Man arrested for DWP: Driving With Porn
It was only a matter of time. With the prevalence of in-car monitors for playing DVDs, you had to know some bozo would pop in some porn to keep him entertained during his commute. A Tampa Bay TV station has reported that one Tracy Pope was pulled over in Aiken, South Carolina for just such an offense. While our understanding of the legal use of porn in private is touchy at best, it seems kind of obvious that sharing your taste in blue movies with the rest of the drivers around you will only attract the men in blue.
Officers said that Pope was pulled over while playing an X-rated DVD on his in-car video system, which amounts to a felony disseminating or promoting obscenity charge based on the argument that minors could have easily been exposed to the porn by looking into the vehicle through the uncovered windows. The article also doesn't mention if the DVD was playing on an aftermarket system in the dash like the Pioneer AVIC-N3 or -Z1, in which case the system would've been illegally modified to play video while the car was in motion, or if it was on another screen not visible to the driver. Police also seized several other DVDs including the one playing at the time of arrest. Please folks, no "both hands on the wheel, " or "stick shift" comments.
[Source: WTSP Tampa Bay]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Darryl 6:05PM (9/22/2006)
This reminds of Eddie Griffin (nba player for the Timberwolves) crashed his ride because he was.. umm.. he was busy
http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/sports/14934519.htm
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Los 6:07PM (9/22/2006)
"Please folks, no 'both hands on the wheel, ' or 'stick shift' comments. "
You just killed every possible funny comment that could be made.
I understand the Citation, makes logical sense, but maybe the wife was warming up in the backseat.
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Jon 6:32PM (9/22/2006)
I heard on the radio how CA was looking to pass a law specifically prohibiting this about a year and a half ago. I was driving from San Diego to San Francisco and telling my brother-in-law (in the car too) about it while driving through LA and passed not one, but two cars that had porn on their AV systems within 15 minutes of telling him that. And this was at 5:30 in the morning. Jesus, you think the guys could've at least waited until noon!
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Fabulo 6:12PM (9/22/2006)
"...minors could have easily been exposed to the porn by looking into the vehicle through the uncovered windows"
And thus scarred for life! Oh My God Somebody Think Of The Children!
Still, watching any video while in motion is not too safe. Enjoying porn? That's a stretch.
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Damon Lavrinc 6:12PM (9/22/2006)
"While our understanding of the legal use of porn in private is touchy at best"
Nice Frank.
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Mal Fuller 6:26PM (9/22/2006)
I bet South Carolina police followed this guy for miles and miles, just to be sure it was porn that they were seeing!
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Rory 6:30PM (9/22/2006)
Officer Leeroy P Hatfield :Uahmmmm, er yes,(cough) I will have to confiscate these videos and view them to make sure they were not offensive.Cough
Mr.Pope : Yes sir.
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Greg 6:30PM (9/22/2006)
Sex Bad === Guns Good!
But if it was 'ScarFace'.. with Tony Montana's finale in his castle, with murder everywhere, it would be ok, right?
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Max 6:41PM (9/22/2006)
I never thought I'd read "Pope" and "porn" in the same sentence.
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J-TRAY 6:46PM (9/22/2006)
I'VE SEEN THIS MANY TIMES DRIVING DOWN SUNSET(CA) iI KNEW SOMEONE WOULD WOULD BE STOPPED EVENTUALLY.......
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Quattrofan 6:49PM (9/22/2006)
Wait till noon? No. 8, this ain't freakin bear we taling about.
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Jim P. 7:01PM (9/22/2006)
Hey, let's hope he wasn't charged with 'car jacking' as well!!
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Todd 7:21PM (9/22/2006)
Boo to Autoblog for the shameless plug for the Pioneer system. Would the article have been any less gripping without such an obvious plug like that? Aren't the paid advertisements all over the right columns viable options for creating revenue?
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rwdmtparkingonly 7:33PM (9/22/2006)
This is the number one hobby for Escalade owners in Chicago. They don't even watch it, a guy will play it on screens that are behind the driver when he is the only one in the car, and sometimes the screens are installed in the back of the rear-most headrests.
Still, you know you're in the South when they charge someone with a felony for something like this.
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Ryan 7:36PM (9/22/2006)
"13. Boo to Autoblog for the shameless plug for the Pioneer system"
Yeah it's either a shameless plug for the Pioneer system
OR
It's the only "in-car" pic they could easily find of a DVD system with a womans ass haning from the top of the screen :-)
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bob 7:58PM (9/22/2006)
Stories like this make me feel sick about our oversensitive douchebag culture. I love the US, but you'd never hear about crap like this in europe.
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Eugene Dumont 6:56AM (9/23/2006)
All I can say is; What the heck is this World coming to? Where are all our freedoms gone? Getting stoped for DWP I wonder if ND has a law againist that? I Know! Thou shall not drive while watching pron.
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avixe 8:30AM (9/23/2006)
I remember this from a few years ago:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4327481/
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Corey W. 9:47PM (9/22/2006)
Yeah, I see people doing this in Detroit all the time!!
And its usually in a vehicle that has a screen in each head unit and a larger main screen in the center. If it was sports, video game or a movie I could understand, but it's always porn...
What's the point!!
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Mark 10:37PM (9/22/2006)
I don't want to condone the fella driving around showing the world his porno tape, but a felony???? Damn!
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