We know mistakes can happen in large government agencies.

But when a mistake almost leads to someone getting arrested, the mistake turns into one of our investigative stories.

A University of Rochester professor can drive his car without looking over his shoulder thinking he’s going to get arrested. But when I met him Tuesday, that concern was a real possibility.

When professor Daniel Beaumont drove his car to his house near the UofR Tuesday, he was putting himself in jeopardy.

That fear started last week when he was on a cross-country drive and got pulled over for speeding by a Nebraska state trooper. 

“And he comes back and says to me, ‘Your driver’s license has been surrendered.’ I said, ‘What does that mean?'” Beaumont said. “And he explains it usually means you’ve got a driver’s license in a new state. And he told me, ‘You need to take care of this as soon as possible because you could be arrested.'”

When Beaumont got home he contacted the Department of Motor Vehicles, which told him his license is surrendered because he has another license in New Mexico.

Berkeley Brean: “Did you ever apply for a driver’s license in New Mexico?”
Daniel Beaumont: “No.”

So I went to work.

Turns out Professor Beaumont has a heavy foot. New Mexico DMV says he has an old speeding ticket in there but no license.

And 24 hours after I contacted the New York State DMV, the department said it looked into Beaumont’s license and “determined he did not surrender his license to New Mexico. We restored his New York State driver’s license and we are working with our counterparts in New Mexico to investigate what caused this error.”

The DMV says this was an isolated problem, not a system problem.

But until he was pulled over in Nebraska, the professor had no idea the threat he faced on the road.

“I could be arrested here if a cop pulls me over for failing to put my turn signal on,” he said.

So how would you know?

Today I created an account with the state’s MyDMV. It took about 15 minutes, but it’s free and I saw my license — and its says “valid.”

If the professor did that prior to driving cross country he would have seen surrendered.

Click here for a link to MyDMV.