ALBUEQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - A New Mexico woman cited for flashing her headlights at an oncoming car with police officer inside says the ticket violates her free speech rights.
Mariah Martinez filed a motion last week alleging the city of Rio Rancho, New Mexico, is violating the First Amendment rights of drivers by pulling them over for flashing their lights or honking their horns, the Albuquerque Journal reports (https://bit.ly/1GWVVS3).
The local ordinance sets a penalty of up to 90 days in jail.
A motion seeking a temporary restraining order argues that the city’s statute results in unconstitutional stifling of speech and needs to stop being enforced until the lawsuit plays out in court.
“Vehicles are equipped with horns for the sole purpose of providing drivers a means to communicate with others,” Martinez’s attorneys wrote in the motion. “Any experienced driver can brainstorm for a few minutes and numerous occasions will come to mind in which flashing a vehicle’s headlights or sounding its horn is speech intended to communicate a message.”
A city spokeswoman said the city doesn’t comment on pending litigation.
In January 2014, Martinez flashed her lights at a late-model Dodge Charger driving with what she thought were its high beams on, according to the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in New Mexico.
The vehicle was actually a Rio Rancho Police Department police cruiser, and Sgt. Brian Thacker pulled her over before arresting her under suspicion of drunken driving. He also cited her under the ordinance in question.
Thacker later acknowledged in a recorded interview cited in the lawsuit that other drivers have regularly flashed their lights at him ever since he began driving the Charger, even though he claims the vehicle’s brights have not been on.
Martinez’s attorney, Colin Hunter, said he is optimistic the judge will grant the motion and otherwise expects Martinez to win the case.
The lawsuit said the drunken driving charge against Martinez ultimately was dismissed with prejudice - meaning it cannot be refiled - although city attorneys said in court filings that the dismissal did not result from any problems with the arrest.
The charge of violating the “prohibited activities while driving” ordinance also was dismissed, according to Rio Rancho Municipal Court records.
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Information from: Albuquerque Journal, https://www.abqjournal.com
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