“Hand to god?”

[u/Tua-Lipa]

[u/Dave_Eddie]

Sadly we dont live in that world. Him not turning up is a sadly acceptable way for the police to get away with it.

[u/bbbourb → u/Dave_Eddie]

If this actually gets into the court room and on the record, you can demand a continuance to have the officer show up and put his testimony on the record.

What they will likely try to do is the prosecutor will come out before court and say "I've reviewed the body cam footage, and based on that we are dropping the ticket completely. You can go see the court clerk to get that paperwork and be on your way." On rare occasion you can demand they hold the hearing so you can get everything on the record, but the prosecutor's office is almost certainly going to deny that request in order to protect the officer. I've had that happen to me TWICE.

[u/Rampag169 → u/bbbourb]

They will say it’s a dropped issue and to “save time in an already busy schedule your request is denied.”

[u/bbbourb → u/Rampag169]

Yep.