Though some people love putting stickers on their cars, this man got into trouble for it.
Dillon Webb, a 23-year-old man from Florida, was arrested when he refused to remove a graffiti sticker from his truck. He was ordered to take it down because the obscenity statute of Florida prohibits such material. When he is driving around in Florida, he was asked nicely to remove it so as not to offend other drivers.
However, Webb ignored them and kept the sticker on his car. He believes that it is his First Amendment right to have a sticker reading: “I eat a**”
The Sheriff’s deputy pulls over a man in Lake City with an offensive sticker on his car. When the officer asks him to remove it, he refuses and says “they’re just words” and that there is no way because he just paid $35 to get it done.
Webb stated that as soon as the officer arrived on the scene, it appeared like he had been enraged from the start. For Webb, the deputy was simply looking for a cause to get angry with him.
Webb stated, “Like the whole time, he was just really rude. It just felt to me like his goal was to get me in jail.”
So, he was arrested and charged with violating Florida’s obscenity law. According to the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office, he resisted an officer without violence. He refused to remove his sticker from his truck window and this is why it all led him to get handcuffed and brought down to the police station.
The deputy commented on how a parent would be able to explain the meaning of those words written in huge letters at the back of Webb’s truck. However, he noted that since it was in such big and bold letters, parents would have no choice but to explain it or try to ignore their kids’ questions. But Webb did not care if he offended any parent or ruined the innocence of these children.
He is also concerned that the sticker’s message would be harmful to any child.
He added, “I’ve had parents drive by me with their kids taking pictures. They point and laugh and giggle, and they go about their day.” Webb explained that the sticker was intended to be humorous. He continued, “I guess this cop just didn’t find it funny, and he just thought he has to put me in jail.”
Webb plans to contest his arrest, declaring that the law enforcement officer who apprehended him acted unlawfully. He said, “I’m tired of police forces thinking they are above the Constitution, the Bill of Rights. ” Though he had only owned the sticker for less than a week, he already had plenty of experience with it.
However, it seems as if the Florida deputies did not allow him to go away with it.
The ACLU of Florida has already written a letter to the Sheriff’s department in defense of Webb’s “speech that is already protected by the First Amendment.”
What do you think about Webbs’ rear window sticker? Was it appropriate for the cops to call him out for that? Is it offensive to you?
