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.
Yep...not the ‘attractive nuisance’ some claim, huh? :o)
A page out of the Lois Lerner playbook....
Same here. Its like the rest of the south, corrupt and happy about it. Only a people willing to be slaves would tolerate (and vote for) it. Southerns think the north is awful but they need only look to themselves and clean house before pointing fingers.
” I wonder if he spelled the charges correctly on the ticket.”
—
Huh?
.
Good for her. I’m not going down the whole “all cops are thugs” route, but there certainly are a lot of bad apples out there.
“The War On (Some) Drugs becomes less defensible every passing day.”
No it doesn’t. Just wait, there will be a whole crew of “Conservatives” show up shortly to defend it. Probably a few more to defend the cop too.
All 39 families? From 2000 through 2009, Estelline had the second highest traffic fine revenue per citizen in Texas.
Everyone knows you do not speed between Chillicothe and Memphis....
Don’t they?
“I say bring as many lawsuits as possible against crooked cops and police forces when warranted.”
Well, the trick is getting the judges to allow them.
I’ve been through that down about a dozen times on my way to Colorado. A radar detector is a must. It’s paid for it’s self several times over.
Until the ones that aren't stand up and speak out against the ones that are, they all are.
I am pretty shocked the driver was unaware of Estelline’s speed trap mentality and funding source. It’s legendary in Texas. They have a record to boot.
The speed limit drop to 35 from 75 was deemed
unreasonable, so they had to up it to 50 mph.
Estelline is a guaranteed no growth, one horse berg with a terrible reputation and that record.
“I can never figure out why Texas is considered such a bastion of freedom around here.”
Yes, and in my experience there are dozens of Estellines in Texas (and other Southern States for that matter). Little $hit hole “towns” that exist as parasites feeding off of those non-residents who venture through.
I'm not certain they'll have to write any.
From the excerpt: "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.
and "Realizing there was no chance of surviving before a jury, Officer Fry's lawyers decided to settle the case last week $77,500.
Looks like this was all on the officer, himself. Not the city.
Yeah, in federal court.
...The 64- year-old woman.
Hey, now. Just a minute!
Whoa there, potato chip! Where are your hat and cattle?
I’ve seen recruitment ads from Texas cities for police officers. The starting salaries were shockingly low. Almost a guarantee of recruiting the corrupt and the criminal into your police force IMO.
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