A police officer reportedly issued a rare citation to a Texas resident who honked his car horn.
Videos of the exchange circulated widely online after Marshall Petre, who filmed the encounter, honked at the officer, CBS News reported Wednesday. Petre, a Collin County resident, alleged the officer passed him on his police motorcycle at high speed with no lights or sirens on, so he honked at him out of concern for the safety of himself and others.
The officer left after the brief interaction, then returned shortly thereafter to hand Petre a ticket, tow his truck and arrest him, according to CBS News.
Petre said there were no signs of traffic or trouble when he merged onto Highway 75.
“I check my mirror, go to move over and … he comes swinging past me,” Petre said in an interview with the outlet. “He didn’t have lights, sirens, nothing — he was just driving down the road.”
He said the deputy sped past him then got caught in the regular flow of traffic.
“You got a reason for your speed?” Petre said while questioning the officer in the first of two videos.
“If he would have lost control of that motorcycle … if I would have just clipped the front of his vehicle and he had an accident, and potentially could have died from it,” Petre told the outlet. “I would’ve had to live with that guilt. I don’t want to carry that.”
“You flew past me, I almost killed you!” he said in a video of the altercation.
Petre said he saw the officer take the next exit and followed him. He started recording the exchange after pulling up behind the officer at a four-way stop and honking his horn.
The deputy then drove away and Petre said he stayed behind and spoke with a construction worker who had witnessed the incident. He began filming the second video after the officer returned minutes later.
The deputy then issued Petre a citation for illegal use of a horn, according to CBS News.
State code allows the use of a horn “only when necessary to insure safe operation.” The Texas Department of Public Safety reported 3.9 million traffic violations issued in 2022 and just eight of them were for the illegal use of a horn, according to the outlet.
Petre’s ticket came with a $189 fine, but his problems continued mounting from there. Dallas County had previously issued an arrest warrant for the Collin County man after he allegedly failed to pay a speeding ticket he had received in the summer, the outlet reported.
The officer arrested Petre and arranged for his truck to be towed.
He spent 16 hours in custody and was forced to pay $600 to release his truck from the impound lot.
Petre felt he had the right to question the deputy despite how the situation unfolded.
“He just wanted to come back and make a point — be proven,” he said. “And he proved it. He did what he wanted to do.” (RELATED: Video Shows Police Surrounding Rapper’s Home Days Before Tour Set To Begin)
A Collin County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson said the case is “under review,” according to the outlet.
Petre has pled not guilty and has requested a jury trial. A court hearing was scheduled for him Oct. 29, but there is no further information regarding the case at the time of publication.
This article was originally published at dailycaller.com
