A Connecticut man was frustrated with a speeding ticket he received while in New York, and when he sent in his payment pleading guilty, he crossed out the town’s name of Liberty on the ticket and scrawled the word, “Tyranny” over it.
Also, he wrote, “Fuck your shitty town bitches," on the ticket before he included his payment, according to the Huffington Post and other news reports of this incident.
When this ticket was received, the town did not accept the man’s payment. Instead, the man was summoned to court. At court, a Judge lectured the young man and ordered bailiffs to arrest him for harassment. The District Attorney filed the charges but they were later dismissed when another court observed that the arrest violated the First Amendment after the young man had been fingerprinted, booked into jail and paid $200 bail.
The young man brought a federal law suit alleging his constitutional rights were violated when he was unlawfully arrested. Earlier this week, a federal Judge agreed that prosecutors and police in Liberty, New York, violated William Barboza's civil rights when they arrested and prosecuted him. Federal Judge Seibel said in an oral decision at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York that Barboza "suffered a deprivation of his First Amendment rights when he was arrested under color of law." Judge Seibel explained that although what Barboza wrote was “crude and offensive to some, [it] did not convey an imminent threat and was made in the context of complaining about government activity,” which is not a violation of the law.
Although this young man was vindicated in the end, he suffered a loss of time and freedom for venting his frustration on his speeding ticket. I would like to believe that this is unlikely to occur in California, but it is probably better to keep any frustration you vent on your ticket “G” rated or simply find another place to vent your frustration.
copyright © 2015 Christine Esser
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Thank you. Good luck.
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