Indianapolis woman sues police after being stopped over bumper sticker

[jimnyc]

I know it's technically a 1st amendment issue... but can you walk up to people and claim to be a cop, and say it's your 1st amendment right to do so? Or, would it be considered "unreasonable" for anyone to believe the sticker?

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(Reuters) - An Indianapolis woman has sued the city's police department, contending that an order to remove an "Unmarked Police Car" bumper sticker from her minivan violated her rights to free speech, the group representing her said on Monday.

A lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana on Friday argued that Indianapolis police did not have the right to question and make demands of Pamela Konchinsky after pulling over her vehicle earlier this month.

"We contend that the police officers who detained and interrogated our client without legal grounds to do so violated her constitutional rights," ACLU attorney Kelly Eskew said in a statement. "The promise of our Constitution is that these lines cannot be crossed."

According to the complaint, Indianapolis police officers told Konchinsky the bumper sticker would make people think she was impersonating a police officer and could get her shot, before demanding that she remove it from her rear window.

http://news.yahoo.com/indianapolis-woman-sues-police-being-stopped-over-bumper-195849635.html

[fj1200]

Freedom of speech is not absolute. Finding for city.

/gavel

[jimnyc]

Freedom of speech is not absolute. Finding for city.

/gavel

Kinda the way I see it. I'd stand up for the right of almost every sticker out there, just like almost every word out there. But impersonation is going too far, even if it perhaps could be accidental impersonation, or the fault of the person reading the sticker.

[NightTrain]

Not that a real cop would actually have a bumper sticker announcing it anyway... that defeats the whole purpose of an unmarked cop car.

You can't have anything on your car that says or insinuates you're a cop if you're not a cop. That includes any blue lights anywhere on your vehicle, at least here in AK, even inside or around your license plate.

There was a guy that bought an auctioned Crown Vic that commuted to Anchorage every day at the same time I did a few years ago. Since it used to be a cop car, it still looked like the real deal. So naturally, all of us hammering along at 80 would slow down and bunch up behind this guy who happened to drive the speed limit in the right lane. A few months later, he got a personalized license plate that read "NOTCOP" because he felt bad he was slowing everyone down.

I gave him a thumbs up as we cruised past him, it was cool of him to do and cost him money for the plate.


Anyway, that chick in the OP is guilty as charged and the cops are right.

/confirm previous gaveling by The Honorable FJ. Recommend pimp slap to the silly bitch and the ACLU weenies.

[fj1200]

/confirm previous gaveling by The Honorable FJ. Recommend pimp slap to the silly bitch and the ACLU weenies.

It's always nice to be affirmed, judges don't like to be reversed on appeal. :laugh: