspension in the first place. Then you openly admit you got a ticket and notified of the suspension before your car was impounded. So, what part of do not drive did you not understand? Driving is a privledge not a right as most people seem to think. And BTW it didn't cost any $4K like you said. By city charter the tow companies can only charge a max of $25 a day. Add $150 for towing and $125 for a release fee plus $150 for DMV and the grand total for a month is about $1,300. Now if you had to pay other court cost to get you license, i.e. the ticket you forgot to pay that got your license suspended in the first place, then it might total $4k. Bottom line, driving is not a God given right like breathing
this same thing happened to me, except it was ME with the suspended license and the car was in my husbands name. they sure did impound it. and they wouldn't release it to my husband until I had proof that i had went to court  and paid-in full-all fines, tickets, etc., that were responsible for the suspension (yes they wanted RECEIPTS!) AND proof from the dmv that the suspension was lifted, which basically meant that i had to get a whole new license, BECAUSE what this article forgot to mention is that the cops can also choose to CONFISCATE your actual license at THEIR DISCRETION!
the car was in impound for almost 2 weeks @ $100.a day...AND THEN  they wouldn't even release the car to ME-even tho i had been added to the registration during the ordeal and i was the one that they required  the proof from in the first place. even after my husband called to authorize the pick up, they said he HAD to come and get it himself.
THE WHOLE THING COST US OVER $4000 WHICH IS MORE THAN WE EVEN PAID FOR THE CAR!! RIDICULOUS.
What they failed to point out at the end there is that i did not know his license was suspended...and we found out that his license was suspended because a few months ago someone stole his dl number and got a couple of tickets under his name..he hitch hiked all the way to the city that they were in just to get a court date to have these tickets erased since it wasn't him.
The bottom line is that the boyfriend should not have been driving the car when he knew that he had a suspended license. I agree that the Officer probably should not have impounded the car; he should have let the woman with a valid drivers license drive the car. Why wasn't the girlfriend driving the car to begin with? If the girlfriend had been driving the car, none of this would have happened. I'm also sure there have been many times when the boyfriend drove the car alone, but just didn't get caught. Obviously, Jeremy Ness has no respect for the law and neither does Emily Voelker because they thought nothing of violating it. If you don't want to deal with the consequences, don't violate the law. If you violate the law and you get caught, you have no one to blame but yourself. Live and learn, people!
 @Tracy Finch Not everything is black and white. Neither of them knew his licence was suspended... read the post above yours. Don't jump to conclusionsÂ
Uh, hello, neither of them knew? Really? I think the moron with the suspended license probably knew. We need to quit making excuses for law breakers and hold them accountable for their actions!
 @ronfox@bak.rr.com HEY U KNOW WHAT-MY LICENSE WAS SUSPENDED FOR OVER A YEAR BEFORE I EVER KNEW ANYTHING ABOUT IT! AND I HAD BEEN PULLED OVER 3 DIFFERENT TIMES DURING THAT YEAR-ONLY ONE OF WHICH RESULTED IN A TICKET, BTW,-AND YET NONE OF THE OFFICERS EVER SAID A THING ABOUT IT EITHER. NEW ADDRESS, NEW BABY, DEATH IN THE FAMILY, ETC., ETC.,. I DONT KNOW ABOUT U, RONFOX, BUT I HAVE A LIFE. I DON'T HAVE TIME TO SIT AND SCREEN EVERY PIECE OF MAIL THAT COMES TO MY HOUSE. AND I'M NOT THE ONLY ONE WHO GETS THE MAIL HERE, EITHER.Â
ALL I GOTTA SAY IS THAT IT IS VERY POSSIBLE TO NOT KNOW YOUR LICENSE HAS BEEN SUSPENDED UNTIL LONG AFTER THE SUSPENSION TAKES PLACE.
GET OFF UR HIGH-HORSE AND STOP ACTING LIKE U NEVER MAE A MISTAKE. NOBODY'S PERFECT-INCLUDING YOU, SO UNLESS U KNOW THESE PEOPLE AND U WERE THERE, U SHOULDN'T BE SO JUDGMENTAL OF THE SITUATION. AND I'M SORRY BUT AN OCCASIONAL TICKET DOESN'T MAKE SOMEONE A "LAW-BREAKER". U MAKE THEM SOUND LIKE CRIMINALS WHEN THEY PROBABLY ARE NOT.
I think it's all up to the agency because a few months ago my fiance and i were on our way to LA and we were pulled over because my fiance was speeding. He was driving on a suspended license and instead of impounding the car he issued him a citation and i was allowed to drive. The CHP officer stated that if he had not had a licensed driver with him that the vehicle would have been. And this was in Kern County.