Police pulled me over, said I had an unknown warrant, then let me go. Confused

What is the name of your state? Ohio

i'm in Columbus OH

I work at a bar as a DJ, and had left my shift and was heading home at around 2AM. City of Columbus police car pulls me over, female deputy comes up and says that my muffler sounded a bit loud. Asks for my drivers license, goes back to the cruiser, runs my license, comes back says that I have an unknown warrant but that she is not going to arrest me because she does not know what the warrant is for (????), says I should "go get it checked out" and then gives me a warning about my muffler and lets me go after less than 5 mins on the side of the road.

I've checked the Franklin County municipal court and County Clerk office websites and I can find no open cases against me. I'm low income and can not afford a lawyer, and I'd rather not go down to a police station and perchance be arrested without resources to post bail if needed.

any other steps I can take to see what, if anything, there was to this "unknown warrant" and is it normal procedure for a deputy to tell someone that they have an "unknown warrant" yet not arrest the person? I would have thought that if there was a warrant out on me, the deputy would have to arrest me. Not that I'm upset that she did not, but just very very confused. I've lived at the same address for over a decade so it's not like the police could not come pick me up if they had a warrant, and I've not received any summons to appear in court.

You must go to the local sheriff's office and ask them to run your record if you want to know if a warrant is outstanding.

seniorjudge said:

You must go to the local sheriff's office and ask them to run your record if you want to know if a warrant is outstanding.

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OK, but is it standard procedure for a deputy who has someone pulled over to not arrest someone if they have an outstanding warrant????

That is what is so confusing here. She said she had no information about the warrant, just that it is an "unknown warrant".

Q: OK, but is it standard procedure for a deputy who has someone pulled over to not arrest someone if they have an outstanding warrant????

A: Apparently so.


Q: That is what is so confusing here. She said she had no information about the warrant, just that it is an "unknown warrant".

A: An unknown warrant is a warrant the officer has no information about.

The warrant is likely from another jurisdiction and that agency has not requested extradition.

- Carl

It is at the officer's discretion (sometimes motivated by a job requirement) whether or not to arrest you for a warrant. Sounds like the officer did a nice thing by not arresting, and I'm not quite sure why you're complaining about it.

The Occultist said:

It is at the officer's discretion (sometimes motivated by a job requirement) whether or not to arrest you for a warrant. Sounds like the officer did a nice thing by not arresting, and I'm not quite sure why you're complaining about it.

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As I said above

Not that I'm upset that she did not, but just very very confused. I've lived at the same address for over a decade so it's not like the police could not come pick me up if they had a warrant, and I've not received any summons to appear in court

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I'm not complaining so much as trying to understand what exactly happened as I've never heard of such a thing happening before.