supposed a cop sees someone run a red light and pull in to a shopping mall parking lot. by the time the cop catches up to the car, the driver has parked and entered the mall. At this point the officer has no way of verifying who was driviing the car. What options does the officer have for issuing a citation?
If the officer can’t get to the car before the driver parks, gets out, and walks into a building, there shouldn’t be any ticket.
The police would need to turn on lights to initiate a stop or pursuit right after he spotted the offense. The driver would be in trouble if he ignored lights but that doesn’t seem to be the issue here.
States have varied but generally well-defined guidelines on when lights need to be turned on and the procedures that follow from there.
No lights generally equals no stop and police generally can’t just write traffic citations if they decide to later. If they did, it likely wouldn’t hold up in court.
Not entirely true. A legal forum I frequent gets the occasional visitor that has received a ticket in the mail or from an officer days after an infraction. One of the current active threads in that forum is by a guy that got a ticket based on the information given by a citizen, the officer did not even witness the violation. Another example is folks that receive tickets after a traffic accident, the officer did not witness the driver at fault but writes a citation based on the supporting evidence. In a case such as described by the OP, the registered owner of the vehicle could be cited and the ticket would very likely stand up in court. Ask anyone that has received a red light camera ticket, these are proving very difficult to fight in court and the only witness to the offense is a camera.
Ok, I can see tickets after an accident and I have gotten them myself. Those are usually for things that are self-apparent and related to or directly caused the smashed up cars you see before you.
The traffic camera thing is another easy one although I know some people have fought hard because they weren’t the one’s driving.
In this case though, I can’t see it. I have been to traffic court in a couple of states and a belated ticket for something that should have been addressed right away seems like it just wouldn’t do well. The cop is going to be asked why the lights weren’t on and why he waited so long in the first place. How does he know it is the same car, let alone the same driver? Many cars look alike especially in a mall parking lot.
I have been the one reporting reckless driving and reported for reckless driving. The police will tell you that they would have loved to catch you when you were doing 120 down the road and people called in but now they are just stuck giving you a lecture.