I tore up my restraining order, which makes it no longer valid, but the police still arrested me?

Question

I don't understand why...

Answer 1

How in the name of god did you come up with the idea that a restraining order against you can simply be torn up?  If that were the case, everybody would be tearing them up and nobody would get arrested for violating them.

Answer 2

If the restraining order was against you, tearing up the paper it was printed on only makes you disrespectful of the legal process. It doesn't mean you don't have to obey the order. The paper is just a representation of what you have been ordered to do, and if you disobey, you get arrested, no matter how much confetti you make from legal documents.

Answer 3

Even if you tear up your copy of the restraining order, the courts still have the record on file. I don't know how you would think that simply tearing up something would take the order out of a filing cabinet and out of a computer system. Yeah... you were supposed to be arrested. You have to go before a judge to get a restraining order dropped.

Answer 4

The piece of paper you tore up only serves as notification of the order, it is not the order itself.  It's not like paper money that goes away if you destroy it.  

Considering you had a restraining order, considering that you tore it up, and further considering that you did something later that caused your arrest, it seems as though you need to stay the heck away from whomever you were ordered to stay away from.

Answer 5

was the restraining order against you? or were you restraining someone else?

Answer 6

Under that logic, you can just tear up your booking sheet too, and the arrest will no longer be valid. Good luck with that.

Answer 7

You tearing up the restraining order does not invalidate it.  Only a judge can repeal the order.  The order is on file with the courts, what you tore up was only your copy.

Answer 8

If you don't know why, then there is no reason to explain it to you as you still wouldn't understand.

Answer 9

You don't understand why? It's not that hard, but I'll go slow. See, the piece of paper they gave you---is a copy. The original is kept in the court house. Therefore, you can rip it into teeny tiny little pieces and then throw them into the fireplace, but it's still valid. Someone actually got involved with you to need to put a restraining order in place in the first place? At least they came to their senses. Maybe you should change your user name to "duh."

Answer 10

Because tearing up your restraining order does nothing.  The original order is always kept in the clerks office.  You receive a certified copy of it.  You tore up a certified copy.  You'll have to request that the judge/magistrate that issued it to you will remove it.