Tennessee cops embarrass themselves, mistake Buckeye logo for marijuana leaf

ohiostategamedayr | February 15, 2013 at 11:49 am | 4 Comments

A Ohio State Buckeyes helmet sits on the sidelines during the game against the Wisconsin Badgers at Camp Randall Stadium. Ohio State defeated Wisconsin 21-14 in overtime. (Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports)

Bonnie Jonas-Boggioni is a 65-year old Ohio State Buckeyes’ fan who resides in Texas and happened to be driving through the state of Tennessee when she and her husband, Guido, were pulled over by the police.

Why?

Because, according to The Columbus Dispatch, their car was placed under suspicion for drug possession.

Then again, it looks like Tennessee cops could really use a lesson on the difference between being a football fan and being a drug trafficker.

Jonas-Boggioni, who has served as the president of the Ohio State Alumni Club in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, has a Buckeye sticker on the bumper of her car. You guessed it — Tennessee state police mistook the leafy symbol for that of a marijuana plant.

“It’s just amazing they would be that dumb,” Jonas-Boggioni said.

But wait, it gets even better: The couple was driving back to Plano, Texas following a trip to Columbus, Ohio in order to attend the funeral of Guido’s 92-year old mother, Eleanor.

Further, there are no records of the traffic stop at all with the Tennessee Highway Patrol nor the Shelby County sheriff’s office in Memphis. Does that mean these officers were too embarrassed over their mistake to register their actions with their superiors?

Probably, especially with all the pomp and circumstance they brought to this traffic stop.

“They were very serious,” Jonas-Boggioni. “They had the body armor and the guns.”

Body armor? Guns?

“What are you doing with a marijuana sticker on your bumper?” the officer asked Jonas-Boggioni.

At that point, Jonas-Boggioni explained, using small words for these two to understand, that it was a Buckeye leaf, not a pot leaf.

“He looked at me like I was speaking a foreign language,” she said.

Obviously, she wasn’t. Since words were not getting through, however, she literally stood up, got out of her car and showed the officers the 2002 Ohio State National Championship shirt she was wearing because it had a Buckeye on it.

Her die-hard fan-ship got her into hot water in the first place, but it also worked in her favor to show these Tennessee cops what was up.

At that point, the officers, sufficiently embarrassed for one day we presume, told her she should remove the Buckeye sticker from her car.

“I said, ‘You mean in Tennessee?’ and he said, ‘No, permanently.’

“I didn’t take it off. . . . This little old lady is no drug dealer.”

Nope, she’s just awesome, and you don’t have to be an Ohio State fan to appreciate that.

Yeah, this old lady’s story is crazy, but it pales in comparison to the biggest WTF?! moments in sports history.

Rating: 5.0/5 (1 vote cast)

What do you think Gamedayrs?

gatormetz

Why should a cop be allowed to pull you over even if you DO have a pot leaf sticker on your car? POLICE STATE.

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- http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1314740521 Patrick Munsch
  
  They shouldn’t, and can’t. There is no crime against having a pot sticker on your car, or even wearing clothes with it on there. If that was me, I would have mad a HUGE fuss about it. lol As long as the cops weren’t dicks.
  
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- thomasn528
  
  I think that’s the point, too. She’d have a very good case against these police and should contact the ACLU or some other group that would handle this pro bono. Police should not ever be thinking they’re authorized to monitor people’s bumperstickers for anything whatsoever — and articles like this one should point that out.
  
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BRIAN MACC

ya mess with a BUCK you get the HORN,(:, (GO BUCKS)
i got a over load ticket in west menphis tenn, east bound to col,ohio i continued east on 40 to nashville and then picked up rt 65 notth going out of the stste of tenn: i was stopped at a dot inspection at the north bound scale house on 65 n, gave me a nouther tickete for the same thing , i was mad from the 1st one tenn: already gave me so i was going to say nothing bout the 1st one, after a 3 hr deleay for me on a sat morning on a monday morn delivery i had pleanty of time ,,,he-the officer on the other hand had to do a full dot inspection weigh the trucks out side in 2 ft of blowing cold snow with the sun shining and snow messy and slushy had to complete his green horn dot inspection, 3 hrs later he was approaching my ds window with his clip board walked around to the pass side opened the door and climbed on up in the cab,, handed me the clip board explained the findings, witch was nothing but the very same overload ticket i got coming in the state at west Memphis/Jackson scale house, i-40 east bound, i looked at the officer and ask him is this Tennessee sir, he looked at me as if i had lost my mind,, it was all i could but to keep from laughing in his face.(NOT A GOOD THING TO DO AT THIS POINT.), he replayed yes it is!!! ME= hold on a min as i dug threw my paper work, and pulled out the same ticket the other scale house gave me 2 2 hrs prior, i handed it to him and i said CAN YOU BE CHARGED TWICED FOR THE SAME THING ON THE SAME TRIP IN BY THE SAME STATE ??, I DON’T THINK YOU CAN CHARGE ME TWICED OFFICER, im sorry i thought we were in Kentucky and were going to get hit in every state till we get to our delivery, HE RETURNED TO THE TRUCK AND LOOKED UP AT ME AND SAID IF I SEE YOU IN THIS STATE AGAIN I WILL NOT BE AS EASY ON YOU THE NEXT TIME,, I THOUGHT YEA RITE BUDDY I GOTTA COME THROUGH HERE YOU WONT STOP ME , AS LONG AS IM LEGAL THERE’S NOTHING YOU CAN DO TO PREVENT ME FROM USING A FEDERAL AND OR STATE OR COUNTY ROADWAY SYSTEM,

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