charges with drinking publicly, out of bar

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Question

Country: United States of America
State: New Jersey

I was walking out of a bar, not drunk, but with an open bottle of beer. A local police officer drives by, pulls over, then gives me a ticket for having an open the bottle and even has the nerve to say, "Just finish the bottle here, you're going to pay a lot for it anyway." Considering I am 21 and wasn't in a car, and was just walking home, is there any way around this despite the fact that I was wasn't even under the influence and that he didn't direct me to empty the bottle on the spot? Two of my friends were with me as witnesses. There is no charge on the ticket, just a Court Summons for December 14.

Answer

You could certainly bring up what he said--but the law does prohibit the taking of the bottle out of the bar--