Judge Favors Police Officer on '0INK' License Plate

The Bureau of Motor Vehicles was wrong when it refused to renew Greenfield, Ind., police officer Rodney Vawter's vanity license plate that read "0INK," a judge ruled Wednesday.

The Bureau of Motor Vehicles was wrong when it refused to renew Greenfield, Ind., police officer Rodney Vawter's vanity license plate that read "0INK," a judge ruled Wednesday, reports USA Today.

A Marion County judge issued a summary judgment in favor of Vawter and other Hoosier motorists who were denied what the BMV deemed to be "objectionable" or "derogatory" messages on personal plates.

For three years, Vawter had a license plate that read "0INK" — with a zero in place of the letter O — but when he tried to renew it in March 2013, it was rejected.

"Corporal Vawter selected the phrase '0INK' for his license plate because, as a police officer who has been called 'pig' by arrestees, he thought it was both humorous and also a label that he wears with some degree of pride," the lawsuit states.

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