Highway robbery? TX police seize black motorists' cash, cars

[dbackjon]

Suit says cops force motorists, largely black, to forfeit cash and cars—or be charged with trumped-up crimes

You can drive into this dusty fleck of a town near the Texas-Louisiana border if you're African-American, but you might not be able to drive out of it—at least not with your car, your cash, your jewelry or other valuables.

That's because the police here allegedly have found a way to strip motorists, many of them black, of their property without ever charging them with a crime. Instead they offer out-of-towners a grim choice: voluntarily sign over your belongings to the town, or face felony charges of money laundering or other serious crimes.

More than 140 people reluctantly accepted that deal from June 2006 to June 2008, according to court records. Among them were a black grandmother from Akron, who surrendered $4,000 in cash after Tenaha police pulled her over, and an interracial couple from Houston, who gave up more than $6,000 after police threatened to seize their children and put them into foster care, the court documents show. Neither the grandmother nor the couple were charged with any crime.

Officials in Tenaha, situated along a heavily traveled highway connecting Houston with popular gambling destinations in Louisiana, say they are engaged in a battle against drug trafficking and call the search-and-seizure practice a legitimate use of the state's asset-forfeiture law. That law permits local police agencies to keep drug money and other property used in the commission of a crime and add the proceeds to their budgets.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nati ... 1682.story

The property seizures are not just happening in Tenaha. In southern parts of Texas near the Mexican border, for example, Hispanics allege that they are being singled out.

According to a prominent state legislator, police agencies across Texas are wielding the asset-forfeiture law more aggressively to supplement their shrinking operating budgets.

[dbackjon]

David Guillory, an attorney in Nacogdoches who filed the federal lawsuit, said he combed through Shelby County court records from 2006 to 2008 and discovered nearly 200 cases in which Tenaha police seized cash and property from motorists. In about 50 of the cases, suspects were charged with drug possession.

But in 147 others, Guillory said the court records showed, police seized cash, jewelry, cell phones and sometimes even automobiles from motorists but never found any contraband or charged them with any crime. Of those, Guillory said he managed to contact 40 of the motorists directly—and discovered all but one of them were black.

[houndawg]

About 15 years ago the Louisiana State Police were running the same riff on out of state vehicles on I-10. They would pull them over for speeding and then take all their shit; 60 Minutes sent a car down with a hidden camera that filmed them being pulled over and charged with speeding when they were doing 55 and then being told that everything was being seized. Caused considerable embarasment when their game was exposed.

[AZGrizFan]

Who in the HELL travels with $6,000 on them?

[dbackjon]

Who in the HELL travels with $6,000 on them?

So that is your only comment?

Police must be right, eh?

[houndawg]

Who in the HELL travels with $6,000 on them?

Is travelling with $6,000 illegal or something?

[Appaholic]

Who in the HELL travels with $6,000 on them?

Somebody who's afraid of losing it by trusting our banking institutions?

[JMU DJ]

This happened to someone late last year around Xmax... he was arrested or suspected of possessing marijuana... which he didn't have on him. The police seized his possessions and when he went to claim them, his Xbox360 was gone.

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/200 ... .cops.wftv

Cops like this should be thrown in jail, I'm sick of people abusing their power thinking their above the rules or laws

[houndawg]

Who in the HELL travels with $6,000 on them?

Somebody who's afraid of losing it by trusting our banking institutions?

Slam dunk.

[AZGrizFan]

Who in the HELL travels with $6,000 on them?

Somebody who's afraid of losing it by trusting our banking institutions?

Touche.

[AZGrizFan]

Who in the HELL travels with $6,000 on them?

So that is your only comment?

Police must be right, eh?

Eat me, jon boy. The absurdity of the police action requires no comment. The absurdity of someone carrying around $6,000, on the other hand, SCREAMS idiot.

[dbackjon]

So that is your only comment?

Police must be right, eh?

Eat me, jon boy. The absurdity of the police action requires no comment. The absurdity of someone carrying around $6,000, on the other hand, SCREAMS idiot.

Speaking of eating, once you get settled in to your new job, we need to do lunch...

[AZGrizFan]

Eat me, jon boy. The absurdity of the police action requires no comment. The absurdity of someone carrying around $6,000, on the other hand, SCREAMS idiot.

Speaking of eating, once you get settled in to your new job, we need to do lunch...

Absolutely...I'm 15 minutes closer to Chandler now!