Motorists sue Aurora, police in 2012 traffic stop after bank robbery
Motorists who were detained at an Aurora intersection nearly two years ago while officers attempted to locate and apprehend an on-the-run bank robber have sued the city for violating their Fourth Amendment right against unlawful search and seizure.
The suit was filed Friday in federal district court on behalf of 14 plaintiffs, some of whom were approached at gunpoint by police at the intersection of Iliff Avenue and Buckley Road, handcuffed and made to wait for two hours while the scene was cleared.
"They had no probable cause to pat my clients down and then handcuff them when they found that they had no weapons," said David Lane, the attorney representing the group. "This was overreaching."
He said police should have used more precise location tracking technology to pinpoint the location of Christian Paetsch, the man eventually convicted and imprisoned in the robbery of a Wells Fargo branch June 2, 2012. Hidden in the stolen money was a GPS tracking device that brought officers to the busy intersection but was unable to provide vehicle-by-vehicle location information.
To surround 19 cars stopped at a light and detain 28 occupants in those vehicles in an attempt to find a robbery suspect violated the motorists' Fourth Amendment protections against unlawful search and seizure and excessive force, Lane said.
"(Police) brandished ballistic shields and pointed assault rifles directly at innocent citizens, including children under 10 years old," the lawsuit reads. "Officers with police dogs were at the ready. No one was free to leave."
Outgoing Police Chief Dan Oates said Saturday that U.S. District Judge William J. Martinez had already ruled that prosecutors could use evidence that officers gathered during the massive traffic stop, even though the judge acknowledged that "invasiveness" was the "most troubling" aspect of the officers' actions.
"My officers took a very dangerous person off the street, and he's in jail today," Oates said. "And nobody got hurt."
The chief, who will leave May 30 to head the Miami Beach, Fla., police force, said the court to date has held that his officers acted reasonably given the circumstances.
Oates and several Aurora police officers are also named in the suit.
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Motorists sue Aurora, police in 2012 traffic stop after bank robbery