Full question:
My husband who is self employed, and a very hard worker constantly gets harassed in small towns because of his long hair, speech impediment, and low weight. He has severe cervical and lumbar arthritis, and bulging discs. So they treat him like a junkie, as he fits the stereotype unfortunately. This man has never drank or did drugs in his life ironically enough. Well, he had a job in a small town. He was parked in a small mall parking lot, and he was waiting for his brother to get back from getting coffee. The police officers searched his truck inside and out , the entire time insisting he sit on the ground. He informed them of his medical disability, at which they responded they didn't care. They also insisted he was driving the truck, which he was not. When the driver finally came back and pulled out of the lot, the police officer pulled them over right away again, and started screaming at my husband that he was going to get a summons for driving without a license (lost due to state taxes owed, and is in the process of working out a payment plan). As far as I can see they didn't like his looks, he was never driving the truck, if he was it would have been towed right then and there. And they illegally pulled over the driver for no reason at all. We are sick of this harassment, and would like to know what we can do about it?
- Category: Civil Rights
- Date:
- State: Massachusetts
Answer:
We cannot give legal advice, and are not forming an attorney-client relationship with you. The following is not a substitute for the advice of a local attorney. But we hope the information will be useful.
The police are really living up to their stereotype there. Horrible and you have my sympathy. As a future countermeasure, it may be good for the driver to take the keys to the truck with him, so that your husband can say, "I don't have the keys, I can't be driving." If the keys are in the ignition, that is harder to do - though if he's in the passenger seat, obviously the police are just being jerks.
Civil rights are probably being violated here, though the police will come up with 10 excuses why they did nothing wrong. Technically you probably have a lawsuit for damages, but if money is tight you have no money to pay an attorney to assist you. These cases are very difficult to win, due to the hemming and hawing about reasonable suspicion, etc the police can do.
You may want to schedule an appointment with a local plaintiff's (personal injury) attorney to discuss. If this type of harassment has happened before, it could happen again - and if you got it on tape (even audiotape, say a recorder in a shirt pocket) you would really have good evidence for a lawsuit if they are singling him out on a regular basis when he's in town. Without this sort of evidence, it is very difficult to sue the police.
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