(As originally published with video and additional photos, Thu, November 16th 2023, 5:28 PM EST)
VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. (TND) — Authorities in Florida are showing what happened during a traffic stop that didn’t go as planned for either party.
It happened this past Saturday and starts with the sheriff’s deputy — who was wearing a body cam — asking the driver of a pickup truck for his license and registration. Pretty standard, so far.
NOTE: Brief profanity at 8:20 in.
The deputy told the driver, “I didn’t recognize the tag that is on your vehicle.”
Then he asked for the guy’s driver’s license and the driver pulled out some full-sized pieces of paper, instead of the usual credit card-sized document provided by the state.
He also pulled out his cell phone and participated in a call on speaker, so there’s now a third party.
“Ma’am, if he refuses to identify himself in this traffic stop, it’s going to be an issue,” the deputy told the woman on the other end. “He’s operating a vehicle in the state of Florida, ma’am.”
Then, he got more specific.
“This is what’s going on,” the deputy told the woman who wasn’t even there. “The tag on his vehicle does not appear like it’s proper in any state, so it appears the vehicle is unregistered. Then, on top of that, I come out here asking for his identification documents and he’s handing me a stack full of papers instead of a driver’s license, so I’m concerned he might be driving without a driver’s license, and his vehicle might be unregistered.”
The woman could be heard responding that the driver signed something and the deputy “is in violation of it right now.”
After that, the man seems to claim to be a postmaster.
“If you cannot properly identify yourself,” the deputy tells the driver, “then it could be a potential issue for us coming up.”
Again, it’s the woman on the phone who responds, saying the driver didn’t have to talk to the deputy. She also brought up the Geneva Conventions that followed World War II, which define the rights and protections afforded to civilians in war zones.
Eventually, the deputy asked, “If I can’t verify that you have valid driver’s license, then how am I supposed to let you drive off?”
The driver called what he had “all the paperwork I got.”
In the meanwhile, more deputies showed up.
“I don’t have an ID,” the driver said. “I surrendered my ID when I became a sovereign citizen.”
Sovereign citizens believe they don’t have to follow laws because they’re not under the jurisdiction of the federal government.
The woman on the phone chimed in about him being “a living soul, not a corporation entity.”
Then he was asked to get out of the pickup truck. The driver questioned why.
“Have I done something wrong?” he asked.
The deputy said he failed to identify himself, and then a group of deputies physically pulled him out of the driver’s seat and handcuffed him. And they forced him to empty his pockets.
At this point, the woman on the phone shows up in a red vehicle.
Just a little of the conversation is shown.
She said something about having the guy’s phone number and the deputy told her to unlock the door to her vehicle.
“Unlock this door now,” he ordered.
She responded, “No, I’m gonna…” quickly followed by deputies shattering her driver’s side window and forcibly removing her.
The situation didn’t end there.
They took her to the ground and handcuffed her. She still repeatedly refused commands.
When the deputies’ ordeal was done, the driver, Detry Wogerman, was identified by an old Colorado license.
The 58-year-old was charged with driving an unregistered motor vehicle, driving with a suspended/revoked license (habitual), and resisting an officer without violence.
His partner was 43-year-old Laralynne Nabozny, and she was charged with battery on a law enforcement officer and resisting an officer with violence.
Sheriff Mike Chitwood said the deputies did a “great job handling a ridiculous situation,” despite the sovereign citizen movement’s “resistance to reasonable lawful orders.”
