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.

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A Central Texas police officer was fired Monday and could be in more hot water.

The Rosebud Police Officer was fired for working outside city limits against orders. It’s a rule he had reportedly broken multiple times.

On Saturday, the officer reportedly tried to take down a controversial speed trap sign along Highway 77 put up by some residents to warn drivers.

The signs were first put up that Friday as way for Rosebud Signs owner Bobby Bailey to combat what he thought was a police department giving out too many tickets. Rosebud residents helped pitch in and pay for the signs.

“The city was trying to more or less turn the town into a little evil town,” Bailey said. ”We want it to be like nice little Rosebud Texas, like it’s always been.”

The officer got into a heated exchange with one of those residents who helped Bailey with the signs.

“He told me the sign was impeding traffic,” John Borden, Rosebud resident, said.

Rosebud Police Chief Kenneth Proctor confirmed the incident.

“Evidently he confronted one of the owners there, or who put the sign up, and asked him to remove the sign,” Proctor explained.

The sign was on private property and outside the city limits. Chief Proctor said the confrontation about the sign was not the reason for the firing.

The officer is planning to appeal his firing, but it will be up to the Falls County District Attorney’s office to file any criminal charges.

Chief proctor also said while he doesn’t think his city is a speed trap, and has cut down on giving out tickets, he’s in favor of the signs.

News Channel 25 talked to that fired officer Monday night on the phone, he said he was directed by a supervisor to either ticket or arrest the people responsible for the signs. He thought taking it down would cause the least problems.

More signs may be put up on Highway 53, coming from Temple into Rosebud, in order to warn more drivers. Lights also may be added to the current signs so that drivers at night can see them.

(Source: http://www.kxxv.com)

Criminal record: Michael Thompson, seen here outside Grimsby Magistrates’ Court, believed he was doing his ‘civic duty’ by alerting drivers on the opposite side of a dual carriageway

A driver has been convicted of a criminal offence for flashing his headlights at oncoming motorists to warn them of a police speed trap ahead.

Michael Thompson, 64, believed he was doing his ‘civic duty’ by alerting drivers on the opposite side of a dual carriageway.

When stopped by a police officer Thompson disagreed with the suggestion that he was ‘perverting the course of justice’ and was then allegedly told: ’I was going to let you off with a caution – but I’m not now.’

Thompson denied wilfully obstructing a policewoman in the execution of her duty on July 21 last year, but was convicted after a trial at Grimsby Magistrates’ Court.

He ended up £440 out of pocket after being fined £175, ordered to pay £250 costs and a £15 victims’ surcharge.

Thompson of Grimsby, north-east Lincolnshire, told the court he was warning motorists for safety reasons.

He said he had been involved in an accident a year ago when two drivers in front of him braked sharply after seeing a speed trap and although he braked in time another motorist crashed into the back of his vehicle.

‘It is not an offence to warn people of a possible speed trap because of the danger involved with vehicles braking quite hard,’ he claimed.

‘It’s a civic duty to warn people. I flashed my lights. I had a very good reason to warn oncoming motorists, in my opinion. My first thought was:”This may cause an accident.”

‘I tried to warn vehicles that there was a speed trap. Because I challenged the officer he would not let me off with a warning.’

Thompson was pulled up as he headed out of Grimsby on the A46 at 10am. He claimed the officer involved was a ‘Rambo character’ who was acting like ‘Judge Dredd’ in using the law unnecessarily. The officer pictured here is using a speed gun on the A130 in Essex

The stretch of road outside of Grimsby where Thompson was pulled over. He denied willfully obstructing a policewoman in the execution of her duty on July 21 last year, but was convicted after a trial and ended up £440 out of pocket.

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Per my lawyer’s suggestion, any posts that pertain to my encounters/dealings with Lakeway or the Lakeway Police, have been temporarily suspended until further notice.

Please feel free to email me directly if you have any comments or questions.

In the meantime, read on for other informative, funny, and otherwise interesting stuff.

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Yep! I was arrested.

A little background for those of you who don’t know the recent history of SpeedTrapAhead.org.

As well as running a website that post articles of interest regarding traffic laws, tickets, legal decisions, driving safety, activism, state laws, etc., I also, from time to time, will stand on the side of a road, wearing my “SpeedTrapAhead.org” T-shirt, near where police are running a radar enforced speed zone. (I used to hold a sign, instead; but, that proved to be tricky with state sign laws.)

While doing the sign/shirt thing, I have been approached many times, by officers from several different jurisdictions (three times in Lakeway alone). None of them ever took it further than a quick comment or short discussion about what I was doing. They were actually quite friendly. NONE of them even asked me for I.D.

That is, until Lakeway Sr. Sgt. James DeBrow came around. A little over a year ago, I had an encounter with him. (search “James DeBrow” on this site for more info on that.) But, THAT is old news, and I’ve moved on from that experience.

Fast forward to last week. My truck, with a “SpeedTrapAhead.org” window decal was parked off of a main road in Lakeway, TX. It was parked in an area where construction vehicles and construction employees are parked during some road construction in the area. My truck was parked parallel to the road, behind a silt fence, about 6 feet from the sidewalk, and ~12 feet from the curb. My video camera was on a short tripod, sitting on the edge of the sidewalk, filming traffic going by in a school zone.

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