Driver Charged With Having Flashing Blue Lights On Car

WOODSTOCK, GA — A Woodstock resident was charged Wednesday with operating blue lights on an unauthorized vehicle and other offenses following a traffic stop conducted by police. An officer with the Woodstock Police Department conducted a traffic stop just after 3 a.m. June 13 on Highway 92 at Professional Parkway.

According to an incident report released by the department, an officer on patrol noticed a blue Saturn passenger car in his mirror "with flashing blue lights in the front lower corners of the front bumper."

When he took a closer look at the car, the officer noted the Saturn was not an official police vehicle and when the car passed him, the officer also noticed the back of the car was not illuminated.

The cop initiated a traffic stop and approached the vehicle to talk with the driver, identified as Reid Jumaane Peterson, 26. When he was told why he was pulled over, Peterson allegedly said he "had already been warned previously, and ticketed for all those violations, with a pardon by the courts, stating that the laws and statutes governing these violations, were no longer upholdable," the report adds.

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Peterson asked the officer if he could get out of the car to verify the charge that the rear lighting was inoperable, which was confirmed by the motorist. When asked about the front lighting — which changed from blue to red and other colors — Peterson said he'd also been ticketed and warned about those by officers on previous occasions.

The officer, who observed a couple of packets of cigarillos were on the passenger seat and shredded tobacco in the cup holder, asked Peterson if he could search the Saturn "due to the reasonable suspicion of possible drugs or drug related objects inside the vehicle, based on my training and experience of what those cigarillos were typically used for."

Peterson refused the search, and a police K-9 officer was called in to conduct a free air sniff around the car. The K-9 walked around the vehicle and made two positive alerts on the front doors. With the positive alert, the officer told Peterson he had probable cause to search the vehicle.

That search unearthed a small metal tin from the front seat passenger area, which contained suspected marijuana, the officer wrote in the report. The two packs of cigarillos had been opened, but nothing else was found during the search.

Peterson was placed under arrest and charged with two counts of tag lights required and one count each of alteration of license plate, brake/signal light requirements, unauthorized vehicle with blue light, possession of marijuana less than an ounce and possession and use of drug-related object.

Photo: Reid Jumaane Peterson. Credit: Cherokee Sheriff's Office