Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Tennessee Police Apparently Are Not Ohio State Fans

Either that or they can't tell the difference between Buckeye leaves and Marijuana leaves.

The Detroit Free Press: Woman pulled over after Ohio St. sticker confused for drug symbol

A 65-year-old woman was pulled over by police officers while driving through Tennessee after the officers mistook her car's Buckeye stickers - those commonly seen on the helmets of Ohio State football players - for a marijuana symbol.

"It's just amazing they would be that dumb," said Bonnie Jonas-Boggioni, which pretty much sums up this entire story.

Jonas-Boggioni and her husband, Giorgio Boggioni, 66, of Plano, Texas, were driving home through Tennessee from Columbus, Ohio, where they had attended a funeral for Jonas-Boggioni's mother.

The two were pulled over a few miles east of Memphis, along I-40, and were greeted by a pair of black SUVs containing officers wearing "body armor and guns," Jonas-Boggioni told Joe Blundo of The Columbus Dispatch.

"What are you doing with a marijuana sticker on your bumper?" one of the officers asked.

That led Jonas-Boggioni and her husband to explain the meaning of the Ohio State sticker, which is given as a reward to OSU players. To help the puzzled officers connect the dots, Boggioni stepped out of the car to show his 2002 national-championship sweatshirt, one "complete with a Buckeye leaf," Blundo wrote.

Chagrined, the officers excused the unwarranted stop by explaining that an officer in another jurisdiction had called in a report of the Boggionis' sticker - believing the older couple to be at the forefront of some sort of massive marijuana ring, it seems.

What's sadder? That the Tennessee Cops can't tell the difference between a buckeye leaf and a marijuana leaf, or the even lamer pretext for the stop that massive drug smuggling rings would advertise their presence by putting marijuana stickers on their cars?

Even those with the poor taste to be Buckeye fans have some constitutional rights.

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