ST. LOUIS • The American Civil Liberties Union is hoping that a federal judge’s ruling Monday that temporarily barred Ellisville from punishing drivers for using their headlights to warn others of speed traps will itself serve as a warning to other cities who try to do the same. 
 
 ACLU Legal Director Tony Rothert said Monday that it was the first federal court ruling on the issue anywhere in the country. “It is legal in Missouri to communicate in this manner,” he said, “and detaining, ticketing or arresting someone for the content of their speech is illegal.” 
 
 U.S. District Judge Henry Autrey’s preliminary injunction says that Michael J. Elli would likely prevail in a free speech lawsuit against Ellisville. Autrey’s ruling says that the officer “did not have reasonable suspicion to believe that Plaintiff had violated any law” and that it is not illegal to warn drivers “because a speed trap is ahead.” 
 
 The ACLU sued on behalf of Elli and other drivers last year, saying that drivers using their headlights to communicate about a speed trap — or another reason to proceed with caution — are protected by the First Amendment. 
 
 Rothert said that after Elli’s suit, they heard from drivers that other jurisdictions in Missouri and Illinois were also ticketing drivers for warning of speed traps, although the Post-Dispatch could not confirm current ordinances or enforcement actions with any of the named jurisdictions Monday afternoon. 
 
 The ACLU did provide the name of one person who had complained. Robert DuBois, 44, of St. Peters, said that he was stopped in Ellisville three or four years ago for warning drivers about a speed trap. After doing his own legal research, and turning down a deal with the prosecutor, he took the case to trial and lost. The judge, DuBois said, fined him $1,000 but suspended the fine as long as he was not ticketed for flashing his headlights for a year — anywhere in Missouri. 
 
 DuBois said that he was happy about Monday’s ruling, adding, “I really thought that there was a big injustice done.” 
 
 Asked whether the ACLU would sue other jurisdictions that are issuing similar tickets, Rothert said, “We’re going to hope that they take note of the court’s order. And if we hear about it happening after today, we will contact them, and ask them to stop.” 
 
 Rothert also said that although Illinois is covered by a different federal court district, the same reasoning should apply. 
 
 Elli was pulled over and cited on Nov. 17, 2012, after he passed a speed trap and began warning other drivers by flashing his headlights. 
 
 Elli, charged with violating an city ordinance almost identical to a Missouri statue, appeared in municipal court and was told that the standard punishment for the offense was a $1,000 fine. When he said he wanted to plead not guilty, the judge “became agitated and asked Plaintiff if he had ever heard of ‘obstruction of justice,’” Elli’s complaint says. The judge wasn’t mentioned by name in the lawsuit. 
 
 The case was dropped before Elli’s next court date, however. 
 
 Court filings show that less than a month after the suit was filed, Ellisville Police Chief Tom Felgate issued a special order telling officers that drivers who flash their headlights are not subject to citation or prosecution. The city later broadened the order to ban detaining or arresting drivers who flash their lights. 
 
 Peter Dunne, a lawyer representing Ellisville, said Monday that, “It won’t have any practical effect on police operations in the city of Ellisville because for the past nine months we haven’t been enforcing this ordinance in this way anyway.” 
 
 Dunne disputed the lawsuit’s claims about the judge’s statements at the hearing. 
 
 The lawsuit could continue, although Rothert said that, “We are already discussing with the city ways to get to a permanent solution.” 
 
 The ACLU has declined several times to make Elli available for an interview. Rothert said that he is married, retired and someone who travels through Ellisville frequently. 
 
 Elli’s not a crusader against speed traps, Rothert said, “but he does appreciate it when people signal him, so he’s returning the favor. Just to tell people to slow down.” 
 
 “In his experience, people really do slow down when you flash your lights at them, and that’s safer for everyone.” 

 ST. LOUIS (AP) — It's a common practice among drivers who pass through a speed trap: Flash your headlights at approaching cars as a warning to slow down. Now, a federal court judge in Missouri says penalizing drivers for the headlight flash violates their First Amendment right to free speech. 
 
 U.S. District Judge Henry E. Autrey in St. Louis on Monday issued a preliminary injunction prohibiting the St. Louis County town of Ellisville from citing and prosecuting drivers who flash their lights to warn of radar and speed traps. Ellisville's city attorney said there are no plans to appeal. 
 
 The order stems from a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri on behalf of Michael Elli. On Nov. 17, 2012, Elli flashed his headlights to warn oncoming vehicles of a radar set up by Ellisville police. 
 
 An officer saw the flash and pulled Elli over, citing him for a city ordinance violation, though a similar statute exists in Missouri law. Elli was told he would likely face a fine of up to $1,000 if convicted. 
 
 The case was eventually dropped. Ellisville City Attorney George Restovich said the city changed the policy and no longer pulls over people for flashing headlights. 
 
 "The reality is that the injunction doesn't change the way the city has been operating for the past 12 months," Restovich said. 
 
 Still, Ellisville continued to fight the suit. At a hearing last year, Ellisville officials made the case that flashing headlights could interfere with a police investigation. 
 
 But Autrey said in his ruling that the flashing of headlights was essentially a good thing, sending "a message to bring one's driving in conformity with the law — whether it be by slowing down, turning on one's own headlamps at dusk or in the rain, or proceeding with caution." 
 
 Jonathan Turley, a criminal attorney and a professor at George Washington University Law School, said courts across the country are dealing with the same issue. In virtually every case except those still being decided, the person cited has prevailed, Turley said. 
 
 "This has sweeping implications for the First Amendment," Turley said. "What this citizen is doing is warning other citizens about the violation of law. People regularly warn others about the possibility of arrest. There's no difference between a verbal warning and a mechanical warning. Both are forms of speech." 
 
 Jeffrey A. Mittman, executive director of the ACLU of Missouri, said that since filing the suit, his office has heard from many other drivers across Missouri complaining about similar police practices. 
 
 "It is important that law enforcement officers in other jurisdictions take note of this federal court decision and the ACLU-MO's commitment to free speech," Mittman said in a statement.
– Drivers of the world, unite—because the coppers can't stop you from doing so, a federal judge in St. Louis ruled this week. It's a common custom of the road to flash your headlights at oncoming traffic to warn them if they're about to pass a police speed trap. But when Michael Elli did that in Missouri in November 2012, the Ellisville police cited him for violating a city ordinance, the AP explains. The charges were eventually dropped, but not before the ACLU had filed a suit on Elli's behalf. On Monday, US District Judge Henry Autrey agreed that prohibiting the headlight flash violates the First Amendment. "Detaining, ticketing, or arresting someone for the content of their speech is illegal," he reasoned, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Ellisville says it's since dropped the ordinance, but there's a similar state law, and drivers elsewhere in Missouri have reported similar stops. "This has sweeping implications for the First Amendment," says one law professor. "What this citizen is doing is warning other citizens about the violation of law."