Texas police shake down drivers, lawsuit claims (CNN)

[eppur_se_muova]

From Gary Tuchman and Katherine Wojtecki
CNN's "AC360°"

TENAHA, Texas (CNN) -- Roderick Daniels was traveling through East Texas in October 2007 when, he says, he was the victim of a highway robbery.

The Tennessee man says he was ordered to pull his car over and surrender his jewelry and $8,500 in cash that he had with him to buy a new car.

But Daniels couldn't go to the police to report the incident.

The men who stopped him were the police.

Daniels was stopped on U.S. Highway 59 outside Tenaha, near the Louisiana state line. Police said he was driving 37 mph in a 35 mph zone. They hauled him off to jail and threatened him with money-laundering charges -- but offered to release him if he signed papers forfeiting his property.
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more: http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/05/05/texas.police.seizures/index.html

[question everything]

1. Just watch the story

this is outrageous. They calculated that the city collected about $10 million of which 10K was paid directly to the police officer who arrested them.

Threatening them with sending their kids to foster care.

The forfeiture laws allows to confiscate property, but it should be returned when no charges are files, or when they are dropped - which they were, in return for all the money that they ha.

[Badgerman]

2. Welcome to Texas. The home of LBJ & GWB n/t

[rcrush]

3. Texas has some corrupt small town law enforcement.

I know a guy who is disabled in a small town who smokes weed for his muscle spasms. He gets harassed by the local sheriff all the time. The sheriff says he will arrest anyone that goes to his house or calls him on the phone.