My 17 y/o son was leaving school and the girl in front of him stopped abruptly... my son followed suit and stopped, but the boy behind him hit my son's car from behind, causing him to hit the girl in front of him. Both boys got cited for Assured Cleared Distance. Is it possible to plead this down? It doesn't appear he would have been involved at all, had the 3rd driver not slammed into him. My son's car, as well as the girl's car in front, had minimal damage, whereas the other boys car had significant front-end damage, which shows that he was nowhere near stopped when the collision occurred. Any advice?

... It doesn't appear he would have been involved at all, had the 3rd driver not slammed into him. ...

Possibly. But, if he had maintained a safe distance between his car and the one in front of him, he at least would not have hit that car.

I suspect this is the exact reason for the Assured Cleared Distance law.

I am not sure what he could plead it down to, that is about as low as you can go. He can and perhaps should have an attorney hired to attempt to either get him off, If the car behind, hit him hard enough, to move him into the other car and he had stopped completely first, it is possible that an attorney could sell the judge that he did nothing wrong.

Next the attorney if nothing else, could try and work out a deal to perhaps lower or avoid any points on the license, Normally they don't plea to a non moving violation but anything can happen