{"id":90140,"date":"2025-12-20T03:58:16","date_gmt":"2025-12-20T03:58:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/90140\/"},"modified":"2025-12-20T03:58:16","modified_gmt":"2025-12-20T03:58:16","slug":"florida-driver-wrongly-arrested-over-confusion-about-new-license-plate-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/90140\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida driver wrongly arrested over confusion about new license plate law"},"content":{"rendered":"

DAVIE, Fla. \u2013 Serious legal concerns have been raised over a new Florida law after a driver was mistakenly arrested earlier this week, according to News 6 partner WPLG-TV<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Confusion over the law<\/a> is what the Davie Police Department claims landed one South Florida man wrongfully behind bars on Monday.<\/p>\n

A Davie police officer arrested the 40-year-old driver before later letting him go.<\/p>\n

News 6 reached out to the police department, which explained that the driver\u2019s license plate frame was partially obscuring the bottom part of the plate, where the phrase \u201cSunshine State\u201d is labeled.<\/p>\n

Generic Florida license plate<\/p>\n

The driver\u2019s family was still so distraught about the event that they declined to speak about it on Thursday.<\/p>\n

The Davie Police Department apologized for the arrest, claiming the law appeared to be open for misinterpretation.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the police department provided the following statement to News 6:<\/p>\n

\u201cMr. Dawson was arrested for this statute. At the initial release of this updated law, the wording was vague, unclear and appeared to be open for misinterpretation. Since the release of a memo of clarification from the Florida Police Chief\u2019s Association was provided to our department, our officers are educated on the application and use of this statute. We extended our apologies to Mr. Dawson.\u201d<\/p>\n

Davie Police Department<\/p>\n

It turns out the confusion stemmed from a new law (HB 253) that went into effect on Oct. 1<\/a>.<\/p>\n

HB 253 makes a number of changes to existing rules for motor vehicle crimes in Florida, and license plates play a big part in these changes.<\/p>\n

For example, HB 253 sets up harsher penalties for drivers who try to mimic a police officer with red-and-white lights while trying to pull someone over.<\/p>\n

[BELOW: How the state of Florida is trying to clear up confusion of new license plate frame law]<\/p>\n

But HB 253 also says that alterations to license plates now constitute a second-degree misdemeanor, rather than a noncriminal traffic violation.<\/p>\n

This applies to any of the following situations:<\/p>\n

Mutilating or defacing a registered license plate<\/p>\n

Changing the plate\u2019s color<\/p>\n

Applying reflective material, spray, covering or anything else that can obscure the plate<\/p>\n

Attaching an illuminated device that can prevent someone from reading the plate<\/p>\n

However, the new rules sparked confusion among some, leading to state officials clarifying what was allowed in a memo last week.<\/p>\n

That memo states that so long as the alphanumeric plate identifier and decal in the top right-hand corner remain unobscured, the license plate frame should be OK.<\/p>\n

An explainer on the license plate frame law from the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office. (Seminole County Sheriff’s Office)<\/p>\n

In short, so long as a driver isn\u2019t obscuring the important parts of the license plate, it should be safe under the law.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was never intended to address or deal with the standard accepted license plate frames and that\u2019s where all the frustration is coming,\u201d said State Rep. Doug Bankson, R-Apopka, who authored the legislation. \u201cThe original intent, of course, was to deal with those who were using devices to cover their license plates when it comes to going through toll booths.\u201d<\/p>\n

In its clarification, the state says people shouldn\u2019t worry about the average frame on a license plate.<\/p>\n

That being said, anyone who is found liable under this law may face a $500 fine and up to 60 days in jail.<\/p>\n

New crimes under HB 253<\/p>\n

However, that\u2019s not all. Under this law, people are also entirely prohibited from doing the following:<\/p>\n

Buying or owning a \u201clicense plate obscuring device\u201d <\/p>\n

Creating or selling a \u201clicense plate obscuring device\u201d<\/p>\n

Using a \u201clicense plate obscuring device\u201d in the commission of a crime<\/p>\n

What counts as a \u201clicense plate obscuring device?\u201d<\/p>\n

HB 253 defines this term as follows:<\/p>\n

\u201c…A manual, electronic, or mechanical device designed or adapted to be installed on a motor vehicle for the purpose of:<\/p>\n

1. Switching between two or more license plates to permit a motor vehicle operator to change the license plate displayed on the motor vehicle;<\/p>\n

2. Hiding a license plate from view by flipping the license plate so that the license plate number is not visible;<\/p>\n

3. Covering, obscuring, or otherwise interfering with the legibility, angular visibility, or detectability of the primary features or details, including the license plate number or validation sticker, on the license plate; or<\/p>\n

4. Interfering with the ability to record the primary features or details, including the license plate number of validation sticker, on the license plate.”<\/p>\n

House Bill 253Breaking News Alerts<\/p>\n

Get breaking news alerts delivered to your inbox.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2025 by WKMG ClickOrlando – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DAVIE, Fla. \u2013 Serious legal concerns have been raised over a new Florida law after a driver was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":76802,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[506,19412,28,30,29,99,2546,729],"class_list":{"0":"post-90140","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-florida","8":"tag-broward-county","9":"tag-davie","10":"tag-florida","11":"tag-florida-headlines","12":"tag-florida-news","13":"tag-politics","14":"tag-strange-florida","15":"tag-traffic"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90140"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90140\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76802"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}