Bay Area Woman Picks Up Three Speeding Tickets In An Hour
YUBA COUNTY (CBS13) - She was driving fast, and then she was furious after third speeding ticket in an hour led to her arrest.
For most people, one ticket would be enough to get them to slow down. But this woman says she had no idea she was speeding. She says she was focused on getting to her sick mother.
Worried about her 79-year-old mother, Lynne Cahill-Gomez raced from Hayward to get to Paradise in Butte County on Saturday night.
"I had gotten a phone call that she had fallen on her bad knee," she told CBS13 on Monday. "I was concentrating on my mom being hurt."
But along the way she was pulled over - not once, not twice, but three times for speeding within an hour. The CHP says her speeds exceeded 100 miles an hour on the first two tickets. The third time, they say she was going 76 in a 55 on Highway 70 in rural Yuba County near Woodruff Lane north of Marysville. The tickets all came from 8:10 p.m. to 9:08 p.m
"I've been doing this for over 27 years and this is my first time that I've heard of someone (in) three separate circumstances within a very short time," CHP Captain Andres Ornelas.
But Cahill-Gomez said she wasn't paying attention to her speedometer.
"Honestly, no, I was looking at the road watching where I was going," she said. "It's a dark road and you have to be real careful."
But officers say she wasn't being careful at all. And during the third stop, Cahill-Gomez was arrested for reckless driving and resisting arrest.
"I think based on the circumstances it was blatant disregard for the public's safety, and we don't know if there is an injured relative or not," Ornelas said.
She admits she was speeding but doesn't think she was going as fast as the officers allege.
She understands why some drivers might feel her actions were reckless, but she stands behind her actions, even if some believe her reason for doing it was just an excuse.
"There was no one on the highway and I was just trying to get to my mom's," she said.
Cahill-Gomez bailed out of jail Sunday. She's already paid $400 to get her car back. She's not sure how many thousands of dollars in fines she may still have to pay.
