Appeals court rules arrest of ABQ family was illegal (Cops mistook Ford P/U for Chevy sedan)

The Albuquerque Journal ^ | November 2, 2015 | Scott Sandlin

[CedarDave]

Elementary school principal Stephen Maresca was heading home from hiking in the Sandias with his wife, three children and their dog when the family was arrested by armed deputies after a rookie Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office deputy typed in a wrong license plate number.

Responding officers had the couple and their children exit the truck, walk backward with their hands up and lie face-down on the pavement. The officers aimed firearms at the parents and children, including two boys ages 17 and 14 and a 9-year-old girl, according to a summary of evidence in an opinion by the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver.

The reversal was based not on the mistyped number itself, the appeals court said. Instead, it was based on the fact that the deputy failed to notice the difference between a 2009 Chevrolet sedan with expired plates, which was the vehicle reported stolen, and a 2004 Ford pickup with current plates, the vehicle Maresca was driving, or to check the information. That information was in front of Fuentes on a computer screen the entire time.

The court ruled last month that the arrest was illegal – reversing an earlier decision that gave the arresting officer, Deputy J. Fuentes, immunity. The county is now on the hook for that 2013 arrest by Fuentes.

Maresca held up his hands with his driver’s license in one hand and repeatedly told the officers there must be a mistake, the complaint says. Deputies yelled at them to lift their shirts to show that they were unarmed and ignored Maresca’s pleas to check his ID and vehicle registration.

Other officers arrived, but none verified that the license plate belonged to a stolen car, the complaint says.

[Talisker]

Gads, it's FUN pushing the peasants around! I like the "lying on their faces" thingee, especially. Lets 'em know they're LESS THAN DIRT.

ALL arrests seem to require screaming obscenities, faces in the ground, knees in the back of the neck these days. Cops have become seriously scary. The damn Nazis treated people with more respect. Who the hell is in charge of training cops anymore? ISIS?

[kiryandil]

That’s possible given that each of the victims suffered from “road rash” meaning they were forcibly taken to the ground as they were arrested. With Maresca having a heart problem this was no doubt a contributing factor to his death.

Sounds like the original "judge", Paul J. Kelly, needs to have his wife, children and grandchildren "road-rashed" in front of him, while he's being restrained and forced to watch by armed gunthugs.

I'm sure he'd have no problem with it - "investigatory detention reasonable under the circumstances", and all that...

[kiryandil]

ALL arrests seem to require screaming obscenities, faces in the ground, knees in the back of the neck these days.

Well, they can do that to me.

But they'd better keep a sharp eye out for the next ten years, or so, after I get their ID.

:)

[Attention Surplus Disorder]

“So, does that imply that plain old dumbass misconduct is OK? If so, then we are in a great deal of trouble. Seems like it would give great incentive for governments to find the dumbest people that they can find to hire, because then it gives them a certain level of immunity.”

Rather Hillaryish, no?

[zeugma]

But they'd better keep a sharp eye out for the next ten years, or so, after I get their ID.

Yup.