Posted on 06/05/2003 5:36:04 AM PDT by tdadams
A Douglas County teenager who graduated from high school with distinction last week is facing jail time and a hefty fine for putting blue lights on her car.
The lights, known as Cobra Eyes, are popular with teenagers who use them as decoration.
Devon Cook, 18, drove with the lights on her car for two years before being stopped by a Douglasville polie officer.
"He was like, ‘Do you know why I pulled you over?’, “No sir, was I speeding?’ [I said], ‘No, there's blue lights on her car [the officer said].’"
The officer gave Cook a ticket for operating an unauthorized vehicle with blue lights. Last week, after trying to plead her own case in Municipal Court, a judge found her guilty.
"I got a $800 fine, six months probation, 40 hours community service and 24 hours jail time," Cook said.
"She doesn't deserve to go to jail for this. I can't imagine my daughter spending a night in population with real criminals," Alicia Cook, Devon’s mother, said.
To keep Cook out of jail, the Cooks hired attorney John Sherrod to file an appeal. Sherrod said Devon did not break the law.
"The car has to be equipped with a device capable of producing flashing or revolving lights and as you know, from looking at the car, those are just small blue lights that neither flash or revolve," he said.
The Cobra Eyes lights can be purchased at most auto parts stores. They sell for about $10 and they do come with a warning right on the package which reads, “May not be legal for street use, check with your local city/state ordinance.”
"I checked with my resource officer at school and he said they weren't illegal," Devon Cook said.
Her mother also checked with the Douglas County Sheriff’s Department.
"She was not trying to break the law or impersonate a police officer or anything," Alicia Cook said.
Douglasville City police said the officer who wrote the ticket used his discretion. The judge who decided her punishment said he could not comment while the case is on appeal.
11Alive checked with a number of law-enforcement agencies across Metro Atlanta on the legality of the lights. Some consider the Cobra Eyes illegal while others do not.
Not hammerin', ya, but I'm tired of this effete mantra.
1. ya know the pay going in.
2. loggers, crab fisherman, cabbies and some convenience store workers have more dangerous jobs.
3. The fickle public is tired of hearing "I'm sorry... there's nothing we can do..." when they call a cop.
4. If the public are referred to as "citizens" by the cops... what does that make cops? Superior to mere "citizen" status?
Here's yer answer: why give up the sales tax revenue? Expecially when even more revenue is generated from traffic stops for possesing the item you legally purchased? Sortofa 2-fer for the states and munis, and as we all know, they are in dreadful condition from reduced tax "revenues". But don't slow the spending.
So someone from a "family of LEOs" admits it. Today's police officers ae nothing more than a bunch of goose-stepping Barney Fifes acting as henchmen for the State.
Why would anyone want to enter such a pathetic profession?
If a cop is shot to death during a routine traffic stop it's not uncommon that his death was the result of not properly following precautionary procedures when approaching the vehicle.
Pathetic profession: hmm...I think you may be in the wrong forum for your views-try DU. But to humor you-I have high ideals of what policing can be. Earning the public trust, acting as a moral and physical role model, being the one that stands up to face the heat when most turn tail and run, that I look forward to. I know that police end up being used for all kinds of crappy things, but the bottom line is, I'm willing to be the one called to the plate of honor-I've been doing that for 11 years now as a soldier, I want that to continue. I'm willing to help change things as much as I can to make my community a better place. I think I can achieve more change working the course, than complaining about it on FR.
I'm not "tooting my own horn", but there are few who have achieved what I have, and what many of the best cops in this land have. I started on welfare, moved through life to be an enlisted soldier-now I hold a BA from one of the premier colleges in the States, hold a commission in the world's finest Army, can physically and mentally outperform 99% of the American population on any day of the week, and am well on my well to further education. Not quite Barney Fife material. But he was a funny guy with a good heart. I'll take that as a compliment.
Yes, fishing industry is 16 times more dangerous than being a cop. Having been a non-skilled construction worker and knowing a retired miner, you can definitely make more money by those jobs than being a cop in most places. Again, not the point.
Much like you did at one time, L, I've been taking the King's shilling for 11 years now, and I found out you can fix more on the inside than you can on the out. See my reply to "circles". No one calls fishermen, miners, cab drivers and so on to help them when the going gets rough. Yeah, most of you don't need the help because your self made men and women able to defend yourselves. And I realize that most cops end up being used for all kinds of crappy work. But most people are not self made, cannot defend themselves, cannot fix their own problems. And those unsolved issues end up being a burden to all of us self made people. But a good police department can stop that ahead of time, and that is why THEY, not fishermen, cabbies and such, are paid to do. I know cops end up writing senseless tickets and generating monies for politicians most of you did not bother to vote for. I'm not willing to just sit back and complain about the problems, I'm going to make an effort to fix them. Service to your country and community does not end when DD-214 is signed.
They also come in red, white and green. Are those colors OK? Is it just the blue ones they have trouble with??
Becki
I have little sympathy for those who complain about the pay and danger when they knew what it was going to be like when they got into it in the first place. Also, by and large, being a cop is considerably safer than many other professions that deal with the public on a daily basis because you at least have the ability to defend yourself without having to face the same level of risk that would face Joe Citizen for defending himself. Given the way the legal system works and the almost absolute immunity given to just about anyone working for the government no matter who is really, I don't think it's a particularly dangerous line of work to get in to.
California law basically says you must stop/pull over for a car with a red emergency light.
Fremont police were chasing a guy for speeding through Niles canyon a nice little TWISTY mtn road.
the police car's red light was out but he used his siren. so he radios for another car to help pursue. The other car comes up turns on his red lights and the car pulls over.
turns out the naughty man was a CHP officer... his excuse was "you didn't have a red light" They didn't give him a ticket in the end to avoid a CHP FPD tit for tat situation.
However overall, being a cop/chp no longer guarantees professional courtesy. I know a lot of cops who have gotten tickets. I always forget to ask if the judge tosses them later.
Sounds like gun-grabber garbage to me. The vast majority of gun owners put in time at the range, most regularly. How is someone, simply by being unskilled in firearms, MORE DANGEROUS to the public than a CRIMINAL. Did you really think before you typed? A criminal, by the friggin definition of the term, is far more dangerous to you or I, than some guy who doesn't know much about his gun and will probably never use it. DUH. The person who can't drive but owns a Ferrari, is less of a danger than the habitual drunk driver. To insinuate less is to pander to the sense of "nobility" that is apparently being inculcated into "peace officers" these days.
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