Teen Faces Jail Over Car Lights

11Alive.com Atlanta ^ | 5/27/2003 | Jennifer Leslie

[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.

[FatherFig1o155]

I too have these blue lights on my car. I'm a 47 year old father of three. I drive a Mercedes.

And I too was stopped by a zealous local cop.

I asked him why he didn't go after the people sellling these items, if they were illegal. He didn't have an answer.

I told him that I have driven in every state from Maine to South Carolina -- even two provinces in Canada -- with them on without incident. Why me? Why now? Again, no response.

I suspect that the cop felt like it was an easy ticket -- presuming that he thought he was stopping a teen. After seeing who I was, I was not ticketed, but I wonder what would have been the outcome if I was 30 years younger?

[AEMILIUS PAULUS]

It was a judge that sentenced her!

[weaponeer]

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.

Grrrrrrrr! Why the H--- do the "reporters" check with LEAs for legality? Why don't they go on-line or to the County Law Library and look up the freaking law themselves? Can't they read? Are they not capable of reading a statute and making their own interpretation of what it says? Jeeeez, they seem to think that you have to be a lawyer before you can read what the law says.

Ask 10 cops what are the laws on carrying a handgun in your state. You'll get 11 different answers.

(Sorry for the rant, it's one of my pet peeves.)

[headsonpikes]

"...the powers that be don't like it when we dare to question their authority."

They won't be falling over themselves to applaud when we answer their 'authority' either.

[Tijeras_Slim]

There are few jobs out there that require the dedication that it takes to be a LEO.

No arguement. There are some that seem to be working for the Dept. of Taxation and Revenue to the exclusion of all else.

[joesnuffy]

Bet this same occifer would not have pulled over a car load of "gangstuhs"
but a little girl...
well....they dont fight back as much...

[zeugma]

Low pay, high danger with little thanks from a fickle population takes dedication.

Yeah, driving a cab sure is a thankless job. You do know it's even more dangerous than being a cop right?

[FreedomPoster]

Have you ever seen these lights? No one mentally competant to operate a motor vehicle on a public road would mistake these for police vehicle lights.

[Ravenstar]

It got lost in the PC "zero tolerance" idiocy.

Ravenstar

[FreedomPoster]

Local yokel cop and idiot judge Georgia FReeper ping.

[-YYZ-]

Or, statistically speaking, blue water fishing, underground mining and farmin, to name a few career choices that are more dangerous than policing in most places.

[backhoe]

Whatever happened to the concept of criminal intent? This is asinine.

I quite agree... when I had the wrecker service, every year I had to apply for a Beacon Permit from the Dept. of Public Safety- the same outfit that regulates gun dealers, among other things.

They accepted cashier's checks only, so there was yet another errand to run to try to satisfy their requirements... I think you had to have the damned signature notarized, too. Wouldn't want any unauthorized people impersonating a wrecker driver, would we?

The kicker was the first time I got a sticker... it is the same form, and printing company, that used to issue the long-abolished "safety inspection stickers" that used to be required by the State Patrol. Bureaucracies never die...

[FreedomPoster]

You've nailed it.

[circles]

I got a $800 fine, six months probation, 40 hours community service and 24 hours jail time

For blue lights?

[Noslrac]

Police around here have red-lights or both colors in unmarked vehicles. First Responders (volunteers, whom I see everywhere) have blue revolving (gasp) lights. This is a pretty rural area though. Your mileage may vary.

[dansangel]

Puhleeze....obviously the one or two overnight murders and weekly wrong-way suicide drivers I wake up to every morning on the news aren't enough to keep these guys busy.....

[Noslrac]

She may have been better off as far as punishment is concerned with a DWI/DUI.

[Leisler]

Give it a break. Cab drivers, fishermen, construction workers, miners all work for less, receive no appreciation and have higher rates of injury/death.

You take the Kings coin, you do the Kings bidding. It's the deal.

We used to have Peace Officers, now Statute Enforcement Officers. I won't use LEO, because what is passed by the legislature isn't law, but statute, edicts, commandments, fines, fees, feelgood pap, waste, useless, harmful, etc.

[Vigilantcitizen]

This is my home county. The difference between the County Sheriffs deputies and the Douglasville city police is like night and day.

[banjo joe]

Welcome to Stalinist Amerika: the masses are asses.