Suit says cops force motorists, largely black, to forfeit cash and cars—or be charged with trumped-up crimes
A Texas senator aims to rein in search-and-seizure practices like those used in Tenaha, where scores have been targeted but never charged with any crime. (San Antonio Express-News photo by Lisa Sandberg / February 6, 2009)
TENAHA, Texas— 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.
“We try to enforce the law here,” said George Bowers, mayor of the town of 1,046 residents, where boarded-up businesses outnumber open ones and City Hall sports a broken window. “We’re not doing this to raise money. That’s all I’m going to say at this point.”
But civil rights lawyers call Tenaha’s practice something else: highway robbery. The attorneys have filed a federal class-action lawsuit to stop what they contend is an unconstitutional perversion of the law’s intent, aimed primarily at blacks who have done nothing wrong.
Tenaha officials “have developed an illegal ‘stop and seize’ practice of targeting, stopping, detaining, searching and often seizing property from apparently non-white citizens and those traveling with non-white citizens,” asserts the lawsuit, which was filed in U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Texas.
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.
“If used properly, it’s a good law-enforcement tool to see that crime doesn’t pay,” said state Sen. John Whitmire, chairman of the Senate’s Criminal Justice Committee. “But in this instance, where people are being pulled over and their property is taken with no charges filed and no convictions, I think that’s theft.”
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.
“The whole thing is disproportionately targeted toward minorities, particularly African-Americans,” Guillory said. “None of these people have been charged with a crime, none were engaged in anything that looked criminal. The sole factor is that they had something that looked valuable.”
In some cases, police used the fact that motorists were carrying large amounts of cash as evidence that they must have been involved in laundering drug money, even though Guillory said each of the drivers he contacted could account for where the money had come from and why they were carrying it—such as for a gambling trip to Shreveport, La., or to purchase a used car from a private seller.
Once the motorists were detained, the police and the local Shelby County district attorney quickly drew up legal papers presenting them with an option: waive their rights to their cash and property or face felony charges for crimes such as money laundering—and the prospect of having to hire a lawyer and return to Shelby County multiple times to attend court sessions to contest the charges.
The process apparently is so routine in Tenaha that Guillory discovered pre-signed and pre-notarized police affidavits with blank spaces left for an officer to describe the property being seized.
Jennifer Boatright, her husband and two young children—a mixed-race family—were traveling from Houston to visit relatives in east Texas in April 2007 when Tenaha police pulled them over, alleging that they were driving in a left-turn lane.
After searching the car, the officers discovered what Boatright said was a gift for her sister: a small, unused glass pipe made for smoking marijuana. Although they found no drugs or other contraband, the police seized $6,037 that Boatright said the family was carrying to purchase a used car—and then threatened to turn their children, ages 10 and 1, over to Child Protective Services if the couple didn’t agree to sign over their right to their cash.
“It was give them the money or they were taking our kids,” Boatright said. “They suggested that we never bring it up again. We figured we better give them our cash and get the hell out of there.”
Several months later, after Boatright and her husband contacted an attorney, Tenaha officials returned their money but offered no explanation or apology. The couple remain plaintiffs in the federal lawsuit.
Except for Tenaha’s mayor, none of the defendants in the lawsuit, including Shelby County District Atty. Linda Russell and two Tenaha police officers, responded to requests from the Tribune for comment about their search-and-seizure practices. Lawyers for the defendants also declined to comment, as did several of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit.
But Whitmire says he doesn’t need to await the suit’s outcome to try to fix what he regards as a statewide problem. On Monday he introduced a bill in the state Legislature that would require police to go before a judge before attempting to seize property under the asset-forfeiture law—and ultimately Whitmire hopes to tighten the law further so that law-enforcement officials will be allowed to seize property only after a suspect is charged and convicted in a court.
“The law has gotten away from what was intended, which was to take the profits of a bad guy’s crime spree and use it for additional crime-fighting,” Whitmire said. “Now it’s largely being used to pay police salaries—and it’s being abused because you don’t even have to be a bad guy to lose your property.”
Ann
I heard this on the Tom Joyner Morning Show yesterday regarding the blatant racial profiling of Blacks in East Texas. Unfortunately, such incidents happen all over the nation. This incident shows how little American society value Black lives.
La Reyna
Yes. . . .the joys of a post racial America.
call the crooks…. (936) 248-5942
As a minister and Christian, I am ashamed of Mayor George Bowers, District Atty. Linda Russell, and the law enforcement officers, that are NOT Christians, but “thieves.” And the churches that have received any money from these “thieves” ought to give it all to the various victims that have been “robbed” by the disgraceful officials of this tiny “Sin City.” Or such churches and its members are guilty as well of thievery activities. As Officer Barry Washington, a black like myself, is seen in the minds of many that I have talked with as a “first-class Uncle Tom,” who is perhaps worst that the others, because most of the victims are black people. And all of these officials should be fired, and sent to jail.
It is hard to understand why when things like this happen, we almost always assume it is due to the racist actions of the “white man”. In this case, the police officer involved was BLACK, so one might reach the conclusion that racism is racism no matter which race the perpetrator happens to be OR that this is simply what it appears to be, a bunch of sorry, uneducated small town hick cops taking advantage using the color of law to break the law themselves. This story is being slanted to imply racism by white men in authority when in fact the real story is about a crooked police department with black and white officers shaking down and violating the civil rights of our citizens. This is precisely the kind of story that continues to breed hatred towards white people and continue the vicious cycle of racism toward black people.
“This story is being slanted to imply racism by white men in authority when in fact the real story is about a crooked police department with black and white officers shaking down and violating the civil rights of our citizens.”
What article are you referencing that states the race of the cops who illegally detained Black motorists?
Please provide the link that states the race of the cops.
“In this case, the police officer involved was BLACK….”
So, it was only one officer who committed all of these crimes under color of authority? No other cops were involved?
As for racism, America has indoctrinated all of her citizens to vilify and denigrate blackness—-no matter what the race of the perpetrator of racism.
One does not need to be white to hate and attack blackness/or Black people in America.
Worship of whiteness, and hatred of blackness, is as American as cherry pie, and as deeply entrenched.
(I have updated my original post to include a CNN video of the cops who are terrorizing citizens in theft shakedowns by the Tenaha police.)
Ann,
Let’s assume that this story was simply “reported” as crooked cops involved in a systematic shakedown of motorists while traveling through a small town in America. How many people would come to the conclusion that these shakedowns were race related? Now let’s add in the fact that this small town is in TEXAS near the Louisiana state line. Even in my mind, I almost immediately begin to form an opinion now that this could be some racist white cops shaking down minorities. Now add in the fact and according to the clip if you listen carefully, that of the 40 people contacted “all but one were either black or latino.” Now, I’m certain that race plays a part in this story but that IS NOT the story here. The story is that COPS (the only one featured in the clip happened to be black.. perhaps the other was white but what does it matter) were shaking down and “profiling” all motorists but mostly black or latino. Having been well educated on race relations, I was merely pointing out that most people would arrive at the conclusion that this was a story on racists cops stopping, detaining and arresting people simply because they were minorities. I happen to interpret the story as BAD COPS and a corrupt District Attorney who were involved in a scheme to shake down motorists traveling through a small town in Texas. Most of the people in authority in this town may indeed be racists but it is secondary to the “real” story that these COPS (black and white perhaps..the story never clarified… why is another story)were illegally taking advantage of an obscure Texas law in an effort to fatten their city’s fund along with their own wallets rather than primarily stopping them to arrest them and send them to jail simply because of there skin color. You see, a denial of civil rights was a RESULT of the intended pupose of the stops which again, was to fatten their wallets. I would agree that the story as reported would lead the typical person to the conclude that these cops were stopping and detaining people because of their race, arresting them, prosecuting them and eventually sending them to jail for a long time for whatever trumped up charges they may come up with. My experience has been that people of any race can experience or find evidence of racism against them if they define and analyze every human interaction with people of different races. Think about it, if one is conditioned to look for and even expect racist behavior from every interaction with people of races opposite of their own, then they need to take a hard look at themselves or else we will find ourselves “chasing rabbits we cannot catch.”
Unfortunately this occurence of “cops as theives ” is not limited to Texas. It happens in ever town in America. We will see even more of this as budget cuts are implimented. Also, as congress passes bills to seize the assets wall street scammers. These new laws meant to protect citizens, will be twisted and used against us. All minorities are targets, especially the low income and uneducated. These people can not afford or find good legal counsel. What happened to protect and serve?
i was done this same way but i was in mt pleasent tx on 30 the police lied stole my car and money he also charged me with moneylaudering he had a car already pulled over seen a black benz on rims and we seen him run to his car and chased us down ones he seen we were black he made me get out of the car he would exsplain why he pulled us over he didnt even run the plates we were not speeding swerveing or nothing i refuse his tolet him search my car an then he made us wait for ever for a dog to im not dum he was all the way wronge an i wasnt haven it the hole stop was on tape but now that my lawyer has made a request for it they cant find it the cop a lier an im going to court to prove it my court date is oct 06 09 and i invite anyone how has any dout about these cop to see first hand how they work mt peasent tx annex building down town accross from the city hall kells
Kelly, SOME COPS WILL LIE and other thugs in the gang will help them cover it up!! COPS will make up stories, plant evidence, gather “eye witness” testimony, create probable cause, etc, etc, etc.. and for about $150 bucks, you could have your side of the story on video.. I urge all citizens and police alike to check out Department of Justice website at usdoj. gov and go to the civil rights division link and see for yourself how to file claims against officers and even entire cities or towns. Cops should make themselves aware of the severe penalties and even Federal jail terms being handed down to their fellow officers for breaking the very law they are supposed to uphold!!! Now, the important part.. EVERY CITIZEN SHOULD ALWAYS have with them a small, covert video/audio recorder that may be placed in the vehicle or carried with them at all times. This will help tell your side of the story when and if cops attempt to “railroad” you. If anyone wants info on how to obtain a small, simple video/audio recorder no bigger than a stick of gum, no cables, batteries or complicated buttons – e-mail me at donald.brewer@hotmail.com and I’ll help you get one so that next time something like this happens, YOU WILL HAVE YOUR OWN EVIDENCE and not rely on crooked cops to hand over their edited versions – that’s if they can find it!!
This is uncalled for, I can’t believe Men in Uniform Are doing these things to LAW ABIDING CITIZEN. My boyfriend and his friend was around the Texas Border and officers pulled him over and detained him, told him he was committing an Illegal crime..and trying to find charges to stick, when he clearly did nothing wrong, he even had a rental car from up north and was on vacation to visit family. And yes he is black. They held them for hours, and then told them to either leave the money or go to jail….THOSE PEACES OF CRAP, ROBBED HIM. AND TOLD HIM HE COULD KEEP SOME MONEY TO GET HOME, WHICH IS NOT ENOUGH TO EVEN GET THEM HALF WAY HOME…CARMA IS NOT A NICE PERSON, I WOULD BE CAREFUL IF I WERE THOSE COPS.
This sounds like something that San Jose, California Police Officers: Tom Tortoricci & Gabriel Cuenca Would do! We had an incident with them in 2006 and I was threatened that they would falsely arrest me on trumped up charges if I spoke about it!