She received a $120 ticket for driving with her 2-year-old Chihuahua, Mickey, on her lap.

"I didn't know why I was getting stopped," said Medlock, 22, who, at the time, was on her way to a south Tulsa coffee shop where her dog was welcome.

"I was shocked when I learned why he stopped me. I see dogs hanging out windows of cars all the time," she said.

"I figured he was going to give me a warning, but he didn't," she said about the officer.

Medlock said her dog wasn't in her lap while the pickup was moving; only when she would come to a stop. She said she was driving her father's pickup, which has a bench seat.

Medlock takes issue with the officer's account that her dog was bouncing around the cab.

"It's a Ford F-150. It's a big truck. It would be difficult (for him) to see my little dog," she said.

Medlock said she was behind the officer at a stop sign when her dog climbed into her lap to look out the closed window.

She said that when she began moving, she pushed the dog to her side.

The next thing she knew, she was being pulled over, she said.

During a City Council committee meeting this week, Councilor Bill Christiansen mentioned the incident and inquired about the city laws pertaining to dogs riding in vehicles.

"How many people in Tulsa know that there is a law that prohibits dogs from being on the lap of the driver? I have a dog, and I didn't know that," he said after the meeting.

Christiansen said what really concerned him was learning that the officer who cited Medlock has written more than half of the tickets that have been written for such offenses in the last year.

The officer is assigned to patrol the southwest area of the city, which includes the councilor's district.

"What is the officer doing? Going around looking for people that have their little dogs on their laps?" Christiansen asked.

He said it seems unusual for an officer to have written such high a percentage of tickets for that specific offense.

"Is that acceptable?" he asked.

A city ordinance prohibits motorists from driving with a "person, child or animal" on their laps, City Prosecutor Bob Garner said.

Garner said 16 tickets have been written since September 2006 for motorists driving with animals in their laps and that the officer who cited Medlock has issued nine of those tickets.

Tulsa police issued a total of 100,814 traffic citations for all of 2006, he said.

The ordinance also prohibits animals from being loose in an "open vehicle," which means the back of a pickup, in a convertible or in conventional vehicles with the windows rolled down, he said.

The best solution to prevent a citation is to either crate the animal or secure it to the seat with a leash or dog seat belt, Garner said.

Although the ticket for driving with the dog in the motorist's lap costs $120, having a dog riding loose in the back of a pickup results in only a $45 fine, said Garner, who could not explain the discrepancy.

Christiansen said he hopes police officers would use reasonable judgment and help educate the public on the law.

"Riding around with your dog on your lap isn't an intentional act to break the law, like running a red light," he said. "I think most people just don't know it's against the law."

P.J. Lassek 581-8382
pj.lassek@tulsaworld.com