Asheville, NC asked in Traffic Tickets for Virginia

Q: I got pulled over for failing to stop at a stop sign in va. The cop gave me a ticket with a court date on it.

On the ticket the cop filled out the arrest location, time ,and date. I never got arrested or got out of my car. Can I get the case thrown out because of that?

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2 Lawyer Answers

A: The short answer to your question is no, this would not be grounds for having your case thrown out.

Law enforcement officers can stop your vehicle to give you a citation when they notice you have broken the law in some way, such as by speeding or disregarding a traffic signal. While this isn't what we think of as an "arrest," it is temporary detention by an officer due to your infraction. What the ticket refers to as "arrest location" in this case just means the location where the officer stopped your car after noticing the infraction.

A: No. Some errors on the ticket do result in dismissal. The most frequent, I find, are where the officer writes down the wrong offense date. However, your case would not be dismissed for the reason you mention. For stop sign tickets, the law says you have to stop at the stop line. Some intersections the stop sign is well BEFORE the stop line. Not sure if this applies but if you find a legal defense it's likely to revolve around where you are supposed to stop.

Even if you broke the law, they might help dismiss the case if you have a very good driving record (and assuming there was no danger to life, limb or property due to breaking the law).

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