Cops Use Traffic Tix to Force Woman Into Drug Buys, Lawyer Claims

Sep 27, 2012 - 0 Comments

ABC News

A woman in a small Texas town is alleging that police who pulled her over for a traffic ticket coerced her into making undercover drug buys to avoid paying the traffic fine, and threatened to reveal her role when she tried to back out of the arrangement.

The woman, who wishes to remain anonymous because she fears retribution from dealers, was pulled over for making an illegal lane change in the town Friendswood on Aug. 22, her attorney Dane Johnson told ABC News.

The officer who pulled her over found a glass pipe and the prescription medication Suboxone, which Johnson says she has a prescription for. She was given tickets for an out of date registration and for not having proof of insurance with her, records show.

She was then arrested, taken to the police station and strip searched, her attorney alleges.

"The police seemed to think she was a drug dealer, and threatened to call Child Protective Services if she didn't cooperate," Johnson said. "This is a single mother with no criminal record, and they wouldn't let her call anyone to go look after her child for the four hours she was at the station."

While being held police offered her a deal: perform three controlled drug buys instead of paying the fines, the lawyer said. Her attorney told ABC News she had never bought drugs before, but agreed to do it to get out of the citations.

"I had two choices. They were either going to arrest me, or I could agree to do some controlled buys," she told ABC affiliate KTRK. Read More

Total views: 6319