Very likely. I’ve both issued and executed interstate warrants. They do not specify charges. They just identify a person and ask one state to detain them and send them to another state.
Cops can request ID and run warrant checks almost at any time they want for any reason they want. However, in many circumstances you can simply decline to provide that information.
In a State with a “Stop and Identify” statute, if a police officer has a reasonable suspicion the person has committed or is committing a crime, they can require you to stop and provide your name. Stop and identify states do not require you to provide government ID (you aren’t required to carry ID on you in the United States while on the street.) New Mexico is a Stop and Identify state, but a rowdy party goer probably would not be commonly asked to provide identity by most cops, most of the time. Doesn’t mean they couldn’t choose to ask, or that in this particular case the rowdy party had elements that lead the police to believe criminality might be afoot.
The New Mexico law enforcement probably don’t have civil liability here because they didn’t effect a wrongful arrest–while he was factually innocent, Michael Lowe had a valid Texas arrest warrant sworn out on him, and he was correctly identified and taken into custody.
The Texas law enforcement may have some civil liability–note that there are basically hundreds of millions of dollars a year now in law enforcement settlements to citizens, so the idea that he can’t get any money from a police department so is instead looking to go after AA is untrue, there is plenty of money to be had suing police. This is a significant cost we the public now bear for having poorly run, unprofessional police forces that have limited accountability for poor police behavior.
Whether he will get money out of anyone in this case is hard to say. AA as a public facing company may simply cut a check to avoid further PR implications.
What I still don’t understand is why American reported it - does American run the store or something?
The article does say this, but it’s very possible the article is wrong. I think it’s more likely that the reporter mixed up AA reporting Lowe’s name to police when asked, versus the initial report of the crime.
Yes, the exact circumstances are still very confusing.
I would not assume AA actually reported the crime, I’ve read like four different newspapers take on this case and the wording around that is imprecise enough I don’t really trust that that is what happened without some more solid confirmation. It seems likely they just poorly worded something and AA reported Lowe’s name, not the initial crime.
As for the felony burglary charges - if Texas law is anything like California law, the definition of burglary is “entering any building, structure, etc. with intent to commit grand or petit theft or any felony” or words to that effect. So if he is accused of shoplifting in an airport, that makes a charge of burglary apply as well if the DA so desires. My guess is the DA so desired because no state is going to arrest, hold and extradite someone on a mere shoplifting charge.
Does that apply in a building, like an airport, that is open to the public? I thought the legal requirement was that you had to enter the building without permission.
Texas law does say “without effective consent of the owner.” Who knows how they are spinning that!
California law says nothing about consent.
"Lowe had been on the flight as a layover on a trip from Flagstaff to Reno. "
Forget the 17 days in jail - this flight is ridiculous! Damn hub systems. DFW is as far from Flag as Reno, in the opposite direction.
I checked out flights for work from Phoenix to Davenport Iowa. The website wanted to send me via Detroit and then Atlanta. 14 hours!
More police goodness:
The detective had more bad news for Lowe — he told Lowe that he was supposed to have been in court that same morning and because he had not appeared, another warrant would be issued for his arrest, according to the suit… The call ended with the detective admonishing Lowe for not going to his court hearing, the lawsuit said.
That is Kafkaesque in its absurdity! He was pooted out of jail with no explanation, yet he was supposed to be in court - in Dallas? Why didn’t they extradite him if they wanted him, which was the reason he was arrested?
I’d like that fucking Dallas cop to answer how Lowe was supposed to be in court if he wasn’t even informed of WHY he was arrested, let alone any details. I sure the cop thinks Lowe is just another criminal who must be guilty of something.
I’m beginning to suspect that Mr. Lowe is not white.
I suppose it could have been a store within the airport that was closed.
Going by the photo in the Star Telegram it appears he is - which is probably why it’s getting coverage.
I’m beginning to suspect we are missing information. This makes no sense! Even allowing for police incompetence or outright standard assholishness, it makes no sense.
I want to know what Tucumcari PD* was thinking. “Well, Dallas isn’t sending someone to get him, and we’re having to feed this guy on our budget, so let’s just street him.” “should we inform DPD?” “No, what have they ever done for us?”
*I’ll be there Saturday. Joy. I’ve had a run in with TPD. Caught me in a speed trap. Cop had a real attitude, too. Short woman syndrome, with a touch of standard “respect mah athoritay!” bully.
Why? Did the police shoot him at some point?
Nope. He didn’t have a cell phone on him.
These days, very few people know phone numbers anymore. If the cops don’t have the right charger, he still can’t use his phone. One could potentially log in to their account from a cop’s phone or office computer but I could see that being denied - I’m not handing you, you filthy dirtbag criminal my personal device to play on, nor are you allowed into the secure office where a computer is.
If you’re attempting to log in from an unknown device & a different IP, Google/Gmail or Apple might deny you w/o secondary authentication…which requires your working phone. That’s nothing to say about the person you’re calling picking up when they receive a call from an unknown phone number.
The detainee probably could have submitted a petition for habeas corpus, if he knew how (i.e. if he had access to a lawyer). But the Governor of New Mexico’s decision to honor the extradition request is prima facie evidence that the state has met its constitutional and statutory burdens; that is, the burden is on the detainee to prove the state did not follow proper procedure - he is not allowed to contest the merits of a facially valid warrant. Michigan v. Doran , 439 U.S. 282 (1978).
The constitutional right to a speedy trial may only be established by an ad hoc balancing test considering factors such as the length of and reason for the delay, the defendant’s assertion of his right, and prejudice to the defendant. Barker v. Wingo, 407 U.S. 514 (1972). We’re generally talking many months, not mere days. The cited case involved a person held in detention whose trial was delayed for five years while prosecutors waited for the accomplice’s conviction, and this did not violate the individual’s right to a speedy trial.
In the case of a warrantless arrest, the Fourth Amendment and Fourteenth Amendments require the state to bring a detainee before a magistrate for a probable cause hearing “as soon as is reasonably feasible, but in no event later than 48 hours after arrest”. County of Riverside v. McLaughlin , 500 U.S. 44 (1991).
The Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments protect individuals from self-incrimination, and for that reason any confession or other evidence given after 72 hours of detention and before his initial appearance hearing must be thrown out. McNabb v. United States, 318 U.S. 332 (1943). Mallory v. United States, 354 U.S. 449 (1957).
~Max
The thing is county lockup (i.e. not just a holding cell), you have ways to make phone calls. He could have been communicating with people outside of jail throughout his 17 days inside.
While the specific mechanics vary from location to location, basically any kind of real jail (again, not holding, JAIL, which is where this guy was) has a bank of telephones in a common area. You can make collect calls from it, a few liberal States have actually made it so inmates can make free calls, and you can also arrange to have money put on an account that lets you make paid calls as well.
The idea that he was sitting there 17 days and had no ability to contact anyone or contact an attorney just isn’t reality unless he was in like a disciplinary cell.