Fisherman win Civil Rights case vs WDFW

[ghosthunter]

Didn't see this posted yet. I know U warden had mentioned it early on.

Looks like the tax payers are out some money.

http://nwnewsnetwork.org/post/fishermen-turned-medical-students-settle-civil-rights-case-against-washington

[JimmyHoffa]

Thanks for the update.  I was meaning to ask in the UCwarden thread about the status here....and why in the world Cenci wasn't on 'vacation' until the verdict.  Maybe he'll get the permanent vacation now.

[Elkaholic daWg]

Thanks for the update.  I was meaning to ask in the UCwarden thread about the status here....and why in the world Cenci wasn't on 'vacation' until the verdict.  Maybe he'll get the permanent vacation now.

  Theses guys cannot be Tyrants! Resource or not!!

[bigtex]

It's been posted on UC's website. This ruling has began to change the policy of several natural resource LE agencies, both in and outside of WA.

[csaaphill]

Good even though were the ones paying. Surprised though because we all know you get shot for not complying and everyone on here except a few sides with LEO!

[bigtex]

Surprised though because we all know you get shot for not complying and everyone on here except a few sides with LEO!

If that was true then there would thousands of people shot by LEOs everyday. Take your tinfoil hat off

[JJB11B]

can someone paste the article into a post so I can read it?

[cbond3318]

Washington’s Department of Fish and Wildlife will formally acknowledge Friday that it violated the constitutional rights of two brothers who commercially fished the Columbia River.

The agency’s admission of wrongdoing is part of a settlement in a lawsuit that has changed agency practices. It stems from a traffic stop nearly nine years ago in rural southwest Washington.

The traffic stop happened on the morning of March 23, 2007. The location was tiny Wahkiakum County across the Columbia River from Astoria. It was captured on video.

Filming from inside a crew cab pickup truck was the Tarabochia family: Father Joe, 20-year old son Matthew, and 17-year old twins Alex and Bryan. Outside the truck were several officers from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. They demanded that the Tarabochias get out of the vehicle. The family refused to budge until the county sheriff or undersheriff showed up.

This roadside standoff followed a morning of fishing on the Columbia. The Tarabochias had a load of salmon the WDFW wanted to inspect. The family had led officers on a slow-speed chase before they were finally boxed in.

Legal fish, illegal stop

These officers and the Tarabochias knew each other well. There was a lot of history and bad blood between them. Now, it was coming to a head. The standoff lasted more than 13 minutes. At one point in the video, a Fish and Wildlife captain is seen pulling out a collapsible baton. He said he’d break the window if they didn’t get out.

It ended when the undersheriff arrived -- someone the Tarabochias trusted. They unlocked the doors to the truck and the officers quickly detained the family.

Driver Matthew Tarabochia and his father Joe were jailed for resisting arrest and obstruction. Those charges were later dismissed. The fish the Tarabochias were transporting that day were all legal.

In 2010 the Tarabochias filed a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the traffic stop. The family argued the Fish and Wildlife officers had no right to pull them over to do a fish check without reason to believe a crime had been committed. They lost in U.S. District Court, but successfully appealed to the 9th Circuit.

Matthew said the appellate decision on their Fourth Amendment claim was vindicating especially after what the family calls a “campaign of harassment” by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.

“No one believes you when you say the police did something unfair to you,” Matthew said. “When you say that people automatically assume you that did something wrong and you’re just trying to cover it up.”

'They know they’re going to be inspected'

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife denies it targeted the Tarabochias. Steve Crown, the current chief of the agency’s law enforcement division, said regular contact with fish police is part and parcel of being a commercial fisherman.

“It is common knowledge amongst commercial fishermen that they’re going to be inspected,” Crown said. “There’s high dollars, high stakes. When you’re engaged in commercial fishing practices you can have huge impacts on a particular species of fish and they know that.”

But Crown said as a result of this case, his officers have ended a longstanding practice of pulling vehicles over on the road for fish checks.

“We’ve told our officers ‘hey, don’t make those kinds of traffic stops unless you have reasonable suspicion to do so,” Crown said.

Officers can still do those checks on the water and at the landing area. The Tarabochias recently settled their lawsuit against the agency for $130,000. In addition to the payment, Fish and Wildlife agreed to acknowledge it violated Matthew and Alex’s rights -- for technical reasons they were the only family members named in the appeal to the 9th Circuit.

'My family’s name is kind of tarnished'

Many years have passed since that roadside standoff in Wahkiakum County. The Fish and Wildlife captain in the video is now a deputy chief. The Tarabochia family is no longer in the fishing business. The boys moved away. Alex doesn’t think he’ll come back.

“I’m not sure I would go home,” he said. “I feel to some extent like my name and my family’s name is kind of tarnished and sort of like there’s a stigma around it to where I’m not sure that I would ever have kind of an even playing field.”

Even though he would be coming home as a doctor. Alex is currently attending medical school at Dartmouth in New Hampshire as a rural health scholar. Matthew also in med school -- at Harvard.

Alex said he always knew he would go into medicine. But Matthew said what happened between his family and the authorities on the Columbia River influenced his decision to leave the fishing business behind.

[JJB11B]

Thank you

[csaaphill]

Surprised though because we all know you get shot for not complying and everyone on here except a few sides with LEO!

If that was true then there would thousands of people shot by LEOs everyday. Take your tinfoil hat off

lol was being a smart butt but you know/knew what I meant.

[csaaphill]

Plus just goes to show you why Terry stops can and should be nullified.

[HardCorpsHuntr]

Plus just goes to show you why Terry stops can and should be nullified.

You need to google Terry vs. Ohio.  The above situation is not a Terry stop and is a completely different circumstance.

[csaaphill]

Plus just goes to show you why Terry stops can and should be nullified.

You need to google Terry vs. Ohio.  The above situation is not a Terry stop and is a completely different circumstance.

I have several times, and if a LEO can just stop you as they did here it would be pretty much the same.
Because even at a LEO site I stumbled on a awhile back said there they didn't need probable cause to stop anyone.
There may be some small differences in a full on Terry stop and what happened above, but to me it doesn't mater. The power that allowed for Terry stops is pretty much the same power used for this to have happened. Which is why now Were flipping the bill for. If LEO didn't have that kind of leeway to begin with then these kinds of infringements would not happen.
I say hurrah on these people for standing up for what was right. glad they didn't' get shot or jailed.

[JLS]

I have several times, and if a LEO can just stop you as they did here it would be pretty much the same.
Because even at a LEO site I stumbled on a awhile back said there they didn't need probable cause to stop anyone.
There may be some small differences in a full on Terry stop and what happened above, but to me it doesn't mater. The power that allowed for Terry stops is pretty much the same power used for this to have happened. Which is why now Were flipping the bill for. If LEO didn't have that kind of leeway to begin with then these kinds of infringements would not happen.
I say hurrah on these people for standing up for what was right. glad they didn't' get shot or jailed.

You obviously have no idea what you are talking about here, but I guess to you facts don't matter.  If you Googled Terry Stop, whatever you read didn't sink in or you wouldn't be making these comparisons.  The power that allows for Terry Stops is reasonable suspicion that criminal activity has occurred, is occurring, or is about to occur.   That threshold was never met here, which is why they rightfully won their lawsuit.

Infringements are going to happen, just as guns will be used in the commission of a crime.  To think you are ever going to completely stop that is completely folly on your part.

[Knocker of rocks]

Best wishes to the Terabochia family, two kids in Ivy League medical schools.  Mom and dad had to have done something right.