I was the passenger of a vehicle that got pulled over for speeding but the officer wrote my info down on (Friendswood: insurance, legal)

[dajinn]

Title sums it up:

• Friend was driving his truck that's registered to him
• I was merely the passenger
• Cop handed the citation back to my friend
• We just noticed the name, DL info was mine and not his

This was in Friendswood. Any advice or information you can provide on what my options will be?

Thank you.

[77030]

Why did the cop have your DL number?

[HookTheBrotherUp]

I guess you will find out soon enough if you have a 'true' friend.

[texas7]

Originally Posted by dajinn

Title sums it up:

• Friend was driving his truck that's registered to him
• I was merely the passenger
• Cop handed the citation back to my friend
• We just noticed the name, DL info was mine and not his

This was in Friendswood. Any advice or information you can provide on what my options will be?

Thank you.

I would call friendswood pd today and ask. If the officer took both of your licenses at the same time, maybe he inadvertently used yours when filling out the ticket. I'd get it cleared up quick. The ticket will go against your insurance -- could be a mess for you if you don't clear it up.

[texasroots77]

thats very strange...

[shortel]

good luck with friendswood. Nothing they do suprises me when it comes to the police.

[elnina]

Originally Posted by 77030

Why did the cop have your DL number?

The issue of compulsory ID has been to the U.S. Supreme Court countless times and it is very clear that police have no authority to demand ID from people without cause. In Brown v. Texas, 443 U.S. 47 (1979), for example, the court ruled "to detain appellant and require him to identify himself violated the Fourth Amendment because the officers lacked any reasonable suspicion to believe appellant was engaged or had engaged in criminal conduct. Accordingly, appellant may not be punished for refusing to identify himself...

But... sometimes it depends:
Investigation of the initial traffic stop may not be the only reason an officer would ask a passenger for identification. For example, if the passenger matched the description of a wanted person, it seems reasonable that the officer would want to either confirm or exclude that person as a suspect.
The unique circumstances of each traffic stop determine whether a passenger is required to provide ID

So, pretty much a grey area...

[WRM20]

If you are not driving the vehicle, or carrying a handgun, there is no reason, ever, to give a police officer your drivers license. The Texas Penal Code makes it legal to refuse to identify yourself unless arrested, as long as you don't lie about who you are. If you choose to identify yourself, stating your name is sufficient.

[elnina]

Legal or not, that's not OP question
The question is how to handle a speeding ticket written to a passenger not the driver...
Well, people on Reddit gave you good advice - call the police department that issued the ticket, and explain the situation.
Don't wait too long. By the end of the week, the cop might not remember who was driving the car.
Or you can call the prosecutor.

[dajinn]

Right now I'm playing phone tag. God.

I called Friendswood police as soon as I learned they were open late on Sunday and told the operator the issue. Got patched through to the officer who handed us the ticket. She isn't back again until Thursday. She had a partner training her I believe who was present. I was able to learn his name and got patched to him, he was on duty today and I got his voice mail. Left both very polite messages.

I've asked both the PD and municipal court if they could do anything. It seems like it should be an effortless task so I don't understand why they make something like this difficult unless there's something else that goes on behind the scenes that could make it less "serviceable".

I am honestly not counting on hearing back from either cop as I doubt they will honestly care enough to bother calling me and taking care of it. It is easy enough for an officer to just say he never got the message since who could verify it? At least that's my opinion. Cynical perhaps but I like to think the most realistic outcome. Nothing against the officers but to them it's probably a small fry issue.

Me and my friend who I can 100% count on since he is my best friend are already planning for the court date since it's most likely easier to just show up and talk to the prosecutor and say hey man... this is the wrong info.

It would be amusing if they just toss the ticket if it's too arduous to retcon. But we aren't planning on that happening just more of an amusing thought.

Regarding calling the prosecutor, I suspect unless I could somehow discover his office phone that if I call and ask to speak with him that the court clerks will just blow me off. I'm going to try of course but that's just my expectation. It's just my experience with these entities that they virtually "can't do anything" and they just play ping pong with it telling me it's this department no its that department so on and so forth.

Will update as I learn more just in case someone ever comes across this thread in the future.