I went to check my insurance renewal premium on Thursday morning around 10:30am to see if it had gone down or not. Instead, I find that it had increased by $400.
Confused and ready to jump companies, I set up a chat with a Progressive representative to inquire why my premium went up. They kindly informed me that my Good Driver Discount was revoked because my license was suspended.
Meanwhile, I’m looking at my license in my wallet.
This is how the chat went:
Orondé: WHAT?! My license was never suspended!
Progressive: The information came from your motor vehicle report which, comes from the state. It was from March of this year
O: The last time I was pulled over was for a moving violation in 2009! How can I dispute this?
P: You will need to contact your local DMV to see why it is listed on there. You would need to dispute it through them and if it is removed, you would need to provide us with a copy of your updated MVR.
P: Occurrence: SUSPENDED EXCESSIVE BLOOD ALCOHOL LEVEL
Violation date: 03/02/2015
O: I don’t even drink!
O: How can they do that without even having a copy of my license?!
P: I would definitely contact them to see how it got listed on there
O: Is there a report that was provided to you that you could send me? This is completely ridiculous!
P: It may be listed in error. Occurrence: SR22 PROOF REQUIRED
Type: F/R
Violation date: 07/02/2015
Conviction date: 07/02/2018
P: This is what is also listed It’s saying that you are required to have an SR-22
O: I’ve had full coverage with you guys since 2009!
They suggest I call the DMV to figure out where this is coming from, so I do. After a 40 minute wait, I finally get through to a representative.
After explaining the situation, they refer me to the Mandatory Actions Department. I call the number they provided, which takes me to a message that says “we are experiencing high call volumes; you should try to call back later” then hangs up. It did this 3 times.
I call the DMV again and get a rep 55 minutes later. This representative tells me to contact the Drivers Safety Hearing Department, and that the suspension stems from an alcohol-related arrest by the LAPD.
Let’s backtrack here.
I’ve never been arrested. I don’t drink. I don’t smoke. The one and only time I’ve been stopped by police was in 2009 for doing 15mph over the limit on a “quota day“. I’ve only ever had two other tickets: both parking violations because I forgot to move my car on a street cleaning day.
I’ve had one drink in my entire life: it was a shot of Grey Goose at a house party when I was 24. With the exception of the one person who had me take that shot, you can literally ask anyone I know if I drink, and they will tell you “no”.
Yet my license was suspended for a drunk driving arrest.
I call the Drivers Safety Hearing department (which surprisingly had no wait time) and explain the situation. The representative says it’ll take a while to pull the records and that she’ll call me back.
By this time, it’s 1:00pm. I walk to get something to eat, since driving with a suspended license is a misdemeanor. With tensions between black people and law enforcement already high, combined with the fact that Straight Outta Compton was hitting theaters that night, I didn’t need to become another #BlackLivesMatter hashtag.
I could already see it: getting pulled over for something stupid, arrested for the license suspension, my Malcolm X meets Wild 100s side coming to the surface in response to the wrongful arrest, and the next thing you know I’m the next Sandra Bland.
Nope. Not this guy.
I get a call around 4:00 from the Drivers Safety Hearing department. They say they can’t find the records, but they sent a priority request to get the police report. At this point, I inform my office building manager that my car may be parked in the garage for a while, then I catch a ride home with my coworker.
I’m legit freaking out right now, because this situation could go one of two ways: (1) it’s a clerical error and would be annoying yet simple to rectify, or (2) someone used my name and address while getting arrested, making me a victim of criminal identity theft.
After a difficult evening, in which I got to wash clothes and cook instead of attending my buddy’s first art showing, I woke up early and caught the bus to work for the first time in 6 years. It wasn’t too inconvenient, but I prefer my car.
Thankfully I got a call around 8:15am saying that it was all a clerical error and that my record was cleared of any infractions! I was so excited, I nearly skipped through the halls at work.
Just like that, my record is back to being pristine.
I truly appreciate my coworkers that did what they could to help during my meltdown on Thursday: one offered to put me in touch with some traffic attorneys, and one is married to an LAPD officer who gave me some advice on navigating that department if it came to that.
And that is how a clerical error got my license suspended for 5 months without my knowledge.
