A federal judge has refused to dismiss a lawsuit against Iowa cops who seized $100,000 of cash from two professional gamblers on their way home to California from a World Series of Poker event. The men were pulled over for allegedly failing to signal before passing another vehicle. The problem is, the police dashcam shows they did signal, so the traffic stop was illegal. But the cops did more than invent a bogus traffic violation. They also searched the men’s vehicle without a warrant, consent, or probable cause in flagrant violation of their constitutional rights. The dialogue between the men and the cops went something like this:
“Could I search your car?”
“I’m not going to consent to that.”
“Okay. I’m just asking you if I can.”
“No.”
The cops searched the car anyway, found the $100,000, and seized it under Iowa’s forfeiture law. They also tipped California cops about finding a small amount of marijuana in the car, and the California cops then raided the men’s homes, where they found marijuana plants. But both men were authorized medical marijuana users. And when the California D.A. found out the Iowa traffic stop was illegal, he dropped all the California charges, because that made the raids of the men’s homes illegal, too.
(Note: Marijuana, including medical marijuana, is still illegal in all states under federal law.)
The Iowa D.A. eventually agreed to return $90,000 of the men’s money, but they aren’t satisfied. They want the rest, along with reimbursement for their attorney’s fees, and damages for the civil rights violations. They’re suing the cops in federal court, and the judge has ruled that lawsuit can go forward. (Click here for story.)
This is a good thing, because hitting small-town police departments in their pocketbook is the only effective way to stop this kind of police behavior.
Forfeiture laws have been so widely abused by police that Congress and legislatures have been asked to repeal these laws. In 2013, New Yorker magazine published an expose that received wide attention (you can read it here). Some communities located on well-traveled highways — e.g., Tenaha, Texas, and Winnemucca, Nevada –have earned national notoriety for aggressively preying on travelers. Their cops especially targeted minority driers and vehicles with out-of-state plates.
Theft is theft, whether committed by a street thug or a crooked cop. And, unfortunately, America has plenty of crooked cops.