'Sovereign citizens' arrested after traffic stop for strange license plate in Volusia County
Two people were arrested in Volusia County over the weekend after claiming the laws don't apply to them.
They call themselves sovereign citizens, and it's not the first time the police have had to deal with something like this.
It started when deputies pulled a man over because of a strange-looking license plate. Bodycam video shows the driver speaking with a woman on the phone while handing the deputy a stack of papers instead of a driver's license.
After the suspect, identified as Destry Wogerman, is put in handcuffs, the woman whom he was on the phone with rolls up. It ends with Laralynne Nabozny's window getting broken, and she gets arrested too.
Attorney Michael Panella said he's seen several of these cases over the years and has heard different reasons people claim they're exempt.
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"For example, a favorite one is, ‘I’m not driving, I’m traveling,’ which is sort of what came up in this case," Panella said. "‘And therefore, because I’m traveling based on the privileges and immunities clause of the constitution."
While there are different groups of sovereign citizens with different beliefs, Panella says he's never seen them successfully skirt the law.
"I’ve never seen it work, because at the end of the day, you’re still going to be brought in front of a judge, and now you’re just basically making the judge mad," Panella said. "I saw one person get so upset that he actually got into a physical confrontation and threw over a council table in the middle of the courtroom."
Destry Wogerman was arrested for driving without a license and driving a registered vehicle.
Both Wogerman and Nabozny were arrested for resisting deputies.