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Fuzzy dice illegal? You bet
Police can pull drivers over for items hanging from rear mirror
Joe Medici | The Chronicle | July 15, 2006

Keep your car fresh at your own risk.

Hanging one of those leaf-like air fresheners that and are sold in gas stations from your rearview mirror could be a violation of state law, according to Lorain County police officers.

It’s enough to give officers a reason to pull you over.

The issue came up after an officer in Ravenna pulled over 39-year-old Charles Kay because of the 2-inch by three-inch air freshener on his rearview mirror. Kay was not sited for the offence, but the officer could have issued a ticket in that instance, according to Ravenna police.
Elyria police Sergeant Mike Behne agreed.

“It is a legal stop,” Behne said. “Ohio state law says that anything blocking the drivers view is illegal, and if the officer believes the air freshener is obstructing the view then the officer can pull the person over.”

That means that air fresheners as well as fuzzy dice, graduation tassels, Mardi Gras beads, baby shoes and anything else that motorists hang from their rearview mirrors could be reason enough for police to initiate a traffic stop, Behne said.

That’s hooey, according to a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union.
“The only reason they can legitimately pull you over is if the air freshener is the size of an open newspaper,” Ohio ACLU Law Director Jeff Gamso said. “I’ll go to court with anybody charged with this, and we will win every time.”

Many officers believe air fresheners can be a sign that the person in the car is trying to cover up the scent of marijuana, Gamso said, and therefore keep an eye out for the scented ornaments.

“I’ve heard those rumors, but I remember when people thought the old gold crown air fresheners were a gang sign as well,” Lorain County sheriff’s Captain Richard Resendez said. “I think you just have to take each one of these situation on its own and look at each case individually and the officer has to decide if the object is blocking the view or not.”

Officers will often look for evidence that the air freshener or other obstructing object is causing a problem, Resendez said. Officers look to see if the car is swerving at all or if it almost gets in an accident.

While it is legal to pull someone over for having the window obstructed, Sheffield Township Patrolman Todd Denman said he had never pulled anyone over for it.

“Could they have pulled it over for that? Sure, they could call it obstruction,” Denman said. “I haven’t ever pulled anyone over for it though, but it depends on the specifics of each case.”

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troublemaker_42

South Dakota recently changed their laws on this subject. it used to be enough probable cause to stop someone, but now its simply a ticketable offense. It was argued that law enforcement used the justification of a dangling object to target Native Americans, who commonly hang "medicine bags" with religious value fromtheir mirrors. It is still l=illegal to hanve such objects dangling, but no longer can it be the reasoning behind a stop, from what I unnderstand and remember

2point4

Going by the logic presented by the State of Ohio, we now all need to file suit against the automakers for putting our safety at risk.
The rearview mirror itself is blocking my view...in fact, it takes up more 'eye real estate' than the air freshener.

As far as the air freshener being used to cover up the smell of marijuana...yeah right. Take a fresh hit of weed in my car, and then find me a dangling air freshener that can cover up that smell. And also going by that logic, a roll of duct tape on my dashboard must mean that I have secured large amounts of marijuana to the underside of my vehicle...right?

dedbr

Old boy ain't never been to Ohio, or what? We do things different over here Partna'......

( Ya, but I bet you'll play hell gettin' your clients forty pounds back.... )

He's right about that one. As a matter of fact, the police have a lot of discretion in Ohio as far as stops are concerned.

Sure it does. Like did the hippy have a big air freshener hanging from his rearview mirror.....

In Ohio you can be pulled over for a random safety check. At any time. No questions asked.


Some Where In Ded Land......Makes me want to get a plane....( they'd probably shoot me down... )

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iloveunot

what about people covering the smell of cigarettes, fast food, baby vomit, wet dog, stanky car, must, mold, their body odor?
or what if they just like the smell of the air freshener.
geez, thats ridiculous

edit: which is why my friend always keeps a button down shirt on in the car to wear while driving, less likely to pull over a guy wearing a button down shirt than a guy wearing a tie dye shirt

 

midnight toker420

I think Ohio is the #1 state in issuing traffic tickets. Not sure about current statistics for 2008, but I am pretty sure in the past it has been. This comes to me as no surprise at all as our state boys are ridiculous and will nail you every time for whatever they can. There is this one in particular that patrols about a 10 mile radius of the pig pen and hides all over. He probably changes spots about 2 or 3 times an hour pulling people over. Also cops around here have had quotas but they have been ended due to judges getting sick of people getting ticketed for doing 29 in a 25. Bottom line is if any one of you is rolling through O high O with weight, wear your seatbelt, don't obstruct your view, make sure all your safety lights are working (including license plate light), make sure you got your front license plate (they nail younger people for this all time time just to make a stop), and slow your roll because our highways are 65 not 70. I recently heard cops around here, even state boys have license plate scanners so if your driving on a suspension, you're done for. I've logged over 30k miles in the few years I have been driving some of these miles were driving illegally on a suspension and have yet to be pulled over because I take these simple precautions. But I can't tell you how many times I've rolled past cops and had to play it cool or have been deliberately followed.

420lovethatCHRONIC

Sounds like just another exuse for the fuzz to pull you over and search you and your car...... man that sucks

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king cola

Connecticut has laws like that but I don't think it's enforced much. We passed other laws not too long ago like if you have a DVD player in your car, the screen can't be near the driver because of the distraction. I never hung anything on the rear-view mirror. My sister used to do that when she was younger, after she graduated she had the tassels on there, she had mardi gras beads on there, she would get stopped for speeding but I don't think the cops ever said anything about beads or the tassels on there but that was about 9 years ago so things could have changed more since then. My parents used to tell her that the cops could stop her for it though.


Theres 2 different types of cops with 2 different ways to pull people over. You have traffic cops and narcotics officers.

I think this would be grounds for a narcotics officer to stop a vehicle but a traffic officer needs a traffic violation to stop the vehicle so if the vehicle is swerving and the cop makes the stop, if the person isn't under the influence he or she could assume it might be the object on the mirror effecting the persons driving. If it's against the law to have anything on the rear-view mirror then the traffic cop would have every right to pull the vehicle over if it's illegal. If it's legal to have things on the rear-view mirror, even if it is a air-freshner the traffic cop can't stop the vehicle if no traffic law is being broken.

A narcotics cop can pull you over for anything they want to stop you for including the air freshner because they do their stops by using reasonble suspicion. A traffic cop goes by traffic laws being broken or illegal activity that they see going on. Upon pulling a vehicle over they might see items as reasonable suspicion including the air freshner but it's not probable cause unless they smell marijuana or see something illegal. The narcotics cops can see a air freshner even if it's legal to have on the mirror and say this person might be a marijuana smoker, might be hiding the scent of drugs and pull the car over to investigate but traffic cops and narcotics cops both need probable cause for a search.

troublemaker_42

Source? I tried to verify this information, and came up completely empty handed. Also, please state when nd where quotas were instated in Ohio, as they are distinctly illegal in every jurisdiction I'm aware of. AS far as "plate scanners"....... ...it takes about 15 seconds to find out if someone has a valid driver's license, without a "plate scanner". You run the plates of the vehicle, and ask for a status check of the person its registered to, and any pertinent information about thier driver's license status is instantly availble to ANY officer capable of reading your license plates. No need to "scan the plates" with some special machine to determine if someone has a suspended, revoked, etc license. Yes, there are machines built to do this, but such machines aren't widespread, and their use doesn't give police any more information than they could get by contacting dispatch. Also, the cost of the machines is a factor as well, and running about $18,000 EACH, along with fees for the software and whatnot, simply make them too expensive to be practical for some departments. However, you stated the state police are known to have them. I'd be willing to guess if ANY agency had them, it would likely be the state police, as their budgets aren't always quite as tight as local PD's can be. All in all though, the new scanners aren't terribly widespread, and really don't do a whole lot that an officer isn't capable of doing on his own.

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troublemaker_42

Wrong...a traffic cop could easily pull you over for such a violation, just like they could any equipment violation (broken taillight, loud exhaust, etc). Reasonable suspicion isn't whatever the cop wants it to be....just becasue he sees an air freshener doesn't mean he has grounds to pull the vehicle over just because it might be used to cover weed. If its legal to be there in the fiorst place, the narcotics cops can't assume its being used for an illegal purpose and make a traffic stop based solely on an air freshner. Thats not reasonable suspicion....thats a fishing expediation. Reasonable suspicion may not be as strictly defined as probable casue, but the way you had it worded made it seem as if ANYTHING could be deemed"reasonably suspicious" enough to warrant a traffic stop, which simply isn't the case.


from wikipedia.com
The simple observation of an air freshener DOES NOT imply illegal activity in and of its own, which means it may be used as PASRT of the reasonable suspicion needed to pull over a vehicle, but alone, would NOT be a sufficient reason, as there are MANY lawful uses of air fresheners and iots absurd to believe that anyone using such an airfreshener is doing so to cover the scent of illegal drugs.