Legal Question in Criminal Law in Texas

My husband and I own property in Rockwall, Texas. It is several acres in a nice subdivision and we went there over the weekend to check on the land and see what has been going on in the neighborhood (new homes, development, etc.) We parked on the side of the road next to our lot and got out of the car. I immediately felt light headed and ill due to a heart condition and told my husband I wasn't feeling well. He held my hand in case I fainted and walked me to the driver�s side, opened the door for me and sat me inside of the vehicle for a few minutes until I felt better. While this was happening a woman rode by us on a bicycle and I told her good morning, she replied good morning albeit not in a very friendly way. A few minutes later a SUV with a man in it drove by and he and my husband quickly waved at each other.

I felt better, got out of the car, we went to the trunk, put on tall boots and walked out onto our property for approximately 12-15 minutes and returned to the car. All of a sudden we see a Sheriff's vehicle coming toward us, he pulls in front of my car, flips on his lights and comes out of the vehicle with his gun drawn and tells us to put our hands on the trunk of our car. He said someone in the neighborhood called in and said that they had witnessed us fighting, that my husband had put a gun to my head and I was being forced into a vehicle �kidnapping in progress.

He asked what we were doing there and I explained we owned the property, had come from our home in Louisiana to check on it. There had been no fighting and no kidnapping, we were married. My interpretation of what the person saw was my husband holding my hand and helping me into the car. As far as a gun, the only explanation we could think of was the black cell phone case clipped to his belt may have appeared like a gun from a far distance.

He did not seem to believe us, put my husband in handcuffs and took his wallet for his ID. He asked for my ID and then asked if we had a weapon and we said yes, we always travel with a handgun and it was in the car under the front seat. He retrieved the weapon, wen t to his car and ran our ID�s, plates, and weapon registration. In the meantime three more vehicles arrived with lights on, I believe it was another deputy, one local policeman and an off duty state trooper who evidently lived in the subdivision. I was questioned several times by different officers about whether or not we had been fighting, did we have a history of domestic abuse, etc. I patiently answered the questions with no. We were detained for approximately 30 minutes.

Eventually they seemed to understand that there was no kidnapping and took the cuffs off my husband but continued to ask me questions related to domestic abuse for several more minutes. Finally, they let us go.

Two observations: one � my husband is British but has a very dark complexion. Two � the state trooper was off duty and seemed to be the same man who had gone by earlier in the SUV in the same direction as the woman on the bike. He was in very casual clothes and was on his personal cell phone talking to someone (the woman on the bike??) during the entire �investigation�.

I feel like we were targeted because someone assumed my husband was of �color� and I was white and we were looking at land in a very affluent neighborhood. Aside from this being handled very badly by local law enforcement do we have any recourse against the person who called the police?


Asked on 7/10/13, 1:57 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

Cynthia Henley Cynthia Henley, Lawyer

This is not a criminal law question. Repost under civil rights.

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Answered on 7/11/13, 2:52 pm


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