Demarquize Dawson was driving a rental car near the Hard Rock Casino in Davie, Florida when a police officer stopped him and arrested him because the license plate frame on the vehicle partially covered the first “S” in “Sunshine State.” Dawson spent the night in jail and ended up in the hospital after a panic attack.
- Police released him and apologized, saying vague and unclear wording in the statute made them think this was illegal.
- A license plate frame obscuring part of the license plate is only illegel if it obscures the numbers and letters of the plate itself or the validation sticket.
- “Sunshine State” and county names don’t count because they are not a “primary feature” of the plate.
Florida man has been arrested and spent a night in jail because the “S” in “Sunshine State” on his rental car’s Florida license plate was obstructed by a frame.
This law was passed by the pro Flock camera lobby and the penalties for it are absolutely absurd police state BS.… pic.twitter.com/motRusOELb
— Mrgunsngear (@Mrgunsngear) December 18, 2025
Florida 320.262 is a new section on “license plate obscuring devices” that are designed to interfere with detectability and recording of a plate number or validation sticker. It says you can’t attach or apply material “onto or around” a plate that interferes with the legibility, detectability, or recording of any feature or detail, and makes a knowing violation a second-degree misdemeanor with penalities of up to 60 days jail and a $500 fine.
By specifying that oscuring “any feature or detail” is illegal, that suggests covering the plate’s S for Sunshine State could be a crime. This should have been consistently drafted to reference primary features and details, or license plates and validation stickets.
It’s not clear whom the customer rented the car from. The license-plate frame on the vehicle reads “CROWNCARS.COM.” That belongs to florida dealership group Crown Automotive.
If it were Hertz, the jokes would write themselves, but then it’s usually been Hertz falsely reporting their own customers to the police – not accidentally covering up the S in Sunshine State on a Florida license plate.
