I once got a ticket which resulted in a parole violation and 6 months in the county for... Walking on the wrong side of the road...

I moved in with my grandma, who was slowly dying of renal failure, after getting paroled and got my act together, got a job, got clean. I was walking a mile down the road to pick up her medicine which cost around ~$600 so I had the cash on me. Mostly sidewalks, I got stopped by a cop who said I was walking in the wrong side of the road right after I crossed the street to get to the pharmacy which was now maybe 30 feet in front of me. They put me in cuffs, searched me, got dogs out, 6 cops cars for a guy walking. Found nothing but the cash for the medicine and decided that was suspicious and determined that I must have been planning to buy drugs. An old friend was the pharmacist so I pleaded to let me call the store and they can confirm the medicine is ready to be picked up and I had just enough money to pay for it. They obliged and I called and my friend confirmed telling them I'm in there once a month for the same thing.

In the end they wrote me a ticket for walking on the wrong side of the road and stole my money. The next day I had cops swarming my grandmas house and arrested me for a parole violation for getting a ticket. My PO at the time was an asshole who didn't believe anyone could change so when he heard about what happened immediately suspected that I was up to no good. I had to go to court and they tried charging me with intent to purchase illegal substances or something of the sorts with conspiracy to distribute because of how much they said I would have been buying. I had a public defender, my case was hopeless, my grandma was dying, they said if I plead guilty I'd get an extra 6 months added to my probation after parole and no extra jail time. I plead guilty and they put me in jail for 6 months and still added another 6 months of probation. Then told me they were doing me a favor by not putting me in for the remaining 26 months of paroles or whatever it was.

I later checked and there was no law broken, since there were side walked on both sides and I crossed at a crosswalk it didn't matter which was I was walking, which seems pretty fucking obvious.

I was sober, I was working, I was doing good stuff. I lost my job, lost my sobriety, and lost precious time I'll never get back.

I don't do anything illegal nowadays to the point where I won't jaywalk on an empty street. I'm scared to drive because a cop could pull me over anytime and just assume I'm no good. They have unchecked power, they can charge you with looking like a turkey if they wanted to and you'll do time if you can't afford a decent lawyer.