That sucks and is rather unfortunate. However, while according to the New York Civil Liberties Union, you are not legally required to carry ID, they say "Last

That sucks and is rather unfortunate. However, while according to the New York Civil Liberties Union, you are not legally required to carry ID, they say "Lastly, an officer cannot write you a summons if you do not provide i.d; instead he must arrest you. That means that if you are stopped for a violation such as loitering and do not provide i.d., you will be arrested"[0] So, there were three outcomes once you ran the light and they had you: 1)they let you go without a summons because you don't have id (in which case getting out of summons would be easy). or 2) they detain you until you are id'd most likely either by a) escorting you to your apartment to get ID or b) arresting you. ( Note, option 3 doesn't exist: taking what ever name you give them for a summons, clearly shouldn't be an option as if you give someone else's name, they are in trouble.) [0]http://www.nyclu.org/oped/column-showing-id-nypd-our-times http://www.nyclu.org/oped/column-showing-id-nypd-our-times