By Jonathan Wolfe,
An ongoing federal lawsuit in
Portland, Oregon accuses police officers of arresting two tow truck company
employees after they towed unmarked police cars parked illegally on a private
lot.
The five cars belonged to
police officers and a DEA agent who were working on a nearby sting. A business
owner at the lot says the cars were parked there over a span of two days. The
owner first put a note on the windshields of the cars asking them to be moved.
The next day, he spoke with one of the officers.
The officer allegedly
“responded with expletives” to the note and insisted the cars would not be
moved. The business owner then called the property’s trustee, who called a
towing company. The cars were towed.
Later, several police officers
showed up at the tow company's office to get their cars back. Per protocol,
employees of the company asked for proof of ownership of the vehicles. The
officers were unable to display any information proving they owned the cars.
They left and said they would return later.
Soon after, a group of cops
both in uniforms and street clothes returned to the office. Then, according to
the lawsuit, Sgt. Andrew Roberts showed his badge to the tow company employees
and insisted that was all he needed to retrieve the cars. When the employees
didn’t comply, they were arrested.
The lawsuit filed by the
arrested employees accuses the officers of violating their constitutional
rights by detaining them. They say the officers didn’t have probable cause to
arrest them, and that their rights to due process and protections against
unreasonable search and seizures were both violated in the arrest. The lawsuit
also claims Sgt. Roberts threatened to arrest the lawyer of the employees for
asking questions.
The employees are seeking
$500,000 each for pain and suffering. The tow truck company seeks to recoup
money spent defending the employees in court.
