Traffic Ticket Lawyer Guns Down Would-Be Robber

MIAMI Scott Hidnert was driving out of his office parking lot at 720 NW 102nd St. on Thursday evening when he claims a would-be robber pulled the trigger of his weapon, but the gun jammed.

No words were exchanged. Hidnert snapped open his glove compartment, grabbed his handgun, opened the driver's side-door and fired ''several shots,'' according to Jonathan Bennett, office manager of the Traffic Ticket Office, founded by Hidnert.

Another robber, lurking beyond the gate of the parking lot, disappeared into the night.

''I'm lucky to be alive,'' the lawyer said. Hidnert has been called the ''granddaddy'' of ticket defenders. He founded a firm called Ticket Busters in 1992, one of the first to focus on misdemeanors such as speeding and running red lights. The firm's name changed to Traffic Ticket Office three years later.

Last year, a new Florida law was enacted that loosened the standard for self-defense, allowing threatened citizens to shoot first even if attackers don't show a gun. ''I don't expect any charges. He had a gun and was aiming at me,'' Hidnert said. ``If his gun didn't jam, he would have shot me.''

Miami-Dade police spokesman detective Roy Rutland declined to discuss charges. ``The entire case is still under investigation.'' Said Miami-Dade State Attorney's spokesman Ed Griffith: ``As part of the normal procedure, we always review all of the details.''

Miami-Dade's homicide bureau didn't release the name of the slain robber