By: Rob Harris

Several years ago, the Conway, Arkansas City Council passed an ordinance permitting residents to drive golf courts on public roads when traveling between their homes and a golf course. So, what’s a police officer supposed (or allowed) to do when he sees a cart tooling down the road? How is the officer to know that the cart is en route to or from a golf course, and not on an unauthorized expedition? Can he simply stop the cart and force the driver and passengers to answer? Does he need to have some foundation for asking? And do the driver and passengers have the right to refuse to answer?

These questions have come into focus due to the recent actions of a local officer who stopped and ticketed Barbara “Suzy” Corbitt who was driving her cart with her six year old child in the passenger seat. The officer issued a first offense citation for unauthorized golf cart operation …. and caused the cart to be towed away.

Ms. Corbitt has responded by filing a suit, claiming the police department violated her civil rights by “seizing [her] property without an arrest, leaving a stay-at-home mom and a 6-year-old on the side of the road.”

Stay tuned.