Somebody is at fault... who?

On July 16, 2010, I rented a car in Delaware to go on a famly vacation to Virginia. On July 19, 2010, my wife and kids along with two other family members were traveling back to Delaware and were stopped in Maryland by MTA police just passed the harbour tunnel. The police had shut down interstate 95 northbound lanes to stop my wife.

The Officers ( 4 police officers ) order my wife out of the car at gun point and had her walking backwards towards them. She was the ordered to the ground and handcuffed.  My kids were then ordered out of the vehicle one at a time and ordered to the ground.

Once everyone was out of the vehicle one of the officers informed my wife that she was being arrested because the vehicle ( 2010 Nissan Altima ) she was driving was reported stolen out of West Philadelphia.

My then show the officers the rental contract and they tried to intimadate her telling her that the only reason that the vehicle could be report stolen was that I reported it you and him must have gotten into a fight.

My wife repeatly told the officers that everything was fine and that she had the necessary paperwork for the vehicle.  Keep in mind that my kids are laying on the side of the road while they attempt to interview her and now it is raining. People were traveling on the south side taking picture and filming my wife and kids  and yelling at the police to let them go.

This goes on for several hours until someone contacts the rental company and looks further at the stolen vehicle report.  Police and rental company agree that the vehicle wa reported stolen on June 23, 2010 out of West Philadelphia. They agree that my wife had the proper paperwork.  They contact me and inform me that the vehicle was being towed and wife was being arrested. 

When I leave Delaware to get my wife and kids in Maryland My wife calls me and informs me that they let her go because they were violating her civil rights.

Does anyone see anything wrong beside. 1. negilgence 2. endagering my family 3. humiliation 4 embarrassment 5. unlawful detention 6. letting a stolen car leave the scene. 6. what was the proable cause to stop this vehicle in the first place  for the MTA its call Driving while black in a new vehicle in the early morning hours.

And now I can't find the right type of lawyer. Because we did nothing wrong.

The police were doing their jobs. Unfortunately, you guys were in a stolen vehicle. That was their probable cause to stop you, because you were driving a vehicle reported as stolen, not because you were black. The fact that you weren't the ones that stole it is irrelevant - the police had no way of knowing it wasn't you until after they did their investigation, and that's the reason your wife was let go. I think your issue is with the rental company, sending you down the road in a vehicle they (seemingly) clearly didn't research properly.

The police may have been doing their job. And the vehicle was reported stolen a month before but the police only knew the vehicle was stolen when they ran the tags through NCIC and got a hit. WHY DID THEY RUN THE TAGS they had no probable cause to run the tags. She committed no motor vehicle violation unless they were PROFILING. And I agree with you the issued is with the rental company and the vehicle should not have gone down the road until it was processed.

If you think that the police ran the tags due to racial profiling, then you are in the wrong place to debate it.

You'll need to get yourself an attorney to pursue it.

Do you have anything to pursue?

Ellifino.

I don't have a telephathic time machine so I have no idea what the police were thinking when they ran the tags.

Police don't need probable cause to run tags. 

david hinesjr:

When I leave Delaware to get my wife and kids in Maryland My wife calls me and informs me that they let her go because they were violating her civil rights.

In my opinion, (because of this statement alone) I beleive your wife may have drawn her own conclusion, as to why the police let her go.  I beleive the MTA, may have "let her go" without explaining exactly why. 

It is very unlikely that any law enforcement agency would openly admit to any wrong doing, especially violating one's "Civil Rights".   * The information below was extracted from this website, "Civil Rights Basics":

Lawyers.com^sm
You've heard people complain that their "civil rights" have been violated, but what does that really mean?

"Civil rights" are the rights of personal liberty guaranteed to every U. S. citizen, regardless of race, religion, sex, age or disabilities. The underlying principle is that no one should be punished for the circumstances into which they were born.

But you can still be treated unfairly for any number of reasons, as long as it doesn't involve your civil rights and liberties. For instance, you can be discriminated against because of your eye color or the way you part your hair. It's only discrimination if you have one of the characteristics (like race, religion, sex, age or disabilities) the law protects.

So what should you do if you think you've been discriminated against?

Your first consideration should be whether or not you've been damaged, and to what extent. If you haven't suffered any actual monetary damages, but have only been embarrassed or offended (without any lasting psychological impact), it's not likely to be worth the stress to launch into litigation over the matter.

You must have evidence of a discriminatory motive. Otherwise, a judge will quickly dismiss your case. It's important to gather as much documentation as possible, because these kinds of cases are difficult to win.

You must prove there's been a pattern of unfairness against other people who have the same protected characteristics as you. For example, is a government agency not hiring or laying off people over a certain age?

Based on the information you posted I recommend a consultation with a Maryland based lawyer specializing in Consumer Rights.  I beleive s/he will be able to advise you of any possible legal recourse you might have to the Car Rental company.  I have attached a link to help you search for one:

http://www.lawyer.com/baltimore-consumer-rights-lawyer-md.htm

"WHY DID THEY RUN THE TAGS they had no probable cause to run the tags."

You are assuming they ran the tags manually.  Many cop cars especially in major metropolitan areas are equipped with a video scanner that scans every tag that comes into it's line of sight.  The system scans all tags and when there is a positive result there is an audio notification to the officer who then can read which car and for what.  The officer never has to look at who is driving as it doesn't matter.  It is scanning all tags.  (here in Atlanta they are all equipped with it) If they get a "hit" for a violation they have automatic probable cause to pull the car over.  The hit can be anything from the registered owner has a suspended license, no insurance, no registration, warrants on the registered owner, to stolen vehicle.  You get the picture.  If the system automatically scanned the car's tag and they got a hit of course they pulled her over. (those systems are popular with parking enforcement as well to ID cars to be booted/towed)

"She committed no motor vehicle violation unless they were PROFILING."

The only profiling they did was for a stolen vehicle.  Do you actually believe that someone of a different ethnic background wouldn't have been pulled over for a car with a tag that comes up stolen?  

Go get a good PI lawyer and see if there are any options.

If its a big name auto rental agency and they rented you a stolen car and you went thru all that grief the big name auto rental agency may be on the financial hot seat--even a smaller auto rental agency may be on financial hot seat.

Cops probably did nothing wrong--and if car was reported stolen they did the very thing we as citizen would hope they would do--stop the car and hold the driver until it got sorted out...cops did a good job.\

Its the rental agency you need to go after. And the person who may have falsely reported it as stolen.

"1. negilgence"

It isn't negligent when the police are legitimately doing their job.  

"2. endagering my family"

The cops had NO way of knowing what your family was up to until they investigated.  They followed proper procedure for everyone's safety.  

"3. humiliation 4 embarrassment"

Cops have no control over what idiots in public do when passing a scene on the side of the road.  They didn't shut down and interstate and pull them over with the intention of humiliating them.  The car was stolen and all they know is they have to stop the car and investigate who is inside.

"5. unlawful detention"

It isn't unlawful detention while they investigate.  That is why your wife was released:  they determined everything was as she said.  

"6. letting a stolen car leave the scene."

The cops didn't do that the rental car company did.  THAT is where your beef is, not with the cops.

"7. what was the proable cause to stop this vehicle in the first place"

It was STOLEN.  

"And the person who may have falsely reported it as stolen."

Since this is a rental car my educated guess is that the previous renter failed to return it on time.  After that happens it triggers a stolen car report to the cops until the cops or rental agency recovers the vehicle.  Ten to one odds the rental car company got the car back but failed to notify law enforcement and cancel the stolen vehicle report.

"Go get a good PI lawyer and see if there are any options."

I honestly do not see how a "Personal Injury" lawyer can help the OP with situation described.