ODDLY ENOUGH | Ohio man challenging law on teasing police dogs

ODDLY ENOUGH

Ohio man challenging law on teasing police dogs

MASON, Ohio

An Ohio man charged with teasing a police dog by barking at it had his constitutional right to free speech violated, his attorney said.

Ryan J. Stephens, 25, of Mason, was charged April 3 with a misdemeanor under a city law prohibiting teasing a police dog.

His attorney, Jim Hardin, said Stephens was not striking the animal named Timber or the police car, The Cincinnati Enquirer reported Friday.

“It was simply barking,” Hardin said. “And, whether you consider that to be intelligent speech or not, it’s still speech.”

A Mason police officer investigating a car crash at a pub in the Cincinnati suburb reported that he heard the dog barking uncontrollably. Officer Bradley Walker reported finding Stephens with his face a few inches from the police car’s rear window, making barking noises and hissing at the dog.

Walker quoted Stephens as saying “the dog started it.”

“It was evident that Mr. Stephens was highly intoxicated based on his body movements, strong odor of alcohol and slurred speech,” Walker wrote.

No tests were done to back up the allegation of intoxication, and Stephens was “simply an individual who was walking away from a bar,” Hardin said.

The attorney told The Associated Press Friday that he will ask that the case be dismissed based on his contention that the law violates the constitutional right to free speech and will ask that evidence be suppressed because “there was no probable cause for stopping my client.”

Hardin said he plans to make his arguments in Mason Municipal Court, but no court date has been set. Stephens could get up to 60 days in jail if convicted.

Police Chief Ron Ferrell wouldn’t discuss the case but said there is a good reason for the law. Police dogs may get hurt trying to get through a window or the cage separating the front and back seats, he told the newspaper.

NYC cabbie drives 2 guys across US — for $5,000

NEW YORK

A New York City cabdriver has racked up the fare of a lifetime.

Mohammed Alam is being paid $5,000 to drive a pair of friends to Los Angeles. The trio left April 16 and had reached Las Vegas by Thursday.

Investment banker John Belitsky, of Leonia, N.J., tells the New York Post that the idea was hatched during a birthday celebration for Dan Wuebben of Queens.

Belitsky said they wanted to do something “magical.” When they decided on a cab ride to California, they found Alam at LaGuardia Airport and brokered the deal.

The two friends haven’t decided how they’ll get back yet. As for the cab driver, he says a friend will meet him in Los Angeles and help him make the drive home.

Associated Press