The case against Arthur James, who is accused of dangerous driving, leaving the scene of an accident, and failing to comply with the orders of the police, has been pushed back by two months.
James, who was charged in mid-August, told OBSERVER media he made his first appearance in the Traffic Court as scheduled on September 2nd, but he did not enter a plea to any of the charges.
His legal stand-in, who was present in the Traffic Court on behalf of attorney Andrew O’Kola, asked the court to order full disclosure of the evidence upon which the charges are premised. Since this information was not readily available, James’ in-court advisor, asked for an adjournment and the matter was then rescheduled for November 7th.
O’Kola, who is overseas, yesterday confirmed that the application for disclosure and request for an adjournment were made based upon his advice.
James was charged last month, after he turned himself in to the police after failing to comply with a police officer who had asked him to step out of his vehicle to be searched.
On August 13th, James was initially pulled over by a female traffic warden for not wearing a seatbelt while driving C 17970 on Old Parham Road. He was awaiting a ticket from the warden when a police officer came up to his vehicle and asked him to step out of it to be searched.
Earlier, James told OBSERVER media that he told the officer he needed to have “cause” to search him and asked what the cause was, and he further refused to exit the vehicle.
Instead, he drove off and the police alleged that when he did so, his vehicle hit two other vehicles. James said he drove away because he was frustrated, and he accused the police of harassing him each time he goes to Police Headquarters to sign in for another unrelated case.
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