Just wanting to get the experiences of others and if this is a thing.
TL;DR Father was accused of running a red light and police won't provide any evidence to support this
So basically this was about an alleged driving violation last year. We were driving through an intersection which had a green light and maybe 2 metres in the light turned yellow/amber. We completed crossing the intersection while the light was yellow.
A few minutes down the road we are pulled over and told we went through a red light by an officer. Officer says they were on the other side of the road and the light on their side was yellow when we entered the intersection and that by the time the light had turned red our back tires were still not through the intersection which is a violation. We refute this and say we had only passed through green and yellow lights to which they counter running a yellow light is also a traffic violation.
In any case, when the infringement notice comes the violation is "failing to stop at a red light", which even the officer didn't say at the time.
Later we get the supposed evidence which is body cam footage of the officer (which wouldn't even be helpful given they couldn't see the lights we saw to even prove what happened). The disc (and I can't believe they are still using DVDs to pass on evidence) is defective and doesn't work, even with me speaking to the police station and asking specifically which multimedia player they use, which I downloaded and tried to play the disc on, only for the disc to fail again. I checked with another DVD I had and it played fine, meaning the player is not at fault.
Eventually, at the hearing, I speak on behalf of my father (who speaks English as his second language) and ask them about the evidence to which the court says ask the prosecutors for it which I have been doing for the past few weeks. They have yet to provide this evidence and now say they won't talk with me any more, only my father or his lawyer, even though they haven't provided us with anything.
To me this feels like them either trying to exploit someone less educated to try and force us to pay the fine, or tie us up in unnecessary paperwork/work engaging a lawyer (not to mention cost).
Any advice/anyone had similar issues?
Put your requests in writing, signed by your father (so they don't bring up excuses about "privacy") and send it via registered mail. They must supply you with copies of any evidence they intend to rely on in court. Chase them up every week in writing. If you don't get anything, you've got proof that you've requested the evidence and they've failed to supply it.