A Texas man was arrested and now faces trial after he held up a homemade sign warning drivers that they were entering a local speed trap.
Ron Martin of Frisco, Texas, is arguing that holding the sign to tip off motorists was within his First Amendment rights, KHOU.com reported.
"I observed a couple cars drive by traveling westbound waving at us," Officer Thomas Mrozinski wrote in Martin's arrest report. "Mr. Martin was observed standing in the center median of the six-lane divided roadway ... holding a sign in his right hand up over his shoulders that read 'Police Ahead.'"
Martin, who has a house and family in Frisco and paints signs for a living, said he wants to make roads safer, the Dallas Observer reported.
He was technically cited for violating the city's sign ordinance, which only allows people to hold signs on private property, according to KHOU.
Martin is not against speed traps, he told KHOU.
"Absolutely not," he said. "I think it's absolutely important for officers to be on the streets and enforce laws."
He was handcuffed last October for holding the sign while standing in the median.
"The sign appeared to be self-constructed with a yellow background and lettering in black attached to a wooden stick," Mrozinski described in his police report as quoted by the Dallas Observer.
Martin, who has pleaded not guilty and awaits a Feb. 21 trial date in Municipal Court, calls the incident a free speech issue and says he wants to keep people safe just as much as the police do.
"Ultimately, we're trying to do the exact same thing," Martin said. "I just don't wear a uniform. I'm the same thing as a speed limit sign, just reminding people that there is a limit here."
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