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Ticket for throwing a lit cigarette out the window

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blackberryaddic

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Washington state

So today my sister threw a lit cigarette out the window while i was driving on the freeway, and then a cop behind me pulls me over. I was the driver and my sister was passenger. She did not have any identification on her at the time.The officer wrote her a $1025 for littering. I read the ticket and i saw some flaws on it, the officer did not write down her driver license, she does not have a middle name and there's a "s" there, my license #is 234wsg and officer wrote 234swg. What is the best advise about going into this situation because $1025 is a hefty fine to pay.

please help :)
 


HighwayMan

Super Secret Senior Member
In many states identification by government issued ID is mandatory for a ticket to be issued. Generally, a summons or ticket is issued in lieu of arrest. How can you write someone a ticket if you don't know who they are for sure? Here in New York, your sister should have been arrested.

That being said you need to check what the law in Washington is in regards to this. The other issues you raise are pretty meaningless in this case.

And why people think that it is acceptable to throw cigarettes on the ground, especially out car windows, is beyond me. It is littering. Period. And having a lit cigarette fly into another car's window can make the situation that much worse.

If you don't want to get your ashtray dirty then don't smoke in your car.
 

Antigone*

Senior Member
This reminds me of that "Don't Trash California" campaign. Please tell your sister to be careful answering the door. Someone might just come and throw trash all over her livingroom floor.:eek::D
 

LSCAP

Member
Is the fine 1025?

here in NC the fine is UP TO 1000.00

They get more annoyed at trucks that dump trash all over the place.
 

HighwayMan

Super Secret Senior Member
The OP said it was lit. He did not say the officer knew or cared. It's still littering, lit or not.
 

racer72

Senior Member
the officer did not write down her driver license,
She wasn't driving, no license required. Duh.....


she does not have a middle name and there's a "s" there, my license #is 234wsg and officer wrote 234swg.
Both irrelevant, neither prevents your sister from presenting a valid defense to the citation or was an element of the citation. Hopefully the hefty fine will teach you both a lesson of how stupid this was.

As you can tell, I have zero tolerance for a putz that throw cigarettes out the window. Maybe she can work off the fine picking up cigarette butts from the side of the road.

[QUOTEcluelessberry]In many states identification by government issued ID is mandatory for a ticket to be issued.[/QUOTE]
Wrong in every state and the District of Columbia. Using this utterly ridiculous reasoning, someone driving without a license could not be cited for the offense.
 

racer72

Senior Member
could a deferral work in this situation?
It's not a traffic offense, there is no reference to a deferral in the littering laws of Washington. That point is not relevant to the OP anyway, his concern was the "hefty fine", deferrals still require payment of the fine plus court costs.
 

HighwayMan

Super Secret Senior Member
[QUOTEcluelessberry]In many states identification by government issued ID is mandatory for a ticket to be issued
Wrong in every state and the District of Columbia. Using this utterly ridiculous reasoning, someone driving without a license could not be cited for the offense.
Wrong in EVERY state? Really?

In New York State you CANNOT be issued a summons/ticket/appearance ticket (your term of choice) without some type of government issued identification.

If I stop you while you are driving for some traffic infraction and you have no ID on you I am supposed to lock you up. I cannot issue a summons to a person who I cannot identify. That is the law. Where you are getting your information from I don't know.
 

Banned_Princess

Senior Member
In many states identification by government issued ID is mandatory for a ticket to be issued. Generally, a summons or ticket is issued in lieu of arrest. How can you write someone a ticket if you don't know who they are for sure? Here in New York, your sister should have been arrested.


Why do you say this posters sister would have been arrested here? That is ridiculous. maybe that country upstate, but down here a officer would never arrest someone who threw a cigarette out the window. (unless he wants to be a complete Jackass, and they only get that way if you have alot of run-ins with cops.)
And while it is MANDITORY for us citizens to always carry ID and it is a arrestable offence, our cops are too busy to go thru all that over a cigarette out the window.

But that's here in NY and doesn't even have to do with the question. WA is on the west cost where they have raging fires that take out miles on miles on counties. We barely have that problem, so that's not on the top of our cops list of ticket quota.
 

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