Posted on 07/23/2014 9:10:13 AM PDT by Ken H
Estelline, Texas settles with innocent, elderly motorist who had her cash seized during a traffic stop.
Police in Estelline, Texas are sorry they ever pulled over Laura Dutton. The 64- year-old woman was stopped on November 28, 2012 as she was returning from a trip to Amarillo on US Highway 287. Police Officer Jayson Fry, the city's lone officer, was manning a speed trap a few feet away from the sign marking the speed limit drop when she passed through Estelline.
Officer Fry says she was doing 61 MPH in a 50 MPH zone. He pulled her over, issued a ticket and asked if he could search her truck. She refused.
Officer Fry said he "smelled marijuana" so a drug dog was called in, and when the K-9 arrived thirty minutes later, it alerted. Dutton had no drugs, but she was carrying $31,000 in cash, the bills wrapped up as they had come fresh from the bank. She had recently earned the sum from the sale of 12.9 acres of land in Van Zandt County.
Despite the explanation, Officer Fry grabbed the cash and arrested Dutton, who had no criminal record of any kind, for "money laundering." Officer Fry handed the money over to Estelline City Manager Richard Ferguson.
Two months after the money had been taken from her, the charges were finally dropped and $29,640 returned to Dutton. In addition to the $1400 stolen from her by the city, Dutton was out $1050 in fees she had to pay to get out of jail the day after her arrest. She was never reimbursed for the travel expenses she incurred to get her money back.
Dutton decided to fight with a federal lawsuit challenging the city of Estelline for setting up a government almost entirely funded by speed traps. In 2012, speeding tickets generated 90 percent of the municipal budget. She argued that the marching orders for its officer was "go out there and get me some money" through the use of seizures.
When Dutton complained about the stolen money, the city did not investigate and all video tapes related to the arrest and the deposit of the money were "not saved." US District Judge Mary Lou Robinson reviewed the evidence and last month denied Officer Fry's assertion of immunity. She prepared the case to go to trial.
"There is sufficient evidence in this record for a jury to return a verdict in plaintiff's favor on her unconstitutionally prolonged detention/wrongful arrest/wrongful seizure claim," Judge Robinson wrote. "No reasonable officer would have arrested a suspect solely because his drug dog, certified or not, hit upon drug odors or drug residue on circulated cash."
Realizing there was no chance of surviving before a jury, Officer Fry's lawyers decided to settle the case last week for $77,500.
Who do these people think they are, the federal government?
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men [and women, apparently] to do nothing.” - Edmund Burke
I can never figure out why Texas is considered such a bastion of freedom around here.
Corrupt law enforcement and governments are no better than terrorists. They are supposed to protect us, not oppress us.
It is all PR. Other States have better laws but you’ll hear the Texas PR come out and proclaim Texas better.
The War On (Some) Drugs becomes less defensible every passing day.
Macks Creek, Missouri was once funded almost totally by speed trap fines.
Today, the town has been unincorporated.
Texas has just as many cowboy cops as any other state. Probably more.
In this case the idiot cop who knows nothing about the law arrested a woman for “money laundering” with absolutely no evidence. I wonder if he spelled the charges correctly on the ticket.
I wonder just how many more traffic tickets they’ll have to write to ‘get back’ the money they lost at trial?
3 words: Sheila Jackson Lee
Apparently, everything IS bigger in Texas. Including the morons. Texas? No thanks.
The cops aren’t “sorry”...the local taxpayers picked-up the tab.
I am so glad this woman fought back. She had the financial resources to do so.
How many others can’t fight back? Many of these corrupt law enforcement groups know this and take good advantage of it.
Now if I could only convince the illegal aliens.
Exactly. Where were the prosecutions of violations of civil rights? The cops needs to be in jail as do others that participated.
This is code for "the LEO had a mortgage payment to make - and it WAS just cash, after all."
“I can never figure out why Texas is considered such a bastion of freedom around here.”
Compared to elsewhere, it is. Don’t judge a whole state by a few bad people. Texas is overall one of the most conservative states around, excluding the welfare class in the bigger cities.
I used to live in a town where the police chief made cops stand on left turn lane islands at intersections and hand out tickets for not wearing seat belts. They had a quota before they were allowed to return to the cop shop. Seeing them stand out there for five to six hours was just too funny. The officers became angry at motorists for wearing seat belts!
The tax payers will eventually get sick of bailing out the police forces and kick the wannabe tyrants out of their cities. I say bring as many lawsuits as possible against crooked cops and police forces when warranted.
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