FORT MYERS, Fla. A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit against the Lee County Sheriff’s Office over the use of a radar detector that had yet to receive state approval.
Mabel Lopez brought the suit after a 2012 traffic stop, which she claimed was without probable cause. The deputy who stopped her used a Python II radar gun, which wasn’t OK’d for use in Florida until 2015.
United States District Court Judge Paul Magnuson ruled that the deputy’s visual estimate was enough to warrant the stop. The deputy believed she was going between 50 and 52 mph in a 35 mph zone.
Deputies are trained to be able to visually determine the speed of a car within 3 mph, according to the sheriff’s office.
The radar indicated she was going 50 mph, the sheriff’s office said.
Magnuson cited an 11th Circuit Court case that held a law enforcement officer’s visual estimate constitutes probable cause.
Lopez also attempted to bring a class action suit against the sheriff’s office, but that effort proved unsuccessful.
