In August 2004 at the start of the senior year at the University, I made a mistake that changed my life I received a speeding citation for reckless driving/eluding police, during my return to campus. I was a full scholarship athlete at the University. Unfortunately, a scholarship does not cover outside expenses. I was taking care of my one-year old son and myself.

            The summer of 2004, I decided to work an extra week and half to accumulate more funds to help provided for my son’s care while away at school. Working the extra week and half meant I would miss the start of classes back at The University in North Carolina.

            In August 2004 I left my mother’s house to head back to school, late already reporting for classes. Hindsight now tells me that you cannot make up almost 2 weeks in a nine-hour drive. I made the immature decision to drive over the speed limit. The speed at which I was traveling, causing an Emporia Virginia Police officer to pull me over. I m sure it did not help that I was a young and an out of state driver as well with new York license plates in a common wealth state. The Police officer who arrested me was not the least bit interested in where I was on my way too or why I was speeding, and rightfully so. He briefly asked have I ever been in trouble and why was I speeding. I informed him that I had a clean record and I showed him my class schedule to prove that I was on my way to school and yes I was indeed speeding to get to class on time. I even told him he could check my car if he felt unsafe or didn’t believe me. Which I had a car full of my belongings that I was bringing back to school. 

I was arrested and the officer brought me before a magistrate judge who set my bail so high I had to get bail assistance from my family. What confused me here was that the officer talked me up in the car to assure me that everything would be fine but in front of the magistrate judge he said that he put on his sirens and I did not stop? I responded by saying that I stopped immediately because I have no reason to run from the cops, I had not ever been in trouble before and I had too much to lose. However I lost an additional four days of school and I almost lost my scholarship as well because of my actions. I accepted full responsibility for breaking the law; however I do question the punishment I received. To this day I have maintained a clean record. I even pulled my record through sentry link and criminalwatchdog.com. And this occurrence shows on my record? So My question is how do I go about getting this expunged off of my record because every time I apply to a government job I have to explain this situation over and over and then it’s up to the agency on their next step to hire me. So basically they have a pre conceived notion of me even though one of the charges against me is not true. I just feel like I am already behind the eight ball with this on my record!! Can anything be done? To help get this off of my record?