The ACLU of Indiana filed a lawsuit Tuesday morning against a Starke County Sheriff’s Department deputy where three Ohio residents claim the officer conducted an invasive vehicle search without cause.
According to the complaint, Nicholas Tyo, Steven Stanley, and Drew Landes traveled from Ohio to Chicago, Illinois July 16, 2021 to attend the Pokémon GO Fest, and were stopped by Deputy Ethan Biggs in the area of U.S. 30 near Hamlet.
The driver reportedly handed his license to the officer without being asked. The officer then allegedly asked to see the driver’s licenses of the passengers and asked where they were going and if drugs were inside the car. The trio said there were no drugs in the vehicle, but a K9 free air sniff was conducted on the passenger side of the vehicle where the dog indicated to the presence of drugs, according to the lawsuit complaint filed in the United States District Court in the Northern District of Indiana, South Bend Division.
The complaint states that the plaintiffs did not consent to that search. An interior and exterior search of the vehicle reportedly yielded no drugs or weapons. Pat-down searches of the trio resulted in the same outcome, according to the document.
At the end of the traffic stop, the deputy reportedly told the plaintiffs that speeding was the cause of the traffic stop and no citations or warnings were given.
The legal claim is that Deputy Biggs violated the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
The plaintiffs are seeking nominal, compensatory, and punitive damages, according to the complaint.
The document shows allegations and no judgments have been made in a court of law.
