An Arizona man was surprised to be arrested and charged with drunk driving, especially since the police knew he wasn’t drunk.
Jessie Thornton, a 64-year-old retired firefighter, told ABC 15 that he was driving home late after spending a couple hours swimming at an LA Fitness pool. While en route, he was pulled over by an officer for crossing the white line who, Thornton says, suspected him of driving under the influence because his eyes were bloodshot. Amazingly, even after he tested with a BAC of 0.00 on a breathalyzer and was cleared as being sober by a drug recognition expert, he was charged with DUI, had his license suspended and his vehicle impounded.
This isn’t the first time Thronton has had a run in with police on the road late at night. He says he’s been pulled over 10 times and given four tickets.
Thornton says he keeps late hours so that his schedule syncs up with wife’s.
“My wife, she’s an ER nurse and works three 12-hour shifts, so I adjusted my schedule to be like her schedule,” Thornton told ABC 15.
But Thornton says that these incidents are the result of something more sinister than targeting people who are out late. He feels he’s a target because of his race. The DUI charges have been dropped, but he’s now bringing a federal lawsuit against the police department of Surprise, Ariz.
“Listen, I was a firefighter and firefighters work hand in hand with police officers, I have nothing against police officers, this just wasn’t right,” Thornton said.
The police department was unable to comment due to pending legal action.
Yea, this guy was a black man but I know damned well that I was also harrassed becaused of my drug record from way back in the 60`s and the 70`s and I am a white guy. Them POS cops got their eye on you just to F with ya for any reason if you have ever been arrested for anything. Remember that they always love to point the finger at the suspect so the finger is not pointed at themselves. Yep them damned cops just helped out their quota for the month doing that what they did to that guy.
Well hey, the powers that be can now simply arrest and detain you without charges of any kind and without a trial, so this is no surprise. It is way past time for Americans to start fighting back.
Targeting people who are out late seems to be a nation wide policy. I have been pulled over several times for violating this “no driving at night law”. Although I had done nothing wrong, each of the officers simply made something up.
My most recent violation of this unwritten law occurred after buying a pizza at around 10pm. As the officer approached my vehicle after stopping me, he asked “so, how much have you had to drink tonight?”
After informing the officer that it had been at least 15 years since I last drank any alcohol, I was given a sobriety test. By the way, it turns out that the restaurants parking lot is shared by several businesses, including a bar.
After passing the sobriety test, the officer accused me of failing to stop at an intersection and issued me a citation, which turned out to be an $840 fine. This cost more than tripled due to lost wages when I attempted to challenge the false charge in our corrupt court system.
That one large pizza ended up costing more than $3,000.
Trickle-down tyranny.
these days every two-bit piece of shite pig thinks he’s Hitler.
Yup
Apparently the town (or at least the cops there) is attempting to live up to it’s bizarre name.