Man Who Failed To Yield Causing An Accident Is Trying To Get His Ticket Dismissed. Is It Okay If My Passenger Doesn’t Show Up To The Hearing? Michigan

Location: Michigan

5 weeks ago my best friend was visiting me from college. I was driving and she was the front passenger.

The accident (if you don’t care for the juicy details you may skip ahead to the next paragraph): The road is 5 lanes with a right turn lane, a lane to go straight, two for going straight the exact opposite way, and a middle turn lane. There was heavy traffic, bumper to bumper, in the lane going straight ahead. I was driving in the right turn lane to make my turn into a plaza. I was driving next to the Great Wall of Cars™️ someone made a gap within that wall for a Ford Fusion in the middle turn lane to turn into an auto parts places. The guy whips out in front of me without looking to see if any cars, me, were coming. I slam on my breaks and turn my car trying to avoid hitting him without much success. We collide and the cop comes later. The cop talks with us and gets our statements. The cop takes my side (yay!) and tells the guy that I have the right of way and he failed to yield. He tried to say I was going too fast mind you the speed limit is 50mph.

TLDR: Cop takes my side and says guy failed to yield and writes him a ticket.

My car was damaged on the drivers side. I finally got my diva back yesterday after 3 weeks of repair. My insurance covered it all along with a rental (yay!!).

If you skipped the accident paragraph you can start here:

Today I and my friend received a Notice to Appear Civil Infraction regarding the accident. The guy wants to get the ticket dismissed I assume. If I or my friend fail to appear, we won’t have negative action taken against us.

Now an important detail about my friend is that she is an international student from South East Asia. I worry if she were to appear in court in-person or via Zoom, that she would be put in ICE’s radar or be taken as this is something they’ve been doing to people regardless of their legal status. So if my friend who is a witness didn’t show up to court but I show up, would he get his ticket dismissed even if she’s not there?

Thank you for taking the time to read this. I appreciate any advice and feedback! :)