Hey SnoW...have you been out to Ogden, Utah (archive)

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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) It was last August when Alan and Matt Dayton decided to have a little
fun with the speed trap down the road from their parents' house in Ogden.

They made a sign out of poster board that read ''Radar Trap, 25 mph'' and held it up along the
road, much to the delight of passing motorists. Before long, the two brothers had the full attention of
police and the beginning of an odd free speech squabble that has wound up in court.

''It was actually my idea,'' said Matt Dayton, 25. ''We were just having fun. It's a Saturday
afternoon, and we were having a few laughs.''

For the first 20 minutes last Aug. 28, motorists driving by honked their approval and gave thumbs
up signs. Then a patrol car stopped and a few minutes later, Alan Dayton was unconscious on the
ground.

Police say Dayton, 31, started a scuffle with police and resisted arrest, but the brothers say he was
manhandled by an angry officer.

''I managed to get Dayton in a headlock and after several seconds he stopped struggling. I put
Dayton face down on the grass and handcuffed him,'' Officer Bob Hanselman wrote in his police
report.

''After handcuffing Dayton I noticed that he appeared to be semiconscious and he began shaking.
This lasted 5 to 10 seconds, and Dayton was alert and conscious after that.''

Dayton was arrested and charged with obstruction of justice, resisting arrest and disorderly
conduct. That was only the start Dayton, after all, is an attorney and adviser for a Salt Lake County
commissioner.

Dayton refused prosecutors' offer of a plea bargain, which would have meant fines of about
$2,750. Instead, he paid his attorneys more than $10,000 to defend him. All charges against
Dayton were thrown out during a Feb. 25 hearing.

Judge Michael Glassman said Dayton had a right to be where he was, holding the sign. The judge
also said Dayton wasn't lawfully arrested.

''I had only the sign, they searched me and found a golf ball and two tees in pockets,'' Dayton
recalled.

His longtime friend and attorney, Jere Reneer, plans to sue the city of Ogden and the police for civil
rights violations.

''I'm a law-and-order guy and so is Alan. This is a very conservative Republican. Here he is
expressing his views about something and he gets beat up,'' Reneer said.

''That's the beauty of this case. I don't have a drug dealer that was beat up. I have someone that I
know was telling the truth.''

The judge has not yet signed off on his ruling. After that happens, the city will have 30 days to
appeal. Paul Olds, the Ogden assistant city attorney who prosecuted Dayton, said he has not
decided whether to do so.

''We do agree that it was a violation of his First Amendment rights and used as a way to charge him
criminally,'' said Carol Gnade, executive director of the Utah chapter of the ACLU.

Utah Highway Patrol spokesman Chris Kramer would not comment directly on Dayton's case.

''Anything that slows people down and makes people drive in a more cautious manner, we're in
favor of,'' Kramer said. ''The ultimate goal here is to make people safe.''

A few days after the judge dismissed the charges, Ogden put up a speed limit warning near where
Dayton held up his homemade sign.

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