For many years, motorists have warned other drivers about speed traps by flashing their lights. Truck drivers warn other truck drivers via CB. A Houston woman took it one step further and spent 12 hours in jail for her deed.
Natalie Plummer was riding her bike home from a Houston grocery store when she noticed officers clocking and stopping drivers.
Plummer told Houston news station KTRK, “I felt like he was just pulling random cars over.”
So Plummer pulled out her cell phone and took video of the scene, then she decided she should warn drivers to slow down. She went a couple of blocks down from the speed trap and used one of her grocery bags to make an impromptu sign that read, “Speed trap!”
Plummer says she stood on the sidewalk and held out the sign for drivers to see as they passed by.
KTRK reported, “After a few minutes, Plummer claims one of the officers drove up, jumped from his car and started pulling at her backpack. She says he searched it without consent, and then arrested her.”
“He was telling me he was taking me to jail for obstructing justice, that was an automatic three to five years,” Plummer told the news station.
Plummer was arrested and spent 12 hours in a Houston jail.
According to a spokesperson from the Houston Police Department, Plummer was arrested because she was “in the roadway” and “was a danger to herself and others and “…the sum total of which was is an arrestable offense.”
Plummer denies standing in the roadway. “I for sure did not step into the street,” Plummer said. “(I stayed) on the sidewalk the entire time.”
Houston attorneys maintain Plummer was doing noting illegal; however Houston Police say Plummer violated Texas Penal Code 38.13 Section C which states:
INTERFERENCE WITH PUBLIC DUTIES. (a) A person commits an offense if the person with criminal negligence interrupts, disrupts, impedes, or otherwise interferes with public duties.
(C) is acting in accordance with policies and procedures related to the safety and security of the site described by Paragraph.
Plummer’s story has made nationwide news, and support for Plummer has been pouring in from others across the country.
“I’ve had a few people offer to help me pay for legal fees,” Plummer said.
Plummer has retained an attorney and is planning to file a formal complaint against the Houston Police Department and the arresting officer.
Drivers, what do you think, were Plummer’s actions an arrestable offense?
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