SEATTLE – A Monroe police sergeant did not violate a woman’s constitutional rights in June 2001 when he detained her for nearly four hours after investigating her boyfriend for drug possession.
A federal court jury deliberated only about two hours Thursday before deciding that Sgt. Carlos Martinez did not abuse his police powers.
U.S. District Judge Robert Lasnik had earlier dismissed the city, the police department and other members of the police force as defendants.
Lorraine Trevino of Monroe, the mother of four children, claimed that Martinez, then a detective, didn’t have legal grounds to haul her in to the Monroe Police Department after officers served a search warrant at her home while looking for methamphetamine. They didn’t find any.
They did find pipes that had been used to smoke marijuana and some sharp instruments that could have harmed the children if they were not being watched properly.
Martinez notified state Child Protective Services, saying that he questioned how much food was available for the children and if they were being cared for adequately.
“This is about false arrest. This is about an arrest of a mother in front of her children,” Trevino’s Seattle lawyer, Margaret Boyle, told the jury in closing arguments on Thursday. “She was never told why she was there. That’s what this case is all about.”
Richard Jolley of Seattle, Martinez’s lawyer, said the evidence showed that police did have probable cause to arrest Trevino.
The civil lawsuit alleged that the arrest violated Trevino’s constitutional rights. Boyle told jurors that police later came up with criminal mistreatment of the children as a possible crime to cover up the false arrest. The lawyer accused the officer of picking on Trevino because she was poor.
“There is no evidence in this case that the children suffered any harm,” Boyle said. “None.”
Trevino sought $50,000 in damages, plus another $50,000 in punitive damages because Martinez “used his arrest powers in a way they weren’t intended to be used. That cannot be allowed to continue,” Boyle said.
Trevino deserves nothing, Jolley told jurors.
“Sgt. Martinez looked at the big picture. … He had probable cause to believe the children were being denied (proper) shelter,” Jolley told the jurors.
Photos of the messy house and the food available for the youngsters were shown to the jury.
“The evidence is this case does not suggest that you feel sympathy for her,” Jolley said, asking jurors not to brand Martinez as an officer who violates people’s civil rights.
Reporter Jim Haley: 425-339-3447 or haley@heraldnet.com.
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