Illegal Traffic Stop, Illegal Search, Unlawful Arrest - October 9, 2023
- 7 months ago
Shortly after midnight on October 9th, 2023, a Caldwell Parish Sheriff's Office deputy stopped a pickup truck after "accidentally" misreading one digit of the license plate. Though he didn't admit to it, I know that truck has a trailer ball which would've partially obscured that particular digit as viewed from directly behind, and I'd bet that's what happened.
20 minutes after the stop was made, the deputy advised dispatch that the female (most likely the driver) had been arrested, and then called his supervisor to the location. 32 minutes after that, dispatch asked if everyone was still code-4, to which they replied they were. Nothing further was ever called out about the stop. Nobody ever called 10-8 or enroute to the jail with the arrestee, they just quietly did whatever they did.
They never called out consent to search or that any evidence had been found, but enough time elapsed between the stop being made and the female being arrested for them to have searched, and enough time elapsed from then to whenever the stop ended for them to have searched some more.
We don't know whether they took the female arrestee to the jail or just let everybody go, but because the stop was bogus to begin with and they did call out that the female had been arrested, it does qualify as an unlawful arrest - or at the very least an unlawful detention.
20 minutes after the stop was made, the deputy advised dispatch that the female (most likely the driver) had been arrested, and then called his supervisor to the location. 32 minutes after that, dispatch asked if everyone was still code-4, to which they replied they were. Nothing further was ever called out about the stop. Nobody ever called 10-8 or enroute to the jail with the arrestee, they just quietly did whatever they did.
They never called out consent to search or that any evidence had been found, but enough time elapsed between the stop being made and the female being arrested for them to have searched, and enough time elapsed from then to whenever the stop ended for them to have searched some more.
We don't know whether they took the female arrestee to the jail or just let everybody go, but because the stop was bogus to begin with and they did call out that the female had been arrested, it does qualify as an unlawful arrest - or at the very least an unlawful detention.