Indiana State Trooper Pulls Over Motorist, Interrogates Her On Her Religious Beliefs

It was a routine traffic stop on a hot August night in Indiana. Ellen Bogan was traveling outside Union City, a small town in far-eastern Indiana, when she was pulled over for allegedly making an illegal pass. The trooper let Bogan off with a warning and then things got truly bizarre. With the Indiana State Police cruiser still parked behind her, red and blue lights flashing, the trooper, Brian Hamilton, asked Bogan if she had “a home church” and if she had “accepted Jesus Christ as her Savior.” He then handed Bogan a pamphlet which detailed Jesus’ “sacrifice for our sins” and told Bogan to “acknowledge you are a sinner.”

Now, as reported by The Indianapolis Star, Bogan, 60, is suing the Indiana State Police claiming her first and fourth amendment rights were violated. Bogan and the Indiana ACLU argue that Hamilton used his position as a state trooper — a government employee — to proselytize a religions belief. Jennifer Drobac, a law professor at the Robert H. McKinney School of Law at Indiana University explains how the Indiana State Trooper overstepped his bounds by testifying during the traffic stop.

“The most important thing for people to understand is that the First Amendment specifies that the government shall not prefer one religion over another religion, or religious adherence over anything else.”

“The police officer is representing the government… so that means, as a representative, this person, while on duty, while engaged in official action, is basically overstepping and is trying to establish religion.”

Bogan called the Indiana State Police to lodge a formal complaint and was told that “supervisory action” would be taken. Now, two months later, a lawsuit is looming. The Indiana State Police have responded to the lawsuit. In a story on The Huffington Post, spokesman David Burstan explains the policy, or in this case, the lack thereof.

“The agency doesn’t comment on pending litigation but that it doesn’t have a specific policy that addresses officers who distribute religious materials.”

Ellen Bogan argues that the Indiana State Police cruiser parked behind her with the lights flashing intimidated her to talk about her religions beliefs. As explained in Raw Story, Bogan explains her side.

“She felt she could not leave or refuse questioning because the trooper was in uniform and had his patrol car parked behind hers.”

“‘The whole time, his lights were on,’ Bogan said. ‘I had no reason to believe I could just pull away at that point, even though I had my warning.'”

Police officers in general have been taken to task as of late due to odd behaviors during routine stops. Not only the testifying of religious beliefs, but illegal searches and even violence. The uptick in constitutional rights violations have led some states to implement cameras, not only on dashboards, but on the officers themselves to try and deter the overstepping of authority. In New York, there is even an app for that, as reported by The Inquisitr.

Regardless of a person’s religious beliefs, the US Constitution protects against the favoring of one religion over another, or one religion over the beliefs of no religion. Either way, Ellen Bogan’s rights were violated by the Indiana State Trooper on that hot August night in Indiana. And now the state may have to pay for it.