This was an actual situation I witnessed, but I am doing the question in a generic format to avoid identifying parties.
Background:
A driver was on a highway above the speed limit. The driver was pulled over by a police officer, and after a verbal warning, the officer decides to let go the driver without a speeding ticket.
Before letting the driver go, the officer asks for insurance proof. The driver freaks out a little and has problem finding the proof, so the officer decides to start writing a court citation for the driver to go and show insurance proof before a judge (as stated by law). When the officer comes back with the copy of the citation, the driver finally finds the insurance proof, and shows it to the officer. The officer decides to dismiss the court citation (torn apart the citation paper in front of the driver), and finally let the driver go.
The police officer apparently forgot to remove the citation from his documents, so he/she filed the citation anyway at the end of the shift (even though he/she did not gave any copy of the citation to the driver and he/she told it was dismissed). Since the driver never knew of this, he/she never appears on court, and receives a ticket for this.
To add more insult to the injury, because the driver did not paid the ticket on time, the driver's license was suspended without the driver's knowledge. The driver drives on this condition for more than a month, until he/she goes casually to the DMV to renew the car's registration. This is when the driver founds out that that he/she cannot complete the registration renewal because license was suspended, and founds out everything mentioned above.
The driver does not have any proof that this was in fact a mistake of the police officer who pulled him/her over a month ago.
Question:
What recourse does the driver has to get the ticket dismissed and his/her license reinstated on the basis that he/she never received an official court citation, and was the police officer mistake when he/she file it?
Jurisdiction is Florida, USA.
