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.

Read the rest of this entry »

Regarding THIS post…

Well, I’ll make it short and sweet — I’m a little busy right now. I’ll write more details when I have more time.

Jury trial is set for July 11, 2008, at 1:00 p.m.

All done!

Here’s the post about the outcome.

If you have ever thought of holding a SpeedTrapAhead sign, or are considering doing so yourself, there are a couple of points of law with which you should be familiar.

I have heard stories, and read some articles, of other people holding signs of this sort in other countries. Some of them made their point. Some of them attracted lots of attention, not all of it good (like Fred Zahn in the picture to the left). Some have been ticketed. And, some have gone to jail. Is that what you pictured when you were dreaming of having the fortitude to hold a SpeedTrapAhead sign yourself? The first two reactions, ‘making your point’ and ‘attracting lots of attention’, are the good parts. The rest are definitely NOT good!

I have read only about Texas law; so, I don’t know much about the laws in any other state or country. One of the things I learned while perusing through the Texas legal statutes, was that holding a sign is NOT “Hindering Apprehension or Prosecution”. Here is the part of Texas law that affirms that statement:

Texas Penal Code – Sec. 38.05. HINDERING APPREHENSION OR PROSECUTION.

(a) A person commits an offense if, with intent to hinder the arrest, prosecution, conviction, or punishment of another for an offense [...] he:

(1) harbors or conceals the other;
(2) provides or aids in providing the other with any means of avoiding arrest or effecting escape; or
(3) warns the other of impending discovery or apprehension.

(b) It is a defense to prosecution under Subsection (a)(3) that the warning was given in connection with an effort to bring another into compliance with the law.

(c) [...]

I’ve omitted parts of the passage that don’t apply; but, you can clearly see from the highlighted portions, that it’s perfectly legal to hold a sign like this. You are trying ” to bring another into compliance with the law”. So, you can’t get arrested for “Hindering Apprehension or Prosecution”.

In a future post, I’ll talk about how holding a sign is not “interfering with public duties”. In the mean time, think about all the things you COULD get in trouble for (while not doing something stupid, of course); and, I’ll tell you why you’ll probably be just fine.

Keep the speed down. Pay attention to your surroundings. And, keep your hard earned money in your pocket — not in the magistrate’s!

Update: (05/22/08) (In case you haven’t heard about this, here’s the original post about getting my ticket)

I went to the arraignment a couple of weeks ago. The prosecutor stated that he didn’t really know what the ticket was about. But then I started explaining about SpeedTrapAhead.org… then he suddenly knew what was going on. Obviously, there had been discussion of my sign holding prior to that day.

He asked what I thought should happen. I said, “I think it should be dismissed because…” He then interrupted with, “Well, That’s not gonna happen.”

“Well, then sign me up for a jury trial“, I said. And that’s where we’re at. I have a a pre-trial hearing on June 13th.

I really don’t think that this will actually go to trial. I think this is just a delay tactic to give me a little time to “get scared” and bargain my rights away. Now, I can say, “Well, That’s not gonna happen.”

The prosecutor doesn’t want to drop it because that’ll put out the message that it was a bogus ticket and it’s okay to hold my sign. On the other hand, if it goes to trial and I win, a precedent will be set saying that it’s absolutely not against the law to hold my sign. Either way is okay, as either ruling will have basically the same effect. There is NO WAY Joe Citizen would think my sign is an official traffic control device.

Anyway, I’m just waiting, and getting my stuff together.

UPDATE: Jury Trial is set for July 11, 21008, at 1:00 p.m.

Any clicks on AdSense ads in the right column that may be of interest to you would be appreciated.

Also, Please check out THIS video of a PLEASANT encounter with a rational LEO.

I recently received the dashcam video from my encounter with the Lakeway Police Department’s Sgt. DeBrow.

I also have re-edited my existing videos to include this new footage. Now, it is much easier to understand what transpired and to hear both sides of the conversation.

You can now clearly hear Sgt. DeBrow threaten to arrest me and impound my truck for not showing him my driver’s license, even though he already had all the identification that was required by law for me to divulge.

In addition to audio/video from my webcam, and audio/video from the dashcam, I also used audio from my cell phone recording. This is really neat because the way I do it, the audio is recorded directly to the web, securely stored somewhere that can’t be confiscated, erased, or lost by law enforcement.

You can check out the original post, with the updated videos here.