Cherished Number Plates News

New York cop wants to GET OSAMA

20 October 2008

A former New York City police sergeant is insisting that it is his First Amendment right to bear the cherished plate GETOSAMA, However the State Department of Motor Vehicles is insisting he is out of line.

His Ford Aerostar van is a patriotic 'farce' as one publication put it and bears slogans such as 'DMV luvs Al-Qaeda'. The van is painted red, white and blue and resembles an American flag.

As parsed by his lawyer, the crux of Mr. Herwerth’s lawsuit against the D.M.V. is less abstract. "I have never heard of a case where the government said you can’t speak out in favor of a government policy, and here we have someone whose message supports the jewel in the crown of U.S. foreign policy, the hunt for a criminal that has become the U.S. mission of the decade," Mr. Amicizia said. "We have kind of a perfect storm situation, free speech-wise. Are you telling me a flag-burning case can go all the way to the Supreme Court but my client can’t put this on his license plate? Who is he offending?"

The DMV issued him a plate nearing the letters GETOSAMA, an obvious reference to the current middle-east situation plaguing U.S. foreign policy. The plate was then revoked after the DMV stated that they were issued as an error in the system and should not have been issued. Mr. Herwerth’s refusal to return his unused plates, which were a Plan C compromise after the department denied his requests for GUTOSAMA and IH8OSAMA (it did issue him AXALQADA plates for his vintage Thunderbird), is the reason for the lawsuit. The case is due to go to courts, and his layer is so steamed up about the case he has promised to represent him for free!