LA3: “There simply is no ‘check-em-out’ exception to” the Fourth Amendment

Plaintiff, in a church uniform with two other women, was stopped by a city police officer at before 6 am going to work at a church, simply because she turned down the road toward the church and the officer was curious. There was no factual basis for any stop; no suggestion it was a high crime area. A warrants check revealed a warrant, but he refused her explanation that the ticket was paid six months earlier, which it was [and the warrant was erroneously issued]. Her vehicle was towed. After going to retrieve the vehicle and getting jerked around and essentially extorted into paying another ticket by the Mayor for something that was later dismissed anyway, she got her vehicle back. She sued. The opinion is tempered yet justifiably unkind to the city. [They deserved it. Typical small town BS.] Parker v. Town of Woodworth, 2015 La. App. LEXIS 427 (La.App. 3 Cir. March 4, 2015):

As noted, the videotape introduced at trial presents a different picture than the one framed by Godwin. The video shows Godwin was following Parker for some distance on the public roadway before her signal light indicated she would be turning onto Methodist Parkway. This is consistent with Parker’s testimony and the Mayor’s testimony. This case is not res nova in Louisiana or anywhere in the United States. The particular legal issue presented here has long been resolved by the United States Supreme Court in an unbroken line of cases cited often in the well-settled jurisprudence of this State. The issue is simple: Can a police officer conduct an investigatory stop and detain citizens otherwise legally operating motor vehicles on the public highways or private roads in this State solely because past crimes or suspicious activities have occurred in the area where motorists are traveling? The answer is not even close: “No.” There simply is no “check-em-out” exception to this Constitutional prohibition. In this case there were no exigencies, i.e. there was no terrorist on the loose, no amber alert, no recent criminal activity in the area, no recent jail-break, no report of a truck matching the description of the one driven by Parker as being involved in any criminal activity. Officer Godwin could articulate nothing to establish a particularized and objective basis for suspecting Parker of criminal activity.

And I hear about these kinds of cases in my state, except our state has more immunity from this stuff. I looked up Woodworth, and I was through there last summer: It’s on the way to Oakdale FCI south of Alexandria.