Back in june of this year i went to san diego ca with my husband son and my friend, just a little vacation to excape the az heat, on the way home we went through several checkpoints with no problem.
Then some where between the perminant check point in yuma (where we had no problems) and Gila Bend on I-8, we came up to anouther
check point. I saw the dog walk around the vehicle with no response at all. They asked if we were citizens 3 of us said we were,
my husband is a permenant resident alien and stated so. At that point they sent us into secondary. They asked us if they could
search the car and we said no. then they told us that because the dog alerted we had no choice, that we needed to exit the vehicle
or we would be removed by force! we got out of the car and they told us to sit on a bench. they brought the dog around the car
again with no response, an officer stood over us while 4 others started looking in the cab and bed of the truck. About 15
minutes later they all stepped away from the car and one aproched us, he asked where we were hiding the drugs, we told him
we didn't have any, he said some times the dogs can pick up on legal perscription pills and if we might have those, my husband
has a chronic pain condition that is treated with percocet so he told them where they could find his pills, they got the pills
showed the dog and the dog did nothing, they brought the dog around the car again no response so they whent back to searching
a differnt officer came up and informed us that they were going to strip the car to the ground unless we told him where the
drugs were, that he "ate pieces of **** like us for breakfast and had no problem ****ing our whole word up" at this point i
was upset that he had the nerve to speak to us like that in front of our child (who was terrified) so i told him we did not
consent to this search, they are not going to find anything and to let us go on our way, he was very upset after i said this
and he saw me write down his name, he asked "you really want to **** with me?" he went back to the car jumped in the bed of the
truck and started grabbing our bags and violently slamming them on the ground, he picked up my lap top case and i shouted to him what he was holding
and not to slam it he says "oh this?" and he slammed it down harder and further than the others. they opened all our bags, had
the dog go around it and still found nothing. angery he came back over to us "you think writing my name down will save you?
i'll find where you work call your boss, find your landlord call them, call cps have them rip your precious little boy out of
your home how does that sound? now where are the drugs?" i said we didn't have any, at this time my son really had to go
potty so he asked one of the other patrol officers if he could go, the officer told him "once your drug dealing mommy gives up
the stash you can till then your **** out of luck" they went back to the car searching it more after a while he came back
"we found your stash! now you are all going to jail, say good bye to your little boy cuz you'll never see him again!" i still
said that i had no clue what he was talking about he says "ok i'm calling cps right now, i'll wait to charge you till they
get here so i can watch your face while he is taken from you!" at this point i was scared out of my mind crying and so was my
boy. A different officer stood between us handed me a tissue and kindly told me if you sign this paper you'll be on your way
i signed the paper anything to have this nightmare end, he took me to the portable office and started to tell me "when i turn
on this recorder you have to tell me that you got the weed in ca. that you got it at a distributor, and you paid for it. then
you can be on your way." I did what i was told and he wrote me a ticket, i was never shown any "evidence" but the ticket was
for possession and 2 counts paraphenilia. they held me in there for a while then told me i can leave he walked me back to
the truck. the other officer came running up to me "i have your name now, if you even think about mine i will put you in a
world of ****, so if i were you i'd watch my ****ing back" i didn't respond this time then my son asks "can i go potty now?"
he yells at him "no now get the **** out of here befor i decide to deport your daddy" the officer who wrote me a ticket helped
us put our belongs back in the truck and we left. they had held us there for almost 4 hours.
i went to my first court hearing and plead not guilty, i was assigned a lawyer and told when my next date was, i called my
lawyer and told my story, she said she would contact me and let me know what was going on. after a month i hadn't heard from
her and so i tried to call her and her number had been changed, so i called the court and they said they only had one number
for her which turned out to be a fax line. i sent her a fax no reply. i looked up my case on line and found out that i had a
hearing scedualed for the next day! so i faxed her again no response, i found her web site but the phone numbers didn't work
but it listed an email address so i sent one, no reply. the morning of my court date i called the court house (i live 3 hours
away) told them what was going on and they had my court continued but have yet to set a date. # days later my lawyer sends me
an email, saying she asked for a continuance, she didn't i did. then she informs me that her intentions are to try the case
in front of the newly elected judge. i have since found out that this judge, a former dps officer was charged in connection
with the beating of a pastor at that same checkpoint! now why would she want to try me in front of this man? how could i
possibly get a fair trial now? she says if the people felt he was biased they would not have elected him. bull sounds like
my lawyers in bed with the prosecution, what can i do? do i have any rights? i have been suspended from my job and i am
looking at the possiblity of losing my home because now we can't make ends meet. i really need help!
Then some where between the perminant check point in yuma (where we had no problems) and Gila Bend on I-8, we came up to anouther
check point. I saw the dog walk around the vehicle with no response at all. They asked if we were citizens 3 of us said we were,
my husband is a permenant resident alien and stated so. At that point they sent us into secondary. They asked us if they could
search the car and we said no. then they told us that because the dog alerted we had no choice, that we needed to exit the vehicle
or we would be removed by force! we got out of the car and they told us to sit on a bench. they brought the dog around the car
again with no response, an officer stood over us while 4 others started looking in the cab and bed of the truck. About 15
minutes later they all stepped away from the car and one aproched us, he asked where we were hiding the drugs, we told him
we didn't have any, he said some times the dogs can pick up on legal perscription pills and if we might have those, my husband
has a chronic pain condition that is treated with percocet so he told them where they could find his pills, they got the pills
showed the dog and the dog did nothing, they brought the dog around the car again no response so they whent back to searching
a differnt officer came up and informed us that they were going to strip the car to the ground unless we told him where the
drugs were, that he "ate pieces of **** like us for breakfast and had no problem ****ing our whole word up" at this point i
was upset that he had the nerve to speak to us like that in front of our child (who was terrified) so i told him we did not
consent to this search, they are not going to find anything and to let us go on our way, he was very upset after i said this
and he saw me write down his name, he asked "you really want to **** with me?" he went back to the car jumped in the bed of the
truck and started grabbing our bags and violently slamming them on the ground, he picked up my lap top case and i shouted to him what he was holding
and not to slam it he says "oh this?" and he slammed it down harder and further than the others. they opened all our bags, had
the dog go around it and still found nothing. angery he came back over to us "you think writing my name down will save you?
i'll find where you work call your boss, find your landlord call them, call cps have them rip your precious little boy out of
your home how does that sound? now where are the drugs?" i said we didn't have any, at this time my son really had to go
potty so he asked one of the other patrol officers if he could go, the officer told him "once your drug dealing mommy gives up
the stash you can till then your **** out of luck" they went back to the car searching it more after a while he came back
"we found your stash! now you are all going to jail, say good bye to your little boy cuz you'll never see him again!" i still
said that i had no clue what he was talking about he says "ok i'm calling cps right now, i'll wait to charge you till they
get here so i can watch your face while he is taken from you!" at this point i was scared out of my mind crying and so was my
boy. A different officer stood between us handed me a tissue and kindly told me if you sign this paper you'll be on your way
i signed the paper anything to have this nightmare end, he took me to the portable office and started to tell me "when i turn
on this recorder you have to tell me that you got the weed in ca. that you got it at a distributor, and you paid for it. then
you can be on your way." I did what i was told and he wrote me a ticket, i was never shown any "evidence" but the ticket was
for possession and 2 counts paraphenilia. they held me in there for a while then told me i can leave he walked me back to
the truck. the other officer came running up to me "i have your name now, if you even think about mine i will put you in a
world of ****, so if i were you i'd watch my ****ing back" i didn't respond this time then my son asks "can i go potty now?"
he yells at him "no now get the **** out of here befor i decide to deport your daddy" the officer who wrote me a ticket helped
us put our belongs back in the truck and we left. they had held us there for almost 4 hours.
i went to my first court hearing and plead not guilty, i was assigned a lawyer and told when my next date was, i called my
lawyer and told my story, she said she would contact me and let me know what was going on. after a month i hadn't heard from
her and so i tried to call her and her number had been changed, so i called the court and they said they only had one number
for her which turned out to be a fax line. i sent her a fax no reply. i looked up my case on line and found out that i had a
hearing scedualed for the next day! so i faxed her again no response, i found her web site but the phone numbers didn't work
but it listed an email address so i sent one, no reply. the morning of my court date i called the court house (i live 3 hours
away) told them what was going on and they had my court continued but have yet to set a date. # days later my lawyer sends me
an email, saying she asked for a continuance, she didn't i did. then she informs me that her intentions are to try the case
in front of the newly elected judge. i have since found out that this judge, a former dps officer was charged in connection
with the beating of a pastor at that same checkpoint! now why would she want to try me in front of this man? how could i
possibly get a fair trial now? she says if the people felt he was biased they would not have elected him. bull sounds like
my lawyers in bed with the prosecution, what can i do? do i have any rights? i have been suspended from my job and i am
looking at the possiblity of losing my home because now we can't make ends meet. i really need help!
