Court Opinion

ID: 6984287
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2022-07-24 02:47:41.882573+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T16:09:21.844289
License: Public Domain

REYNALDO G. GARZA, Circuit Judge,
dissenting:
I believe that the original opinion of the panel that I was on, which can be found at 165 F.3d, 380 (5th Cir.1999), is sufficient to show that the seizure and handcuffing of Mrs. Atwater in this case was unreasonable and uncalled for.
I write separately in dissent because I believe that our colleagues in the majority are wrong in not dividing an arrest or a stop and a seizure of the person arrested or stopped.
We have of necessity to keep in mind that this was a traffic stop or arrest of Mrs. Atwater for failure to have her seat-belt or her children’s seatbelts on when stopped. As pointed out by my colleague, Judge Parker, and author of the original opinion, Mrs. Atwater’s seatbelt offense was a misdemeanor for which she could be fined up to $50 and no more. Her offense would in no way have been a danger to any one else, but herself and her children.
I have been a Texas lawyer for over sixty years and an Article III Federal Judge in Texas for over thirty-eight years. I think that I can take judicial notice of the fact that in a regular traffic stop; when a person runs a red light, makes a wrong turn, is speeding, or in this case is not wearing a seatbelt, the usual procedure for the officer making the stop or the arrest is to give the accused a citation, which shows the charge against the person driving the car, a notice to appear before a municipal judge on a certain day at a certain time and signed by the accusing officer; which also adds a paragraph that is signed by the accused that they agree to appear on the date and time stated and that is the end of the story.
There are times when during a traffic stop an officer finds that the driver for instance, is driving while under the influence of either alcohol or drugs; the officer sees a gun on the seat of the car; the car smells of marihuana; the officer sees packages of cocaine or some other reason, like a check of the license number of the person stopped shows that the person is a fugitive or has another charge pending; in which case the officer that made the stop seizes the person and takes him or her to the police station to await being taken *247before a Magistrate, where the officer makes the complaint against the person and the Magistrate then sets a bond or refuses to allow one, whichever he chooses.
There is no evidence in our case that there was any reason for Mrs. Atwater to be seized and taken to the police station where she waited for an hour for a Magistrate to release her.
The majority setting aside the panel opinion makes no mention of an affidavit that is in the Record Excerpts of appellants, Gail Atwater and her husband, on behalf of two of their children. The affidavit is that of Keith A. Campbell, who was a member of the Recruitment Unit of the Austin Police Department from August 1994 to March 1997. In the affidavit he makes mention of all the things he did when screening applicants for positions in the Austin Police Department. Mr. Campbell states he has reviewed the personnel file of Michael Barton Turek and he can state without reservation that he would not have recommended this individual to be hired by the Austin Police Department for the following reasons:
1. Lack of maturity based on his own explanations of changes in employment in the “reasons for leaving” sub-sections of each employer’s identification.
2. Failed two of three reported psychological tests at A.P.D.
3. Failed to provide complete information.
Mr. Campbell’s affidavit is an eye-opener of the kind of person Officer Turek, who saw fit to handcuff Mrs. Atwater behind her back for not wearing her seatbelt, is. Mrs. Atwater and her husband have sued the City of Lago Vista for its unreasonable hiring and lack of training of Turek.
Under Texas law, the City of Lago Vista is not responsible for the actions of their police officers unless they violate somebody’s Constitutional Rights. Our colleagues in the majority seem to think that if an officer has probable cause to make a stop and an arrest it immunizes them to where they can do whatever they please. This approach is wrong because in my view, probable cause will never immunize a constitutional violation.
Officer Turek had probable cause to stop the car that was being driven by Mrs. Atwater for failure to have her seatbelt on, but he should have given her a citation to appear instead of seizing her, putting handcuffs behind her back, and taking her to the police station. He would have taken her children with her except that a neighbor that came on the scene took the children to her home.
I strongly believe that my duty under the oath that I have taken, once as a United States District Judge, then as an Appellate Judge, is to uphold the Constitution and Laws of the United States. Under Article IV of the Amendments to the Constitution, the seizure is different then the stop and the arrest of Mrs. Atwater was unreasonable and therefore a violation of the Constitution of the United States. I cannot see why some of my colleagues are unwilling to say that the seizure by Officer Turek was unreasonable.