This one stunned me, here in Idaho.
The police saw a car parked in a 24 hour car wash bay..no one washing the car.
They arrested the guy for loitering..and a K-9 found drugs in his car when they searched it.
Turns out the city's ordinance is broadly worded, and the Judges think that it gives the police too much discretion in who they target.
So, the dude not only beats his drug charge, meth, good for 10 years--but he is going to get paid civilly..by the city..and maybe by the officers, as well!
What say the jury?
When Boise officers one night saw a man sitting in his Jeep Cherokee in a self-service bay of a 24-hour car wash, they decided to investigate the vehicle. Within minutes of pulling into the West Boise business, one of the officers drew his firearm, and the man was detained for loitering, and a drug dog was called to search his vehicle, according to court records.
The K-9 detected drugs, records showed. Police discovered methamphetamine and marijuana in the Luke Schuchardt's vehicle, and he was charged with a felony.
But how could they know Schuchardt was violating the law? They couldn't, U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill ruled in an order this week.
In a lawsuit Schuchardt filed against the city, arguing that police violated his First and Fourth Amendment rights that day, Windmill sided with Schuchardt and deemed that the city's loitering ordinance is "unconstitutionally vague." While Schuchardt was likely at Snake River Car Wash in March 2022 to deal drugs, Winmill wrote, the responding officers, Ryan Pollard and Craig Sousa, didn't know he had drugs on him until they detained him for loitering. Before then, all the officers knew was that Schuchardt was parked in a dark car wash, not washing his car.
His attorneys accused the responding officers of using the city's loitering ordinance to gain access to Schuchardt's vehicle and conduct an "unlawful" search. Officers have a "practice or custom" of using the loitering ordinance to conduct drug investigations without reasonable evidence, his attorneys asserted in their filings.
Winmill will still have to take up several other allegations against the city and individual officers, since Monday's decision only settled one of the three remaining claims filed in the lawsuit. But Pete Wood, one of Schuchardt's attorneys, told the Idaho Statesman this ruling is "the big one."
Loitering laws are often used as general warrants, Wood said, allowing officers to circumvent individuals' constitutional right to be protected from unreasonable searches and seizures. It gives officers unlimited discretion, Wood said.
"In theory, everyone's loitering," he told the Statesman.
Michael Reardon, the judge who presided over Schuchardt's criminal case, also concluded that the officers' search of his vehicle was unlawful and suppressed all of the evidence collected by police, including the suspected drugs. Reardon went even further in his July 2022 order to suppress the evidence, calling the officers' conduct "flagrant."
All criminal charges against Schuchardt were dismissed.
The police saw a car parked in a 24 hour car wash bay..no one washing the car.
They arrested the guy for loitering..and a K-9 found drugs in his car when they searched it.
Turns out the city's ordinance is broadly worded, and the Judges think that it gives the police too much discretion in who they target.
So, the dude not only beats his drug charge, meth, good for 10 years--but he is going to get paid civilly..by the city..and maybe by the officers, as well!
What say the jury?
When Boise officers one night saw a man sitting in his Jeep Cherokee in a self-service bay of a 24-hour car wash, they decided to investigate the vehicle. Within minutes of pulling into the West Boise business, one of the officers drew his firearm, and the man was detained for loitering, and a drug dog was called to search his vehicle, according to court records.
The K-9 detected drugs, records showed. Police discovered methamphetamine and marijuana in the Luke Schuchardt's vehicle, and he was charged with a felony.
But how could they know Schuchardt was violating the law? They couldn't, U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill ruled in an order this week.
In a lawsuit Schuchardt filed against the city, arguing that police violated his First and Fourth Amendment rights that day, Windmill sided with Schuchardt and deemed that the city's loitering ordinance is "unconstitutionally vague." While Schuchardt was likely at Snake River Car Wash in March 2022 to deal drugs, Winmill wrote, the responding officers, Ryan Pollard and Craig Sousa, didn't know he had drugs on him until they detained him for loitering. Before then, all the officers knew was that Schuchardt was parked in a dark car wash, not washing his car.
His attorneys accused the responding officers of using the city's loitering ordinance to gain access to Schuchardt's vehicle and conduct an "unlawful" search. Officers have a "practice or custom" of using the loitering ordinance to conduct drug investigations without reasonable evidence, his attorneys asserted in their filings.
Winmill will still have to take up several other allegations against the city and individual officers, since Monday's decision only settled one of the three remaining claims filed in the lawsuit. But Pete Wood, one of Schuchardt's attorneys, told the Idaho Statesman this ruling is "the big one."
Loitering laws are often used as general warrants, Wood said, allowing officers to circumvent individuals' constitutional right to be protected from unreasonable searches and seizures. It gives officers unlimited discretion, Wood said.
"In theory, everyone's loitering," he told the Statesman.
Michael Reardon, the judge who presided over Schuchardt's criminal case, also concluded that the officers' search of his vehicle was unlawful and suppressed all of the evidence collected by police, including the suspected drugs. Reardon went even further in his July 2022 order to suppress the evidence, calling the officers' conduct "flagrant."
All criminal charges against Schuchardt were dismissed.
