Woman Arrested For Warning About Speed Trap

[Jagshund]

Actually, she was arrested for supposedly being in the street, but I have my doubts.

However . . . she kinda looks like one dem dirty hippies, so it might be true.

Texas Woman Arrested for Warning Drivers About Speed Trap - Yahoo!


A Houston woman's attempt to save drivers from a speeding ticket landed her something worse: 12 hours in jail.

As she rode her bicycle home from a grocery store last week near downtown Houston, Natalie Plummer noticed police officers pulling over speeders. After she parked her bike and turned one of her grocery bags into a makeshift sign warning drivers about the "speed trap" ahead, an officer drove up and arrested her.

"I was completely abiding by the law," Plummer told ABC's affiliate KRTK. "I was simply warning citizens of a situation ahead." But Houston police saw it differently, and arrested Plummer for standing in the street where there a sidewalk was present, a misdemeanor charge. Houston police spokeswoman Jodi Silva said that officers found Plummer standing in the street, waving her arms as she held the sign.
But Plummer denied ever leaving the sidewalk on West Dallas Street, alleging that the arresting officer invented a reason to detain her. "He couldn't take me to jail for holding up this sign or he would have. So all he could do was make up something fake about it," Plummer told KRTK. The officer searched Plummer's backpack, she said, and threatened to arrest her for obstructing justice, a felony charge.

Michael Dirden, Houston's executive assistant police chief, said in a statement that if Plummer believes the police acted inappropriately, she should file a complaint with the department's internal affairs division. After being held in jail for 12 hours, Plummer was released on bond, and will soon appear in court to face her misdemeanor charge.
While Plummer's method of alerting drivers to police activity might have been unprecedented, state laws covering such warnings are decades old. Their most common form, flashing headlights, is legal in some states but illegal in others.

Laws in New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia and Florida allow headlight flashing, while other states, such as Arizona and Alaska, forbid it. In Washington, drivers may be fined $124 for flashing their high beams within 400 feet of another vehicle for any reason. Other states forbid headlight flashing in some circumstances but not in others.

In Massachusetts, flashing car lights is not illegal, but it may result in an encounter with a police officer. If a driver says no when an officer asks whether headlights were flashed to warn drivers of a speed trap, the officer might ask if the motorist was driving with defective lights — which state law forbids.
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[9dreizig]

what ever happened to freedom of speech ?

[vash]

Originally Posted by 9dreizig

what ever happened to freedom of speech ?

yup. maybe this falls under that crying "FIRE!" in a crowded room criteria?

[Rick Lee]

Originally Posted by NotaBRG

I'm not saying she was wrong. But what if you knew the cops were getting ready to do a drug bust. Would you warn the people who were about to get busted? Even if you had no idea who they were, just some random people?

If cops were about to do a drug bust, then the crime has already long ago been committed and is still being committed. Warning drivers to slow down does not mean they were already speeding.

If the goal of speed enforcement is to get people to drive slower, why wouldn't the cops welcome the citizens' helping hands? Oh yeah, it's because they don't want people to slow down. They want to write tickets. Those cops should be in jail for false arrest. Maybe they'll arrest parents and teachers next for trying to get kids to grow up and act responsibly instead of committing crimes and taking business away from the "criminal justice" system.

[Rick Lee]

Originally Posted by NotaBRG

Playing devils advocate a bit here, but do you really think that they weren't speeding?

And I'd say the goal of a speed trap is not to get people to slow down any more than the goal of a drug bust is to get people to stop doing drugs.

I don't know the area, but speed traps are often set up just past the point where the speed limit drops, so as to catch people not slowing down fast enough. If cars were speeding and the cops got them, then ok. But why harass a woman who's also trying to get cars to slow down? She's just helping the cops, no?

[on2wheels52]

What if that had happened to Paul Revere?
Jim

[bell]

what did the sign say? that may have something to do with it lol

[Rick Lee]

There was a cop in DC a few years ago who got so fed up with people speeding in front of his house, that he used to run radar from his front yard while off duty. Cops, of course, speed with impunity. This guy, while in uniform (I think he had just gotten home) caught another cop doing about twice the speed limit without lights on, stepped into the road to flag him down and the other cop blew past him. He got in his patrol car and followed the other cop with lights on all the way back to the precinct to complain to his watch commander. Of course, nothing happened. But it made the Wash. Post, so people became aware of it. This combined with the Houston story really gives me no confidence that cops are trying to make the roads safer. The last time I got busted, the cop even told me, "You're from out of state, the state is broke, it's a holiday weekend and, well, I got you." I thanked him for his candor. And then he told me how to get it knocked down to a parking ticket so as to beat the points. Total tax collector.

[romad]

"screw umm"

[kach22i]

'Speed Trap' Sign Lands Texas Woman in Jail - ABC News

I bet she stayed on the sidewalk, look how close it is to the road.

Every time I've been to court, the cops lied.

[rattlsnak]

This issue just went to the supreme court and was granted LEGAL... Regardless of what each state says..

[mikester]

I love seeing the cops talking on the phone without a hands free while they are driving. It's awesome.

[Racerbvd]

Course, this isn't the only time that Cops have busted people for warning about their traps..

Originally Posted by mikester

I love seeing the cops talking on the phone without a hands free while they are driving. It's awesome.

Yes, this is real, a buddy took the picture.

Originally Posted by NotaBRG
I'm not saying she was wrong. But what if you knew the cops were getting ready to do a drug bust. Would you warn the people who were about to get busted? Even if you had no idea who they were, just some random people?

If they were about to make a bust, they would have warrants, speed traps are boarder line entrapment (Waldo & Laudy(spelling), FL, use to drop from 55 to 25 signs until the state stepped in, and they literally hid in the bushes) with the sole purpose of revenue..

[RWebb]

she's lucky - could have been worse:





yes, she needs to sue them

[Baz]

She looks like an anarchist-type. In my opinion - flashing your lights is one thing - stopping, creating a sign - holding it up....borderline fanatical behaviour. I wonder if society wouldn't be better without these types in circulation?

I bet she was in the street - in her furvor to "do her duty" for fellow mankind.

Generally I agree - speed traps are pure BS. I see drivers everyday who need to be pulled over and "educated" on how to drive better - meaning more safer and/or considerate. But cops never do that. I also see speeders in residential areas where cops never enforce the speed limit.

YMMV...

[smokintr6]

Originally Posted by vash

yup. maybe this falls under that crying "FIRE!" in a crowded room criteria?

Uh,.... It is completely legal to yell "fire" in a crowded room... when there actually is a fire.

There was a speed trap, so this is probably not like that at all. Right?

[red-beard]

I'm on West Dallas quite often. It is 2 lanes each direction with a sidewalk on both side. There would be no reason for her to stand in the road. She was arrested for annoying a cop...

[12own911]

She could have updated "Waze" application from her phone to let drivers know that there is a speed trap ahead and then the cop cannot do anything about it.

[Hawktel]

On the other hand she is going to be a well off hippy rather soon. Unlawful arrest has to be worth at least 100K.

Thats some cash. They better get a red light camera set up quick!