The Texas Department of Public Safety, the agency which employs Texas State Troopers, has responded acknowledging wrongdoing after a California resident filed an official complaint against two of the Department's officers last November 18th.
The complaint involved the officer's claims that they could demand ID from anyone in Texas during traffic stops for any reason, even if the person was not driving. Martin Hill, who is employed part time driving a commercial 18 wheeler across the United States for a large corporation, was off duty in the 'sleeper berth' on November 10th when his partner was stopped at a Texas DOT weight station and given a citation for allegedly having an overweight load.
The DOT inspector then demanded that the driver show her Hill's ID. The partner was thus forced to wake Hill up. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration Regulations demand that all Commercial truck drivers must take a 10 hour break between shifts, including eight completely uninterupted hours in the sleeper berth. Failure to do this is a violation of federal law, so Hill knew that interrupting his break, as well as the officer's demand for his ID with no reasonable suspicion or probable cause, was illegal.
"These cops threatened to arrest me, take my freedom and lock me in a cage unless I complied with a demand which they had absolutely no right to make. This was the epitome of anti-American, tyrannical, and immoral behavior. When I had initially asked the Trooper why the inspector had woken me up, he sneered "We like to know who we're dealing with". When he later demanded my ID I asked who he was, and he replied "I'm the one with the badge and the gun". After I had initially refused to show him my license, he warned "I don't know how far you want to take this" and threatened to illegally imprison me under color of law. As a result of his actions, he now knows precisely who he's dealing with, doesn't he? And he has only just begin to see 'how far I have taken it'. I do not play games. As I stated in both my Texas and Federal civil rights complaint, the rule of law and constitution will be fully vindicated in this case. These two officers will not do this to me or to anyone, ever again."
The text of Hill's official 2 page complaint, which was filed on November 18th, can be found here. On December 20th, The Texas Department of Public Safety sent a response in which they admitted 'corrective action was needed' and 'additional training' given to officers. A pdf copy of their letter to Hill can be found here. [article continues here
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration Regulations demand that all Commercial truck drivers must take a 10 hour break between shifts, including eight completely uninterupted hours in the sleeper berth. Failure to do this is a violation of federal law, so Hill knew that interrupting his break, as well as the officer's demand for his ID with no reasonable suspicion or probable cause, was illegal.
OK, I am PISSED. The link in the article which included the text of my complaint, as well as the two scans of the trooper letter and envelope, have all been SCRAPPED.. REMOVED.. from my website! everything else on my website is still there. How could this possibly be?
Did those links work for you when you first posted the article?
If you didn't try them, then check one thing: all of the words in the link have an upper case first letter except the last word, complaint, which has a lower case first letter. Maybe you needed to use an upper case C there? It could just be a typo in the link.