As I understand the technicalities, the signature is a promise to appear to answer the ticket. If you don't sign, then you're refusing to agree to appear, so the recourse the officer has is to take you into immediate custody and bring you before a judge or magistrate to answer the ticket.
Your signature on the ticket is like posting bail. I wish more drivers understood this, so stupid confrontations over signing the ticket would be unnecessary.
You are not legally bound to sign the ticket by law. It is the officer’s discretion in Utah. The episode was nonsense. Both exhibited bad behavior, but moreso the officer that wouldn’t listen and then got out of hand being a tough guy with his toy and then bragging about it.
Yeah, we went through this in another thread. The cop MAY take you into custody. In that state. In my state, they can pound sand. If I don’t go to court, I get a bench warrant. So, it’s a moot point signing anything.
In any case, FORCING someone to sign some, by law is unconstitutional. That’s making a law to take away rights. Someone ought to be seeing about doing a little court case about this problem, but it’s in another state. Let them deal with it.
The cop was STILL WRONG in tasering the guy. If I got stopped for speeding or whatever, I’d sign the ticket - because I don’t have an issue with it, but I think it is wrong to make a LAW to force someone to sign ANYTHING.
Once the ticket is written technically he is under arrest unless he post bail ie: signature bond. correct?