Com. v. Federico

• Decision Date: 02 May 1968
• Citation: 236 N.E.2d 646,354 Mass. 206
• Parties: COMMONWEALTH v. Lawrence P. FEDERICO.
• Court: United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court

Page 646

236 N.E.2d 646

354 Mass. 206

COMMONWEALTH v. Lawrence P. FEDERICO.

Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, Bristol.

Argued April 1, 1968.

Decided May 2, 1968.

Michael R. Pizziferri, Brighton (Joseph A. Todisco, Natick, with him), for defendant.

L. Barry Tinkoff, Asst. Dist. Atty., for the Commonwealth.

Before WILKINS, C.J., and WHITTEMORE, KIRK, SPIEGEL and REARDON, JJ.

SPIEGEL, Justice.

The defendant made a motion to dismiss a complaint charging him with '(f) ailure to use care in making (a) left turn.' The motion was heard in the Superior Court on the following statement of agreed facts: The defendant was 'lawfully and legally operating a motor vehicle' on a public highway when he 'made a left turn, which was not prohibited by law and a collision resulted. * * * About a quarter hour after the collision a police officer * * * arrived * * * and after talking with both operators, whose version of the collision conflicted, he issued to the defendant a motor vehicle violation citation under * * * G.L. c. 90C, § 2, charging the defendant with failing to use care in making a left turn.'

The judge denied the motion and then reported the case on this question: 'Whether * * * on the facts stated * * * the police officer had the right or authority to issue the citation and to seek a complaint.'

General Laws c. 90C, § 2, as amended through St.1965, c. 692, § 3, reads in pertinent part as follows: 'Any police officer assigned to traffic enforcement duty shall record the occurrence of automobile law violations upon a citation, filling out the citation and each copy thereof as soon as possible and * * * indicating thereon whether a complaint shall be applied for, or whether a written warning shall be issued. Said police officer shall inform the offender of the violation and shall give the original of the citation to the alleged offender. A failure to give the original of the citation to the offender at the time and place of the violation shall constitute a defence in any trial for such offense, except where the violator could not have been stopped * * *. Nothing in this chapter shall prevent a person other than a police officer from applying for a criminal complaint for an automobile law violation, and such person need not show that the alleged offender has been issued a citation in connection with such offense.'

Since the statute is penal in nature, it must be strictly construed. Commonwealth v. Hayden, 211 Mass. 296, 297, 97 N.E. 783....