Tickets may be undue

Lawyer says jaywalking tickets may have been unlawful

By REUBEN CONTRERAS

Fresno police officers could be giving bogus tickets to jaywalkers, a local attorney has said.

Laura Guzman Magill said jaywalking is a complicated area of law and she has great concern about pedestrians who possibly were ticketed falsely by police.

“It is highly possible that the Fresno Police Department has been citing pedestrians illegally and has been issuing bogus citations,” she said. “This greatly concerns me.”

Last month, the Fresno Police Department began a citywide crackdown on pedestrians crossing streets illegally.

Magill recently researched the issue of jaywalking and said attorneys who say they were cited illegally by police in the downtown area challenged the law on jaywalking.

Magill said California Vehicle Code Section 275 states it is not necessarily against the law to cross the street outside a crosswalk and a crosswalk is a term of art.

“A crosswalk is not even necessarily something that is marked by two white lines,” Magill said.

Filly DaSilva, of the City Attorney’s Office for Fresno, said Vehicle Code Section 275 defines a crosswalk, in two ways.

That a portion of a roadway included within the prolongation or connection of the boundary lines of sidewalks at intersections where the intersecting roadways meet at approximately right angles, except the prolongation of such lines from an alley across a street.

Any portion of a roadway distinctly indicated for pedestrian crossing by lines or other markings on the surface. Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions of this section, there shall not be a crosswalk where local authorities have placed signs indicating no crossing.

DaSilva said there are two vehicle code sections that define jaywalking.

Vehicle Code Section 21955 states pedestrians shall not cross the roadway at any place except in a crosswalk.

Vehicle Code Section 21950(b) states that, no pedestrian may suddenly leave a curb or other place of safety and walk or run into the path of a vehicle that is so close as to constitute an immediate hazard. No pedestrian may unnecessarily stop or delay traffic while in a marked or unmarked crosswalk.

DaSilva said crossing a street at the corner without a crosswalk is only illegal if local authorities post signs directing pedestrians not to cross there.

Magill said if a pedestrian thinks he or she was issued an illegal citation for jaywalking, that person should challenge the citation and show up to court and set the matter for a trial.

“The Fresno Police Department is not necessarily aware of the exceptions under the law to walking outside a marked crosswalk,” she said.

DaSilva said individuals who have been cited should read the code section for which they have been cited.

“If they feel they did nothing illegal, they should request a hearing pursuant to the instructions on the back of the citation which they were issued,” DaSilva said.

DaSilva said the number of citations challenged and turned over was not available.

Magill said she notified city attorney, Jeff Hammerschmidt about the possibility of the police department writing illegal citations. Magill said Hammerschmidt then notified traffic officers about pedestrians crossing the street outside a crosswalk is not necessarily illegal.

Magill said Hammerschmidt wanted to make things right, immediately.

“The police officers, I am sure, are only trying to do their best,” she said.

DaSilva said public safety is first and foremost.

“Laws such as the ones for pedestrians are in order to reduce and prevent injuries and fatalities,” DaSilva said.

Magill said the issue has been brought to the city attorney before last months operation against jaywalkers began.

“Jaywalking is not a simple cut-and-dry black-and-white law in which one can be cited for simply walking outside a crosswalk,” she said. “The police are leading people to believe that is true.”

“A jaywalking case must be analyzed according to the facts and the site of the citation,” Magill said.

Magill said there is case law on the jaywalking issue because the issue comes up in personal injury cases in which jurors must determine fault in accidents involving pedestrians.

The Traffic Enforcement Division of the Fresno Police Department did not return messages seeking comment.