Delegates Suing Highway Patrol

By Brody Montgomery

The State Highway Patrol has had their reputation questioned due to controversial interactions with delegates throughout campus.

The controversy started with Sean Thomas of Voisard City. Thomas stated that he finished his job and was going home from Millett Hall and was walking in circles around a State Highway patrolman. The officer then allegedly heckled Thomas and wrote a citation. Thomas took the ticket and ripped it up in front of the officer's face, claiming that it was after hours and that he was simply in recreation time. The ticket that was thrown in the trash has yet to be found, but if so could be a key piece of evidence in the lawsuit according to Genochio.

Thomas, however, is not the only individual who has, in their own experience, dealt with an altercation that resulted in some turmoil. William Genochio of Voisard City also believes that the highway patrol is behaving unfairly because of an interaction with the police that he believes was a violation of his rights.

Genochio was walking home and started to walk in the grass for a softer surface because he was experiencing shin splints from his dress shoes. An officer came up to him and wrote a citation.

Because of his utilities and mortgage payments, Genochio said that he can’t afford citations; he said, “The highway patrol is an attack on the poor.” Luckily for Genochio, he was able to avoid the ticket when an unidentified man snuck behind the officer, ripped the ticket in half and ran.

Genochio hired attorney Kevin Turner from Voisard City as a defense attorney and tried to get five other victims – but possibly up to ten –to testify that they were victims of this kind of ticketing to prove a pattern.

Because of these difficulties, Genochio wants Governor Malone to step in and issue the patrol to peacekeeping training. He also voiced that he wants to “issue punitive damages to hold them accountable, we need a hit to their budget. I also want compensatory damages to anyone whose time was wasted with the tickets.”

Turner believes that some of Genochio’s aspirations may be overly optimistic as a class action lawsuit can’t happen until after a few cases regarding this issue are won for Turner’s team. However, Turner does believe in this case, saying, “We have several witnesses willing to testify against the highway patrol.” In the following days the lawsuit will officially be filed and taken into court.

Because of this public outrage, the State Highway Patrol may have to make reforms in their enforcement or face backlash from delegates and in the form of legal recourse.