Originally Posted by
lostarchitect
Yeah, he got arrested for mouthing off, really. If he had just taken the ticket he could have walked away. Dumb.
It's generally a bad idea to ride against traffic to start with, but if you do it and get caught, just deal with it. Being a jerk just means the cop is going to come down harder on you.
+1, There's no obligation to carry ID in NYS. It is necessary to establish your identity if the officer has reason to need it, such as to issue a citation. In the past, this might have meant a trip to the police station, where some means of confirming ID was done. In one case many years ago, in upstate NY, it meant a phone call to my bank, whereby the branch manager identified me by voice and conversation and relayed this info to the desk sergeant.
These days, it rarely comes to that. Most police cars (including, I'm sure, this one) have computers, and can link to various databases to establish ID on the spot. The easiest is for NYS drivers, who need only provide correct name, address and date of birth, and the cop will have the driver's license photo to compare.
Alec's problem was problem that he's who he is, and doesn't know when to shut up.