Sorry to start such a selfish diary, but I wonder if it doesn't have bigger implications. Here's the story:
A friend of mine got a knock at her door yesterday and looked out the peephole to discover a guy waving a paper with a copy of her picture on it. He identified himself as a police officer (though he wasn't in uniform) and asked her to open the door.
She refused to open the door and said she herself would call the police because she was concerned that he might be an imposter. The guy outside the door then left.
My friend did call the police and before she knew it, there were four cops, plus the original plainclothes back at her door. They were there to arrest her because they discovered an outstanding summons from a protest she attended while in high school. She is now in her mid-thirties!
How'd this happen? The cops explained that when she sold a necklace to a nearby jewelry store a few days earlier, the owner made a copy of her license (as required by law), which he then passed on to the local precinct (also required by law). The cops at the precinct ran it through their stystem, and voila! up popped the outstanding summons from 20 years ago.
She was taken down to the local precinct in handcuffs--with the original plainclothes cracking that he was originally only going to give her a summons, but since she didn't let him in, he decided to take her down to the station--and let go not long after, but she had to appear in court the next day, and even after making an appearance in front of a judge, still has to return to court, where it is almost 100% likely that all charges will be dismissed.
according to the police officers, this happened because of the way laws have changed since 9/11.
my question is this, isn't this absurd and what about statue of limitations?? needless to say, she's pretty upset by all of this.