# Man Pulled Over For Air Freshener



## MilkChocolateOne (Oct 19, 2019)

https://www.abc15.com/news/local-ne...ed-over-for-the-little-tree-in-his-car-window

For at least 10 to 15 miles, Philip Colbert said the sheriff’s patrol vehicle followed closely behind him on State Route 95.

When the La Paz County deputy finally pulled him over, he couldn’t believe the reason why.

“The little tree in my window,” Colbert said. “Yes. The air freshener.”

Colbert exclusively walked ABC15 through the police stop that has made national news and gone viral online and spoke about why he’s demanding accountability.

“I basically just want the next guy to not have to deal with this,” he said. “This is not a vendetta. I don’t have all this hate in me. I’m mad because this is a reoccurring issue.”

Colbert, a 22-year-old black man from Lake Havasu who was driving to Parker to visit his father, posted a cell phone video of the September 19thtraffic stop on YouTube.

The video clip begins with Deputy Eli Max walking up to his window and asking him for his license, registration, and insurance information.

When asked for the reason for the stop, Max said it’s because of the air freshener.

Max then immediately and repeatedly questions Colbert about whether he has marijuana and other drugs in the car.

“Over 10 times (he asked me),” Colbert told ABC15.

Colbert recorded three different videos of the stop. The first video cuts out after about 10 minutes because his phone ran out of storage, he said. Between the videos, the clips show at least 10 different times when Max asks Colbert about possessing or using drugs.

Colbert, a recent college graduate and athlete from Grand Canyon University, clearly and calmly tells the deputy that he doesn’t do any drugs.

But unsatisfied with his repeated denials, Max then tells Colbert to step of out of car so he can have a “man-to-man” conversation.

“When I got asked to step out of the car, that’s when I got leery about where the situation was going,” Colbert said. “I kind of felt like he just wanted to see all of me…a power play.”

In addition to questioning Colbert about drugs, he also repeatedly accuses him of being “deceptive.” Max said one of the reasons is because Colbert seemed nervous as he kept both hands on the steering wheel.

“Do me a favor? Relax man, you’re still 10-and-2,” Max told Colbert during the stop.

“That’s just what my mom and dad taught me, keep my hands 10-and-2,” Colbert told ABC15. “Just stay as calm as possible.”

Out of the car, Max asks if he can search the car. Colbert tells him no.

“I’m like, you know, maybe as soon as he checks the car he’s going to try and put something in there. He’s going to try and say I failed,” he told ABC15.

Right after Max was denied consent to search, the deputy then said he wanted to do field sobriety tests.

“Are you serious?” Colbert asks him in the video. “This is crazy.”

Max responds, “The reason I want to put you through field sobriety tests is because your eyes look a little bit glossy.”

Attorneys for Colbert said the deputy’s actions are out-of-line, and they’re considering a lawsuit.

“I have never heard of an officer pulling someone over for an air freshener – ever,” said Benjamin Taylor, a civil rights and defense lawyer who’s working on the case with attorney Martin Bihn.

When asked if Taylor thinks Colbert was profiled, he said, “I think so. It doesn’t make any sense.”

Max has been a police officer for six years and has been with three different law enforcement agencies, state police certification records show.

Taylor said they will be looking into this deputy’s past to see if he has a history of issues.

Colbert has also filed an official complaint with the La Paz County Sheriff’s Office, but hasn’t yet heard from the agency, he said.

ABC15 reached out to the La Paz County Sheriff's Office for a comment and received the following statement:

_"Yes, we obviously are looking into the complaint; we are taking this matter very seriously. Deputy Max has already been placed on administrative leave and our detectives are in the process of investigating the complaint. If we determine that the Deputy was at fault, we will look into the training methods to determine if this was a training issue or possibly an officer making up his own methods. When the investigation is complete, I plan on providing a press release that will detail our findings." _

In the cell phone video, Max denies that he stopped Colbert for the color of his skin and told him multiple times that he questions all people he stops like this and tells them to exit their vehicle.

“This is me doing my job,” Max said in the video. “This is something I do on every single traffic stop I do.”

The entire stop lasted more than a half-hour, Colbert said.

Max eventually let Colbert off with a verbal warning and a final question as he let Colbert get back into his car.

“In the future, maybe just, if you’ve got a joint, we’re not looking for a joint, OK? Drive safe.”

_Contact ABC15 Investigator Dave Biscobing at [email protected]_


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## Tibbar (Oct 19, 2019)

At this point they are just trolling us for the heck of it.


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## Lymegreen (Oct 19, 2019)

Wow!  So glad for cell phone cameras


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## Laela (Oct 19, 2019)

Smart young man! Seems this cop was trying to set him up...his parents taught him well. Hope they can successfully sue


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## LdyKamz (Oct 19, 2019)

What does the cop's final statement to this man even mean?


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## ThirdEyeBeauty (Oct 19, 2019)

LdyKamz said:


> What does the cop's final statement to this man even mean?


He was hoping the man (who doesn't use drugs) would admit to using by making it seems as no big deal just to turn around and make it a big deal. He's a pathetic cop. He probably has some drugs on himself!


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## Black Ambrosia (Oct 19, 2019)

ThirdEyeBeauty said:


> He was hoping the man (who doesn't use drugs) would admit to using by making it seems as no big deal just to turn around and make it a big deal. He's a pathetic cop. He probably has some drugs on himself!


If you say so...


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## Black Ambrosia (Oct 19, 2019)

I didn’t watch the video so I may be missing something obvious but did he say anything about the air freshener and drugs? Did he just see green and think of marijuana? He’d have been better off saying the guy had swerved or something less ridiculous.


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## LdyKamz (Oct 19, 2019)

Black Ambrosia said:


> I didn’t watch the video so I may be missing something obvious but did he say anything about the air freshener and drugs? Did he just see green and think of marijuana? He’d have been better off saying the guy had swerved or something less ridiculous.


He said he stopped him because he can't have anything hanging from his rearview mirror. The guy says "so you stopped me for my car air freshener" and the cop goes "yes sir". So basically any old excuse so he could bust him on something else. Just pathetic. This is akin to stop and frisk. Stopping Black and Hispanic men for no reason just hoping to catch a weapon or some drugs and making a bust.


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## LdyKamz (Oct 19, 2019)

ThirdEyeBeauty said:


> He was hoping the man (who doesn't use drugs) would admit to using by making it seems as no big deal just to turn around and make it a big deal. He's a pathetic cop. He probably has some drugs on himself!


Right. My point was dude didn't find anything. Don't patronize this man when you found nothing and he's done nothing. He's letting him go but has to throw in that final dig like "even though I didn't find nothing and I'm letting you go next time just be honest about something that I haven't even proven to be true" Like, what are you even saying right now? Total power trip and to have to keep your cool and stay respectful the whole time. Ugh!


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## qchelle (Oct 19, 2019)

At this point, I feel like this is what cops do when they _want _to go on administrative leave.


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## IslandMummy (Oct 19, 2019)

All these cops are klan members


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## Anacaona (Oct 19, 2019)

qchelle said:


> At this point, I feel like this is what cops do when they _want _to go on administrative leave.



And continue to get their bills paid from GoFundMes.


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## intellectualuva (Oct 20, 2019)

I bet while he was harassing this black guy, he passed 10-15 white people actually committing crimes including holding drugs.. smh. 

Or yeah y'all could be right, these guys just want a free vacation. 

Interesting that they slipped in there he's been a cop for 6 years with 3 different departments. I hope they pull his history. They seem to shuffle these nutcases around the country.


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## abigailhiggings (Oct 20, 2019)

I believe he stopped him because he had a nice car.


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## Black Ambrosia (Oct 20, 2019)

intellectualuva said:


> Interesting that they slipped in there he's been a cop for 6 years with 3 different departments. I hope they pull his history. They seem to shuffle these nutcases around the country.


I caught that too. That can't be normal. He's a problem other departments didn't handle. They just pushed him onto another department and washed their hands of him.


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## intellectualuva (Oct 20, 2019)

Black Ambrosia said:


> I caught that too. That can't be normal. He's a problem other departments didn't handle. They just pushed him onto another department and washed their hands of him.



Yeah and thats really what they do. They arent just moving these guys from sort of street work to administrative/parking tickets (internal department moves) so to speak, but a bad cop in Baltimore could be "persuaded" to go apply in Philly then maybe SC, for example, with the first two being relieved to be free of him as he likely had a ream of complaints in his files...if they still keep paper files. Lol.

Crazy. smh.


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