Plaintiff:
Terrance Rowden
Incident date:
05/19/2015
Location:
700 S. Sacramento Blvd.
Allegations:
Rowden was driving to work when he was pulled over by at least nine officers, who emerged from five unmarked squad cars with their guns drawn. Rowden handed over his license and registration and asked why he had been pulled over. An officer told him he had been observed using a cell phone while driving, which Rowden denied. The officers ordered him out of his car, handcuffed him tightly, and detained him in the back of a squad car for an hour while several officers searched Rowden's vehicle without his consent or probable cause. When he was told he was free to go, Rowden asked one of the officers for the names of the officers involved in the traffic stop, but the officer instead swore at Rowden and told another officer to write him a ticket for using a cell phone while driving. Later, Rowden discovered that the officers who searched his car had damaged the interior electrical wiring, the rear lift gate latch, and lock. Two months later, the ticket for talking on the phone while driving was dismissed.