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Judge: Physics did not get Krioukov out of ticket

Dmitri Krioukov
Dmitri Krioukov Dmitri Krioukov

(CBS News/AP) A San Diego court commissioner is denying that a scientist's physics paper had anything to do with her dismissing his $200 traffic ticket. CBSNews.com reported this week that Dmitri Krioukov of the University of California, San Diego, used an equation-filled paper on the physics of a car in motion to successfully appeal a ticket for failure to stop.

As it turns out, all those pages of post-grad mathematics weren't even necessary.

Superior Court Commissioner Karen Riley told U-T San Diego that she listened to the physics argument but much of it went over her head.

"The ruling was not based on his physics explanation," Riley told the San Diego paper. "It was based on the officer's view ... The officer wasn't close enough to the intersection to have a good view."

Even the $400 fine was hyperbole, according to the commissioner.

"He's exaggerating," she told U-T San Diego. "It never would've been $400. Even if he had traffic school, it would've been $287."

Krioukov was unavailable for comment, but is still probably happy to be out of a fine - physics or no physics.

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