srothstein wrote:I may be wrong, but I think it occurred at one of the national parks. ....
Actually, it was a little closer to home, in 1993 (although there may be more than one case, of course).
Estep vs Dallas County et al (including two peace officers). Estep was stopped in Garland for speeding, altho the officers did not tell him this, at least initially. Estep got out of his truck with license and reg in hand, and waited for the officer. The officer asked if he had a gun in the truck. Estep said no and asked why the officer asked, who ignored Estep's question and asked him again. Estep said no, but he had mace on a key chain and showed it to the officer, and asked why he had been stopped, and why the officer was asking about a gun. The officer told him to stay in his vehicle, then went and called for back up.
The officers then put Estep at the rear of his vehicle and one of them searched his truck, over Estep's protest that he did not consent to a search. The officer found a handgun in a case behind the seat, and they arrested Estep for wrongful carrying of a weapon and put him in the patrol car. In Estep's presence, the first officer told the backup officer the reason that he wanted to check for a gun was the NRA sticker on the truck. He also later listed a camouflage jacket as a factor (as well as the mace and the fact that Estep got out of the truck).
The officer also later made some seemingly dubious claims about Estep's actions and words causing the him to suspect danger -- dubious because the officer never searched Estep himself.
The criminal charges against Estep were dismissed when the criminal trial judge suppressed the evidence due to an illegal search.
Estep sued Dallas County and the officers for violation of his constitutional rights, and lower courts sided with the County and dismissed the case. However, the 5th Court of Appeals found Estep could sue and remanded the case back to trial court, altho it removed the second officer from the case. I haven't looked it up to see what happened.
Great line from the majority opinion:
"Indeed, if the presence of an NRA sticker and camouflage gear in a vehicle could be used by an officer to conclude he was in danger, half the pickups in the state of Texas would be subject to a vehicle search."
Frankly, I think the officer never believed he was in danger, he just saw the NRA sticker and figured he could pick up an easy gun bust.
http://openjurist.org/310/f3d/353/estep ... texas-f-jc" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;