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Officer's notes 'thin,' says company representing senior in cellphone ticket fight

By: Staff Writer

Posted: 05/15/2012 5:33 PM | Comments: 0

Laszlo and Margaret Piszker with a ticket for driving while on a cellphone. (TREVOR HAGAN / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS) Photo Store

The notes of a Winnipeg police officer who gave a senior a ticket for using a cellphone while driving are being described as "thin" by a company that will represent the man in court.

Len Eastoe, of Traffic Ticket Experts, said Tuesday he has obtained the officer’s notes and will now have a conversation with the Crown’s office about the case.

On March 2, Laszlo Piszker, 74, was ticketed in the 2500 block of Portage Avenue while he and his wife, Margaret, 72, were returning from lunch at the Olive Garden.

He has steadfastly denied he even owns such a device and has vowed he will fight the ticket to the bitter end.

In an interview Tuesday with the Free Press, Eastoe said the officer’s notes are "very, very thin."

"The word (cellphone) does not appear. It just says ‘a device’," Eastoe said. "I see a lot of cellphone tickets, and you normally see a better description of the device (seen by the officers)."

A day after the story hit the Free Press, the WPS issued a statement in support of officers who ticketed Piszker, saying it had reviewed the incident and "has information that is contradictory to the information that has been depicted in the local media."

The WPS statement also said officers "observed a male driver of a vehicle with a cellphone held to his ear. Officers were 7 to 8 feet away from the driver when this was observed."

Police also said the driver didn’t stop for several blocks after police turned on their cruiser’s flashing lights and attempted to pull the vehicle over. The driver was then ticketed.

But Eastoe said the officer’s note also don’t provide a description of any device seen once the Piszker’s vehicle was stopped.

"(In the notes) you usually see what the officer has observed after the stop — a phone, a GPS, an iPod. There is usually a description of the device. But I can tell you there was no description here," he said. "That’s odd. I have never seen it… and I see these things every day. We see them regularly since the law came in."

Piszker’s first court appearance was slated for Tuesday, however, a representative with Traffic Ticket Experts appeared before a judicial justice of the peace on his behalf, and the case was remanded until June 21.

The case likely won’t go to trial until next year.

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