Gomez v. Coleman

This court case is active

Gabriel Gomez was driving his truck to church when a mini-van crashed into him. Not only was Gomez the victim of the accident, but Gomez has no criminal history and there were no arrest warrants for him.  Despite this, the responding police officer contacted Border Patrol and detained Gomez for 75 minutes, holding Gomez’s license and other documents, until Border Patrol arrived and took him to jail. Gomez was locked up in a Tacoma detention center for a month before he was released.

The ACLU of Washington and Northwest Immigrant Rights Project are representing Gomez, who is suing the officer and the Spokane Police Department for violating his Fourth Amendment right to be free from unlawful seizure, Article I, Sec 7 of the Washington Constitution, and the Washington Law Against Discrimination (WLAD).