Houston Police Trust Drunk Driver For Black Ex-Cop Who Tried To Pull Him Over

The normally very Conservative Court of the Fifth Circuit struck a blow qualified immunity this week, denying its application to two Houston police officers who wrongly arrested a man for stopping a drunk driver who crashed into a central reservation and then attempted to drive into traffic .

“Qualified immunity” was established by the Supreme Court in 1967. Pierson v. Ray. It protects police officers and other public officials from being prosecuted for making horrible mistakes and ruining (or ending) people’s lives – but it has come under increased scrutiny in recent years, with courts call. finding more and more in favor of the plaintiffs. What now for the Fifth Circuit? Well, hit We down!

In 2019, Austin Hughes, a 37-year-old security guard, Uber driver and former police officer, called 911 when, while driving two Uber passengers, he saw a (very drunk) driver driving from erratically and cross highway lanes. . After the driver crashed, Hughes stopped and handcuffed the man to keep him there until police could arrive, to prevent him from running into traffic and potentially killing someone. one – which would have been bad!

“I’m a former police officer, I’m from Michigan,” Hughes told the 911 operator around 3 a.m. that morning, explaining, “This guy is running between three or four lanes.”

However, when officers Michael Garcia and Joshua Few arrived on the scene, they let the drunk driver – who failed all six sobriety tests – drive away after telling them an absolutely absurd story. In his version of events, Austin Hughes was called “Jesse”, they knew each other and, in fact, he was the one driving drunk.

Via the Fifth Circuit:

On 03/23/2019 I was at a flea market with Jesse and his friends (aka Uber drivers (sic)). Jesse said we could go back to his place and he lived on 59 South near downtown. I told Jesse I lived on I10 and he said he would take me home later. I said ok because I had been drinking all night (sic) and had over 7 beers. I was too drunk to drive but I had a friend at the bar who could have (sic) taken me home. Jesse said let’s go to his house and he offered to drive so we went. Half way (sic) of the trip I didn’t know where I was. I started asking Jesse where he was taking me. I finally asked Jesse to take me home and that’s when he got angry.

Jesse asked me if I had anything to do with his wife. I told Jesse no. Jesse then asked me what I had with his wife. I was confused and asked him what he meant. Jesse said he knew something was up.

Jesse stopped my truck on the highway and got out. He came to my passenger side door and tried to get me out of the car. I was confused at this point and just wanted to know what was going on. Jesse kept telling me I was screwed and was going to be expelled. I was on the highway, so I couldn’t get away from Jesse. Finally, Jesse told me to turn around and put my hands behind my back. When I didn’t do it fast enough, Jesse brought my legs to my knees to force me to obey. I asked Jesse why he was doing this and who gave him the right to do it. Jesse told me he was a police officer. Jesse then handcuffed me. My leg hurt, making it hard to stand, and I had scratches on my wrists from him trying to handcuff me.

Austin Hughes’ name obviously wasn’t “Jesse” and there were no late-night flea markets in Houston that day, but the cops still chose to believe the drunk’s story and let family members come pick him up.

Garcia and Few then repeated the patently ridiculous story, omitting the part that the driver failed all sobriety tests, for a probable cause affidavit they submitted to a judge. The next day, at 3 a.m., they showed up at Hughes’ apartment and arrested him for “impersonating a police officer.”

Around 3 a.m. on March 25, Officers Few and Garcia went to Hughes’ home to arrest him. The record does not reveal, and the judicial imagination cannot understand, why the police needed or wanted to execute this arrest warrant at 3 a.m. But Hughes, who was sleeping with his wife at the time, answered the officers through the door. Few and Garcia asked to see Hughes’ Uber app, insisting they needed to see his real cell phone, rather than the screenshots he had already sent. Hughes “opened the door to give (his cellphone) to the officers. However, instead of picking up the phone, (the) officers grabbed Mr. Hughes’s outstretched arm and pulled him out of his apartment into the hallway and handcuffed him. ROA.280. The record does not reveal, and again the judicial imagination cannot comprehend why the officers had to trick the undressed Hughes into extending his arm through the cracked door so that he could be forcibly arrested in his pajamas.

As a result, he spent 24 hours in jail, had to spend thousands of dollars to hire a criminal lawyer, and had to wait three months until prosecutors dropped the charges against him. However, because of the charges, Hughes was unable to find work for several months.

So, just to recap: this guy tried to do the right thing by calling 911 and arresting this man by making a completely legal “citizen’s arrest” in Texas so he wouldn’t hurt anyone else and his damn life is ruined. as a “thank you”.

Hughes was about to give up, but was persuaded by a civilian lawyer to take on the police department and ended up winning his case in district court. The Department attempted to have the case thrown out by the Fifth Circuit, but – and we again want you to know that we are almost stunned by this – This does not happen.

It’s unclear which part of this case is most surprising: (1) Police refused to charge a seriously drunk driver and instead brought criminal charges against the Good Samaritan who intervened to protect Houstonians; or (2) that the City of Houston continues to defend the conduct of its officers. Regardless, the officers’ qualified immunity is denied and the district court’s decision is AFFIRMED.

Clearly, they have gone too far.

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Austin Hughes did the right thing in every way, first by reporting the driver, then by arresting him, and finally, by bringing these cops to justice. It is objectively insane that police officers can simply ruin someone’s life like this without ever being held accountable.

At least this time things ended a little differently. Maybe next time the Houston cops decide, “Hey, maybe we should lie about something stupid in order to arrest this person who tried to do a good thing!” » They will at least consider that it could end badly for them.

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