South Pasadena police seek dismissal of tickets issued in school bus sting
The South Pasadena Police Department has requested the dismissal of more than 150 traffic citations issued to drivers this week during a school bus sting.
Designed to nab motorists who violated a vehicle code section that requires drivers to stop for school buses with flashing red lights, the sting Wednesday involved two police cadets walking on and off a school bus parked on Huntington Drive near Milan Avenue.
However, the vehicle code specifies that drivers may not pass a school bus with its red lights flashing when it is “stopped for the purpose of loading or unloading any schoolchildren.”
After meeting with the city attorney, the Police Department decided Friday morning to ask the courts to dismiss the citations, which were reported earlier to be $500 each.
“We didn’t meet the requirements for this code,” Capt. Richard Kowaltschuk said.
The sting was set up after the department was contacted by April Cash and her husband, Ryan Bodily, whose 6-year-old daughter, Zoey, is deaf, mentally disabled and blind in one eye.
The family lives on Huntington and fears for Zoey’s life when she’s being dropped off by her school bus.
Cash was surprised to learn that the department was asking for the citations to be dismissed. “That’s really upsetting,” she said.
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