美国版的警匪一家zt

whisper

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/05/05/texas.police.seizures/
http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/05/05/texas.police.seizures/
Texas police shake down drivers, lawsuit claims
May 5, 2009 -- Updated 1840 GMT (0240 HKT)
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.
"I actually thought this was a joke," Daniels told CNN.
But he signed.
"To be honest, I was five, six hundred miles from home," he said. "I was petrified."
Now Daniels and other motorists who have been stopped by Tenaha police are part of a lawsuit seeking to end what plaintiff's lawyer David Guillory calls a systematic fleecing of drivers passing through the town of about 1,000.
"I believe it is a shakedown. I believe it's a piracy operation," Guillory said.
George Bowers, Tenaha's longtime mayor, says his police follow the law. And through her lawyers, Shelby County District Attorney Lynda Russell denied any impropriety.
Texas law allows police to confiscate drug money and other personal property they believe are used in the commission of a crime. If no charges are filed or the person is acquitted, the property has to be returned. But Guillory's lawsuit states that Tenaha and surrounding Shelby County don't bother to return much of what they confiscate.
Jennifer Boatright and Ron Henderson said they agreed to forfeit their property after Russell threatened to have their children taken away.
Like Daniels, the couple says they were carrying a large amount of cash --- about $6,000 -- to buy a car. When they were stopped in Tenaha in 2007, Boatright said, Russell came to the Tenaha police station to berate her and threaten to separate the family.
"I said, 'If it's the money you want, you can take it, if that's what it takes to keep my children with me and not separate them from us. Take the money,' " she said.
The document Henderson signed, which bears Russell's signature, states that in exchange for forfeiting the cash, "no criminal charges shall be filed ... and our children shall not be turned over" to the state's child protective services agency.
Maryland resident Amanee Busbee said she also was threatened with losing custody of her child after being stopped in Tenaha with her fiancé and his business partner. They were headed to Houston with $50,000 to complete the purchase of a restaurant, she said.
"The police officer would say things to me like, 'Your son is going to child protective services because you are not saying what we need to hear,' " Busbee said.
Guillory, who practices in nearby Nacogdoches, Texas, estimates authorities in Tenaha seized $3 million between 2006 and 2008, and in about 150 cases -- virtually all of which involved African-American or Latino motorists -- the seizures were improper.
"They are disproportionately going after racial minorities," he said. "My take on the matter is that the police in Tenaha, Texas, were picking on and preying on people that were least likely to fight back."
Daniels told CNN that one of the officers who stopped him tried on some of his jewelry in front of him.
"They asked me, 'What you are doing with this ring on?' I said I had bought that ring. I paid good money for that ring," Daniels said. "He took the ring off my finger and put it on his finger and told me how did it look. He put on my jewelry."
Texas law states that the proceeds of any seizures can be used only for "official purposes" of district attorney offices and "for law-enforcement purposes" by police departments. According to public records obtained by CNN using open-records laws, an account funded by property forfeitures in Russell's office included $524 for a popcorn machine, $195 for candy for a poultry festival, and $400 for catering.
In addition, Russell donated money to the local chamber of commerce and a youth baseball league. A local Baptist church received two checks totaling $6,000.
And one check for $10,000 went to Barry Washington, a Tenaha police officer whose name has come up in several complaints by stopped motorists. The money was paid for "investigative costs," the records state.
Washington would not comment for this report but has denied all allegations in his answer to Guillory's lawsuit.
"This is under litigation. This is a lawsuit," he told CNN.
Russell refused requests for interviews at her office and at a fundraiser for a volunteer fire department in a nearby town, where she also sang. But in a written statement, her lawyers said she "has denied and continues to deny all substantive allegations set forth."
Russell "has used and continues to use prosecutorial discretion ... and is in compliance with Texas law, the Texas constitution, and the United States Constitution," the statement said.
Bowers, who has been Tenaha's mayor for 54 years, is also named in the lawsuit. But he said his employees "will follow the law."
"We try to hire the very best, best-trained, and we keep them up to date on the training," he said.
The attention paid to Tenaha has led to an effort by Texas lawmakers to tighten the state's forfeiture laws. A bill sponsored by state Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, would bar authorities from using the kind of waivers Daniels, Henderson and Busbee were told to sign.
"To have law enforcement and the district attorney essentially be crooks, in my judgment, should infuriate and does infuriate everyone," Whitmire said. His bill has passed the Senate, where he is the longest-serving member, and is currently before the House of Representatives.
Busbee, Boatright and Henderson were able to reclaim their property after hiring lawyers. But Daniels is still out his $8,500.
"To this day, I don't understand why they took my belongings off me," he said.

真精不怕火恋

拜托！转帖时候好歹多看两行字！

哪里说的是警匪一家嘛？ 明显是说警察假公济私，借法律的空子强夺民财被告上法院。
goober 发表于 2009-5-6 11:34

小学3年级的时候 , 我们就学了很多修辞方法 ...

goober

拜托！转帖时候好歹多看两行字！

哪里说的是警匪一家嘛？ 明显是说警察假公济私，借法律的空子强夺民财被告上法院。

whisper

google又翻译了一下：
==========================
德克萨斯州警察动摇了驱动程序，诉讼索赔
2009年5月5日-更新1840年格林尼治标准时间（ 0240香港）
由加里和Katherine Wojtecki塔奇曼
美国有线新闻网的“ AC360 ° ”
      
TENAHA ，德州有线电视新闻网（ CNN ） -罗德里克丹尼尔斯是穿过东德克萨斯州在2007年10月时，他说，他是受害者的拦路抢劫。

田纳西人说他被命令撤出自己的汽车，并交出他的首饰和现金八千五美元，他已经与他买一辆新车。

但是，丹尼尔斯不能向警方报案。

谁的男子拦住他的警察。

丹尼尔斯停止对美国以外的59个公路Tenaha ，靠近路易斯安那州线。警方说，他驾驶三十七英里每小时在35英里每小时区。他们抓他去监狱，并威胁他与洗钱的指控-但表示愿意释放他，如果他签署的文件，没收其财产。

“实际上我认为这是一个笑话， ”丹尼尔斯告诉有线电视新闻网。

但他签署。

“老实说，我是五年， 600英里从家里， ”他说。 “我当时吓呆。 ”
现在丹尼尔斯和其他驾驶谁已经停止Tenaha警察的一部分，诉讼，要求停止什么原告的律师大卫Guillory呼叫系统fleecing司机通过镇约1000人。

“我相信这是一个安定。我认为这是一个盗版行动” ， Guillory说。

乔治鲍威尔斯， Tenaha的长期市长表示，他的警察遵守法律。并通过她的律师，谢尔比县地区检察官林达罗素否认有任何不当之处。

德克萨斯州法律允许警察没收毒品钱和其他个人财产，他们认为被用于犯罪。如果没有收费存档或无罪的人的财产，必须归还。但是Guillory的诉讼国家Tenaha及周边谢尔比县没有透露这两人返回他们大部分没收。

詹妮弗Boatright和Ron亨德森说，他们同意放弃他们的财产后，罗素威胁让他们的孩子带走。

像丹尼尔斯，这对夫妻说，他们当时携带大量现金---约为6000 -买车。当他们停在Tenaha在2007年， Boatright说，罗素来到Tenaha派出所谯呵她，并威胁到独立的家庭。

“我说， '如果你想要的钱，你可以采取，但如果这就是它让我的孩子跟我，而不是将它们分开我们。拿钱' ， ”她说。

亨德森签署该文件，负有罗素的签署，国家放弃以换取现金， “没有刑事指控应提交...和我们的儿童不得移交”到该州的儿童保护服务机构。

马里兰州居民Amanee Busbee说，她也失去了威胁，她的孩子的监护权后，停在Tenaha与她的未婚夫和他的生意合伙人。他们前往休斯敦与$ 50000 ，以完成收购一家餐厅，她说。

“警官要说的事情，我想， '你的儿子是要保护儿童的服务，因为你是不是说我们需要听到， ” Busbee说。

Guillory ，谁的做法在附近纳科多奇斯，得克萨斯州，估计当局Tenaha检获300万美元之间的2006年和2008年，大约150例-几乎所有涉及非洲裔或拉美裔驾驶-在缉获不当。

“他们是不成比例追逐少数种族， ”他说。 “我在这个问题上采取的是，警察在Tenaha ，得克萨斯州，是采摘和捕食人是最不容易反击。 ”

丹尼尔斯告诉有线电视新闻网，其中一名军官谁试图阻止他的他的一些珠宝在他前面。

“他们问我， '你正在做这个戒指？ '我说我买的戒指。我付好钱的戒指， “丹尼尔斯说。 “他挂了我的手指，并把它放在他的手上，并告诉我它是怎么看。他把我的首饰。 ”

得克萨斯州法律规定，任何收益的收缴只能用于“公务目的”的地方检察官办公室和“执法目的”的警察部门。根据公共记录得到了美国利用开放式记录法，帐户资助的财产没收的罗素的办公室包括五百二十四美元的爆米花机， 195美元的糖果家禽节，和400美元的伙食。

此外，罗素捐钱给当地商会和青年棒球。当地的浸信会教堂收到了两份检查，总额达6000 。

和一个检查$ 10000到巴里华盛顿， Tenaha警官的名字已经出现在一些投诉停止驾驶。这笔钱是支付“调查费” ，记录的国家。

华盛顿不愿评论此报告，但否认了所有的指控在回答Guillory的诉讼。

“这是根据诉讼。这是一个诉讼， ”他告诉有线电视新闻网。

罗素拒绝的采访要求，并在她的办公室在筹款的义工消防部门在附近的一个小镇，在那里她也唱。但在一份书面声明中，她的律师说： “她否认，并继续否认所有实质性指控规定。 ”

罗素“已经使用并继续使用起诉自由裁量权... ，是符合美国法律，美国宪法，美国宪法， ”声明说。

鲍尔斯，谁已Tenaha市长54年，也是中点名的诉讼。但他说，他的员工“将遵守法律。 ”

“我们尝试聘请最好的，最好的训练，我们让他们了解最新的培训， ”他说。

的重视Tenaha导致得克萨斯州国会议员的努力，以加强该国的没收法。法案由参议员Whitmire国家和D -休斯敦，当局将禁止使用该种放弃丹尼尔斯，恒基兆业和Busbee被告知签署。

“有执法部门和地方检察官基本上是骗子，在我的判断，应该激怒，也激怒所有人， ” Whitmire说。他的法案已经通过，参议院在这里，他是任职时间最长的成员，目前已提交众议院。

Busbee ， Boatright和亨德森能够收回他们的财产后，聘请律师。但是，丹尼尔斯仍然是他的8500美元。

“为了这一天，我不明白为什么他们把我的物品了我， ”他说。