NEW YORK – The “arbre magique” in cars have been an almost invisible olfactory presence for years. With the death of Daunte Wright, killed at the age of 20 by police in Brooklyn Center, Minneapolis, after being arrested for a deodorant dangling in the rearview mirror, many have realized that keeping one in the US could be a crime. It is illegal in at least six states: in addition to Minnesota, there are California, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Texas and Illinois. But the total number explains an article from the New York Times, is unspecified. The national Conference of State Legislatures, which collects the data, has nothing about it. Deodorants, as well as graduation rosaries or tassels, are considered ‘dangerous’ because they can block motorists’ view. Produced in the late 1940s, in more recent times they have become the subject of a series of minor infractions such as tinted windows or broken taillights, but which are prosecuted, according to civil rights organizations, as an instrument of racial persecution. L’arbre magique has become the tool to stop African American or Hispanic motorists and subject them to harassment. The policemen reply that the search for minor offenses can lead to the discovery of more serious cases. Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber in ’95, was accidentally stopped by a patrol because he was driving without his rear license plate. Ninety minutes earlier, he had blown up a skyscraper, killing 168 people. But the classic exception appears. According to research from Stanford University, the majority of the more than 100 million police interventions for traffic violations are racially based. African Americans are much more likely to be stopped by the police, and the same is true for Hispanics. Cops have less doubts about stopping cars when the driver belongs to a racial minority. The cases are numerous.
Chicago. In the southern part of the city of Illinois, a policeman made a report to report his pursuit on the trail of a car with a deodorant hanging inside. After stopping the car, the officer found weapons and had the two men arrested, both African Americans. The two arrested appealed to the judge but the court ruled that the policeman had followed the law.
Connecticut. In 2010, a motorist was stopped because he had a chain with a cross hanging from the rearview mirror. The police had stopped and fined him, but the State Supreme Court had upheld the driver’s appeal, arguing that the chain was so small and unable to disturb the view to the point that, at first, the officer had not shown any concern.
Springfield. In April 2008, Benjamin Garcia-Garcia was driving a minivan along Interstate 55 near Springfield, Illinois when a police patrol ordered him to pull over. The agent said he saw a deodorant dangling and violated state law. During the check, it turned out that the man, along with the other passengers, had illegally entered the United States. the policeman admitted that he did not stop the car for the deodorant, but for having become suspicious. Garcia-Garcia and the others were tried and expelled. The judge agreed with the policeman.
Arizona. In 2019, Phil Colbert was on his way to his father’s house for lunch in Arizona when he saw the flashing lights of the deputy sheriff’s car in the rearview mirror. After he stopped, Colbert reached over the wheel and put his hands at ten and ten, as many African Americans advise their children. “You can’t have stuff dangling on the glass,” the agent told him. The object was a ‘arbre magique’. The policeman asked Colbert if he had marijuana on board, if he had smoked it and when. The driver was denounced, but the story became a coincidence thanks to the video recording made with the cell phone by Colbert. The department’s investigation determined that repeated questions about marijuana had no basis. The policeman was fired. Colbert has reached an out-of-court settlement with the sheriff’s office.
Galesburg. In 2003, a high school student, Brittany Mixon, was stopped in Galesburg, Illinois by a police officer. The official reason was the presence of an “arbre magique” in the car, but the agent began to ask the African-American girl if the car was really his. Years later, Mixon obsessively keeps his view clear, for fear of being stopped by a racist cop. Traveling with the fear of being stopped for skin color is the problem many African Americans have to contend with.
So in the states. According to data from the Maryland courts, in 2016 there were 1,400 reports of air fresheners being kept illegally in cars. The state has decided to declassify the crime as a secondary violation, prohibiting the possibility of stopping the motorist. Virginia did the same. In Ohio, the fine for offenders can be as high as a hundred dollars, but you can no longer be stopped by the police.
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