By MES Dispatch Staff
The Briefing
- A federal jury found Bexar County, Texas, liable for violating the Fourth Amendment rights of Alek Schott, a Houston-area oilfield equipment salesman, awarding him $76 — one dollar for each minute he was detained.
- Schott’s truck was flagged as suspicious in March 2022 based on a tip relayed through a WhatsApp group chat from a source a Bexar County deputy said he knew only as “Kiki,” believed to work at a federal fusion center in Laredo.
- The deputy stopped Schott for allegedly crossing the road’s fog line; the Institute for Justice, which represented Schott, said trial evidence showed he had remained in his lane.
- Schott was detained 76 minutes and questioned in a patrol vehicle; a drug dog alerted on his truck, but a search found no contraband.
- The jury found the stop resulted from a county policy or custom, rather than an individual deputy’s actions, that the Institute for Justice says was used against thousands of drivers over four years; the organization plans to ask the court to bar the county from using unsupported stops to facilitate warrantless vehicle searches.
SAN ANTONIO — A federal jury found Bexar County liable for violating the Fourth Amendment rights of a Houston-area salesman whose truck was flagged through a license plate surveillance network, awarding him $76 in what his attorneys called a case establishing broader liability for the county’s surveillance-driven traffic stop program.
The jury awarded Alek Schott $1 for each of the 76 minutes he was detained during the March 2022 stop, according to the Institute for Justice, the nonprofit legal organization that represented him.
According to the organization, Schott was driving home from a business trip when his pickup was flagged as suspicious based on information gathered by federally operated cameras. The tip reached Bexar County Deputy Joel Babb through a WhatsApp group chat; Babb testified it came from a man he knew only as “Kiki,” whom he believed worked at a federal fusion center in Laredo. Babb followed Schott’s truck and pulled him over, citing an alleged fog-line violation. The Institute for Justice said evidence presented at trial showed Schott had remained within his lane.
Schott was detained for 76 minutes and questioned in the front seat of a patrol vehicle. Deputies searched his truck after a drug-detection dog alerted, but found no contraband, according to the organization. Schott later filed a complaint with the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office, which he said found no violation, prompting him to sue the county.
To establish county liability, Schott’s attorneys had to show the stop resulted from a broader county policy or custom rather than an individual deputy’s actions. The Institute for Justice said the practice operated for four years and was used against thousands of drivers. The organization said it will ask the court to prohibit Bexar County from using unsupported traffic stops to facilitate warrantless vehicle searches going forward.