NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (WAVY) — They were the words that Michael Rodriguez was longing to hear for more than a year.
“I am dismissing [the three] tickets against you,” the judge said in Pennington, N.J. court Oct. 17. “Thank you very much for your patience and cooperation.”
It took a lot of patience on his part, but he was getting little cooperation, at least at first.
Rodriguez’s bureaucratic nightmare began last year when he discovered his name was on three traffic tickets in the town about an hour from Philadelphia — for speeding, driving without a license and failing to show a license.
As we reported in early September, the cops and courts were demanding that Rodriguez show up in court — 350 miles away — or face further court action.
“It was a lot of stress,” Rodriguez said in a Monday interview.
He said he’s never driven in New Jersey and he doesn’t own the car listed on the tickets. 10 On Your Side contacted the Pennington officials.
“Afterwards they started investigating, and started making contact with the owners [of the car that was pulled over],” Rodriguez said. “Before, it didn’t seem that they were making any active effort.”
And now, Rodriguez could make his case from his home in Newport News, and not have to drive seven hours to a New Jersey courtroom for a case in which he wasn’t involved.
“You helped convince them to make an exception and allowed me to appear through video,” Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez said life is better now.
“The sense of relief,” he said. “Oh my gosh, it just felt good once it was all over. Thanks to the power of 10.”
