Let them go?
Well, you have to be careful with that. Once an officer has contact with someone he assumes some liability for what happens next. Just taking the ID and letting them go also teaches no lesson and all their friends will know it is no problem if you get caught with a phony ID.
What has been posted here is only one side of a story and we will never know the actual full facts.
Many times it is a situation where people with phony ID's have been drinking earlier in the night. When an officer lets them go and they get in a car accident the actual and legal results are huge. It happens.
It is similar to when an officer stops a vehicle with expired plates and instead of towing the unregistered vehicle he allows the operator to continue on. In some states with mandatory insurance your current active registration is your proof of insurance. If there is a subsequent accident or incident the public will want answers.
In this suit happy world many things that may have been overlooked in the past cannot be ignored any more. It is just the way it is.
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