AUBURN – A Toyota Prius owner who serves on her local conservation commission is crying foul after being issued a ticket for honking her horn at an unmarked Auburn police cruiser.

“This entire situation is completely unfair, unscrupulous, unethical and unmerited,” Stephanie Kelley of Westboro wrote in a Jan. 1 letter sent to Auburn officials and copied to the Telegram & Gazette.

Ms. Kelley, a 56-year old state regulatory worker, was ticketed after honking at an Auburn traffic officer in an unmarked cruiser on Nov. 27, 2018. She alleges the officer cut her off while taking off from the side of the road without engaging any blue lights.

The officer – exonerated by an internal affairs investigation – maintains there was “no traffic in the immediate vicinity," when he drove onto the road, according to a written response he gave the department. Asked for more detail on what happened, Chief Andrew J. Sluckis Jr. said that while he didn't find it relevant to place in his statement, Officer Jason Miglionico told the department the woman extended her middle finger at him.

Chief Sluckis said police cannot ticket someone for such a gesture - it is freedom of speech – but can ticket someone for excessively beeping their horn.

As the department’s internal affairs investigation notes, Massachusetts General Law Chapter 90, Section 16 states, “no person operating a motor vehicle shall sound a bell, horn or other device, nor in any way operate (a) motor vehicle so as to make a harsh, objectionable or unreasonable noise.”

The terms aren’t defined in the law, which is chiefly aimed at loud mufflers and modified exhaust systems. Ms. Kelley wrote in her complaint that she “blared her horn,” and Officer Miglionico wrote that the “duration of the noise from the horn was excessive.”

Officer Miglionico, the department’s full-time traffic officer, is “lawfully authorized to issue (a ticket) as he did in this matter,” Lt. Todd Lemon ruled.

Ms. Kelley scoffed at the idea that her Prius’ horn is objectionable, writing in an email to selectmen that it sounds like a “toy.”

“He was pissed off that I used my horn on him,” Ms. Kelley said Friday. She said it was cloudy and rainy that morning, and she does not believe the officer saw her.

Ms. Kelley said she moved into the left lane when the officer’s unmarked cruiser pulled out ahead of her. She later learned he was looking to pull over a car ahead of her.

Ms. Kelley, a member of the Westboro Conservation Commission, said she wouldn’t have beeped if she knew he was a police officer. She said she donates to officers in her town and appreciates the difficulty of their job, but is outraged at being punished for reacting in a way “anyone else” would.

“I don’t want to be badmouthing the Auburn Police Department,” she said. “I am the first one to own up if I did something wrong. I didn’t.”

Ms. Kelley said she did give the other driver an annoyed look when driving past him, but was instantly jarred when she saw a police patch on his shoulder.

“Why in the world would I flip off a cop?” she asked. “You can put me under oath, you can give me a lie detector test, you can do whatever you want. I did not flip him off.”

Ms. Kelley said she will take a day off from work and pay court fees to contest the $55 ticket. She noted that if she loses, she may face an insurance surcharge.

“This is potentially costing me a thousand dollars for something I didn’t do wrong,” she said. After viewing the internal affairs report, she said a number of Officer Miglionico’s written statements about the stop are not true.

Ms. Kelley said details about the positioning of the cars on the road – she was stopped along with another car – do not make logical sense as described. She admitted to being upset about what happened when speaking to the officer, but said he was yelling at her and not allowing her to speak.

“It was not a good interaction from the start,” she said. It also ended poorly, she said, as Officer Miglionico declined to give her his name and badge number.

Officer Miglionico, who could not be interviewed per department policy, wrote in his statement to internal affairs that he told the woman his identification number was on the citation.

Lt. Lemon, in clearing Officer Miglionico, praised him, writing that, “confronted with an angry motorist, (he) had the comportment and discretion to simply issue a civil citation to a violator for the conduct she acknowledges both verbally and in writing that she did.”

Auburn police furnished a copy of the internal affairs report immediately upon request.

Chief Sluckis said Officer Miglionico has been writing tickets five days a week for about five years, and this is his first complaint.

Ms. Kelley said she is considering purchasing a dash camera for the future. She said she was disappointed at never being called during the police probe – Lt. Lemon relied on her letter – but understood its findings.

“They have to support their police officer, I understand that,” she said, but she still can’t believe the ticket.

“It is kind of ridiculous to give someone driving a Prius an excessive noise violation for beeping their horn for its intended purpose,” she said. “Anyone would have blared their horn.”

Contact Brad Petrishen at brad.petrishen@telegram.com. Follow him on Twitter @BPetrishenTG.