HOBOKEN AND BEYOND – The case of a United States citizen who said he was ticketed for not providing his country of origin to a Port Authority Police officer is due back in Hoboken municipal court on Dec. 20 at 8:45 a.m.
Vesselin Dittrich’s story, reported here, has also recently been covered by The New York Times and has gained attention in Bulgaria.
Dittrich said he was involved in a conversation in the Hoboken PATH station in August 2010 with a woman who yelled at him for supposedly looking at her tattoos. The Port Authority police eventually became involved. However, Dittrich said he was told there would be no charges, but he said an officer asked for his pedigree information. Dittrich said he provided information from his driver’s license, but when the officer asked what country he was from (Bulgaria), he declined to answer, believing it to be irrelevant and unconstitutional. Dittrich said he then received a ticket for disorderly conduct.
He has been fighting the ticket for over a year, and according to court transcripts, the prosecutor at one point told the judge that he “will be requesting of the court that he be incarcerated for a short period of time” after Dittrich turned down a guilty plea.
In previous coverage, it was reported that Dittrich would be due in court on Dec. 13. However, a representative from the municipal court said this morning that Dittrich will be back in court on Dec. 20. — Ray Smith
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