Verde Valley case spurs state lawmaker’s push for ‘right to light’

With BC-CNS-Right to Light-Bill

Photos Available (thumbnails, captions below)

By SEAN MANGET
Cronkite News Service

COTTONWOOD (Tuesday, Feb. 10) _ Alone on her long drive home from work, Dibor Roberts said she feared for her safety when she saw red and blue lights in her rear-view mirror late one night in July 2007.

The week before, Roberts said, she’d seen a news report about people pretending to be police pulling over and assaulting women. Rather than stopping on the dark, isolated Verde Valley road, Roberts said she decided to drive on to a lighted area.

The first time the pursuing vehicle pulled alongside, Roberts said, she yelled to tell the driver what she was doing. The second time, the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Department sergeant pursuing her for speeding passed her, forced her to halt and arrested her.

Roberts, a naturalized American citizen originally from Senegal, was convicted of fleeing a law officer, a felony, and misdemeanor resisting arrest, receiving six months of unsupervised probation. She said she plans to appeal.

Some of what happened that night remains in dispute. Roberts said the sergeant acted with unnecessary force in arresting her. The sergeant said Roberts intentionally ran over his foot, though an assault charge was later dropped.

All that aside, Roberts said someone in her position should have the right to drive to a lighted area before being pulling over.

“Nobody should have to experience the same thing I experienced,” Roberts said during an interview at her Cottonwood home.

With that in mind, Roberts and a support group calling itself “A Woman’s Right to Light” circulated a petition calling for a law.

Rep. Lucy Mason, R-Prescott, has introduced a bill that would allow someone who is pursued for a minor traffic violation on a dark, isolated roadway to reduce speed and signal to an officer that he or she wants to drive to a lighted area. The motorist would have the right to request that another peace officer be present.

Mason, whose district includes the Verde Valley, said she empathizes with women who feel threatened while driving alone at night. She said HB 2343 balances the needs of peace officers and those they pull over.

“The question is: How do we protect women, and honestly men too, when they see the lights behind them?” Mason said.

Greenlee County Sheriff Steven Tucker said it isn’t practical to have officers following cars to lighted areas that could be miles away and waiting for a second officer to arrive. He also said offenders often attempt to toss drugs from cars in the darkness.

“It’s a ridiculous bill, and I completely oppose it,” said Tucker, who serves as president of the Arizona County Attorneys and Sheriff’s Association.

“If you don’t stop when a car turns on lights or sirens, you have to debate: Are they actively fleeing or trying to get to a lighted area?” he said.

The Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office has no opinion on Mason’s bill, said Dwight D’Evelyn, a spokesman.

Under HB 2343, an officer would have to inform the driver that he or she is being investigated for a traffic violation and that the driver may proceed to a lighted area and request the presence of another officer.

The requirements wouldn’t apply if the officer reasonably believes that they would endanger the officer or the motorist.

Mason’s bill has been assigned to the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee but has yet to be heard.

Barbara Litrell, a Cornville resident who was one of the chief organizers of “A Woman’s Right to Light,” said Mason’s bill will bring an important issue to the forefront even if it doesn’t become law.

“It will be an uphill battle, but I think it’s one worth having a discussion about,” Litrell said.

Roberts said she wants something good to come out of her situation, one that has her coping with a felony record.

“I will never let it happen to anybody else,” she said. “I’m gonna fight for it.”

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Web Link:
_ A Woman’s Right to Light: www.awomansrighttolight.com

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PHOTOS: Click thumbnails to see full-resolution images and download; caption information is in the file under File>File Info.

CAPTION FOR BC-CNS-RIGHT TO LIGHT: Dibor Roberts of Cottonwood shows a Verde Valley road where she was pulled over after declining to stop in an area that she said was too dimly lit for her to be certain her pursuer was a law officer. Roberts is appealing her conviction of fleeing an officer and resisting arrest, and he case led state Rep. Lucy Mason, R-Prescott, to introduce a bill that would allow drivers pursued on dark, remote roads to slow down and signal to an officer that he or she wishes to drive to the next lighted area. (Cronkite News Service Photo/Sean Manget)

CAPTION FOR BC-CNS-RIGHT TO LIGHT: Dibor Roberts of Cottonwood shows a picture of her car after she was pulled over after declining to stop in an area that she said was too dimly lit for her to be certain her pursuer was a law officer. Roberts is appealing her conviction of fleeing an officer and resisting arrest, and he case led state Rep. Lucy Mason, R-Prescott, to introduce a bill that would allow drivers pursued on dark, remote roads to slow down and signal to an officer that he or she wishes to drive to the next lighted area. (Cronkite News Service Photo/Sean Manget)