An Iron County, Utah, deputy stopped Ammon Bundy on Interstate 15 near New Harmony on Oct. 7 because his 2020 Ford F-250 had no license plate, according to KUTV. In bodycam video that Boise station KBOI obtained, KUTV reportedthe deputy asks, “There’s no plate on the truck. Is there a reason for that?” Bundy’s answer is hard to make out. Later in the recording he can be heard saying, “God gave me that right to travel.”
Bundy told the deputy the truck was not registered, KUTV reported. The station put the stop at about 8:18 a.m. at mile marker 43. The deputy said the truck would be impounded and told him to get out. Bundy refused. By the sheriff’s office’s account, he grabbed the steering wheel. More deputies and state troopers arrived, and the video shows officers opening the driver’s door and pulling him out. Four officers then carried him by his arms and legs to a patrol vehicle while he said, “You’re taking liberties away from people.” He was booked into the Iron County Jail, received a medical evaluation because force was used, and was released on bail a short time later.
Four counts, one with jail time attached
Bundy faces four counts in Iron County Justice Court: interfering with a peace officer, failure to obey an officer, driving without registration, and having no valid license. The Utah code treats those very differently. Section 41-1a-1303 makes driving a vehicle that is not properly registered an infraction, and it sets no jail term. A first violation of the driving-without-a-license rule in Section 53-3-202 is also an infraction; it becomes a class B misdemeanor only with a prior conviction under that section. KUTV reported that the most serious count is interference, a class B misdemeanor carrying up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine, and that it stems from his refusal to leave the truck.
The interference statute, Section 76-8-305applies when a person knows, or with reasonable care should know, that an officer is making a lawful arrest or detention, and refuses to perform an act required by a lawful order. The word “lawful” carries weight. The charge depends on whether the order to step out of the truck, which followed the deputy’s decision to impound it, rested on real legal authority. I could not retrieve the charging documents, so I can’t say which sections the county cited for each count.
When Utah officers can take the truck
Impound is where the plate turns into money. Section 41-1a-1101 lets a peace officer seize a vehicle without a warrant in several listed situations, including when it is being driven with registration that has been expired for more than three months. It also says an officer must seize a vehicle when the driver has no driving credential in his possession, unless the officer can verify through the state’s criminal justice database that one was issued. There are exceptions, among them a licensed passenger willing to drive. Bundy has said he bought the truck new in 2020 and never registered it, and he showed the deputy an expired Idaho license, KUTV reported.
Getting the truck back cost him. Bundy told KUTV he paid more than $1,100 in fees and fines to recover it, and it still has no plate. The truck left the impound lot without a plate, the same condition that started the stop.
Bundy’s argument and the next court date
Bundy says he does not need a driver’s license or vehicle registration, and he says he intends to contest the charges. The Utah statutes quoted above apply to anyone driving on a highway in the state; they contain no exception for a claimed right to travel. Whether a judge agrees with Bundy is a separate question from what the code says, and no ruling has been issued. KUTV did not report a statement from his attorney or from the sheriff’s office beyond the account of the stop. An arrest and a charge are accusations, and Bundy has not been convicted of anything in this case.
Arraignment is scheduled for Feb. 1. The registration and license counts are the kind of case a driver settles with a fine and a trip to the DMV. The count about getting out of the truck is the one with a courtroom attached, and it’s the one the bodycam video shows best. The same plate fights are spreading beyond Utah: The Auto Wire has covered Maryland’s $7-a-day fines on out-of-state plates and a Missouri suburb sued over towing 150-plus cars without a warrant.
When a driver admits the truck has no registration and says he won’t get out, should officers use force to carry out the impound right there, or should they write the citations and let a court decide who is right?
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Source: www.yahoo.com
