Man Claims Frankston Police Violated his Rights

Violating your civil rights? They had your truck towed. Go ahead and sue the City of Frankston. You'll spend more money in legal fees than you did getting your truck out of impound.

As for you Mr. Santiago, you need to get your facts straight. Frankston police are not "highly untrained." They are experienced officers with more than adequate training and education. TCLEOSE says so that is why they are licensed peace officers in the State of Texas. The officers that night made a bad judgment call. We've all made at least one in our respective careers. Of course Chief Folmar is going to defend his officers. Any boss worth his salt will back up his employees 100%.

Regardless of the fact that the weapons in the truck are legal, they are still weapons! Yes it is legal to carry these weapons in your vehicle or while walking down the street. Any officer is still going to stop you to find out why you are carrying a potentially lethal weapon. You guys are saying they don't work accidents, like that's a big deal. Smith County S.O., as big as they are, don't work accidents. Smith County calls DPS.

GLS, your baby story doesn't add up. If the baby had a seizure, stopped breathing, and then the parents call 911, presumably wait for the ambulance, panick, "run" to the police department, and then wait for an ambulance again (this whole time the baby is still not receiving any oxygen) the chances of him/her being revived, short of a miracle, are zero. As for your son, if you were so concerned with your son's safety you would have tried harder to get a police officer to take a report and investigate. You would have done whatever if took to keep your son safe, including handling the matter yourself, but you didn't you let it go. You have no credibility so please stop applauding.

Mr. Wiegand, you had alcohol in your company truck. You should treat that truck like it is your office not your personal vehicle. In the future if you do not want anyone towing your truck, may I suggest you park it in your driveway. Or if you want to get really crazy, park it in a friend's driveway. Not in a bank parking lot, especially with weapons and alcohol in plain view.

You act like your civil rights have been horribly violated. There are people everyday who suffer greatly at the hands of overzealous officers. By you making a big deal out of this minor situation, you are minimizing their plight. Your 15 minutes are up. Why don't you chalk this up as a learning experience, and the officers involved will learn from this as well and everyone can move on with their lives. There are actual crimes in Frankston that need to be investigated. You are wasting the time of an already overworked, understaffed police department.

I have read each comment here. I have stayed quiet until now. Truthfully, some have no bearing on the matter, while others do. Mr. Santiago is absolutely correct in his breakdown and interpretation of the law and police powers on private property. Being an 18 year veteran law enforcement officer, who lives in the area, I will tell you, the last thing I want to do is bash a law enforcement agency, but Frankston Police has pulled some real embarrassing stunts in the past years. Filing Public Intoxication instead of DWI, let the suspended DL and No insurance violators drive off and ignore family violence, you can’t do these things, you took and oath to protect the state and her citizens, the job is not that hard, if you don’t want to do it and the paperwork, find another career, plain and simple. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t pass the blame on the officers as much as I do the administration, both departmental and city. These guys receive the minimal training by state standards, nothing else and that is a shame. There is an abundance of free or government paid law enforcement training to ignore it.

Frankston PD has a Field Training Program that consists of a week or so ride around with another inexperienced officer, learning bad and dangerous habits. I would be surprised if the training officer has had FTO, instructor or management training, this being no fault of the officers, but this is such a liability. The guys are tactical unsafe, but again, they have not been trained otherwise. After the pursuit and shooting incident several months back, you would think one would learn. To this day, these guys are still not checking out with a dispatcher until after they make contacts, this will come back to haunt them and the city one day. Again, just a lack in training, you do not know any better unless you are taught correctly. The department combined probably does not have 15 years full time street experience, when I say street experience, I don’t mean bailiff, jail or reserve time, I mean full time paid street patrol officer time. This being the city administrations fault, which by the way is not much better, but that’s another story in its self.

Goodman Wrecker service did nothing wrong. He was acting under directions from a law enforcement agency, case closed.

The items seized were not illegal to possess, even in a vehicle, you can walk down the street with these items lawfully. They were seized illegally under search and seizure laws. Just read the 4th Amendment of the US Constitution, FPD was wrong. The letter of the law is black and white, the department committed the offense of Burglary of a Vehicle and violated many constitutional protected rights of the vehicle owner. Yes, the bank, which I bank with, does allow citizens to use the parking lot after hours and as a “park & ride” lot. No, there are not signs saying other wise. Even if signs were present, law enforcement could do nothing unless called by a property representative, they still could not tow the car or open it, could only ask the vehicle owner to leave if present at the property owners request. The property owner must tow the truck at the owner’s expense. Law enforcement does not have the authority to do so. The officer had every right to drive through, check the vehicle and even log its information and registration information through his dispatch center, but he stepped over the line, outside the scope of his powers and duties when he had the vehicle opened, seized property and towed the truck. Just check the many opinions of the State Attorney General and Federal Courts on this. “You Can’t Do It”. I don’t care who you are.

A good idea would be to file an open records request on departmental training records to include FTO training and firearms. Also have the Departments last 90 days in car videos reviewed for other public trust violations. The public is entitled to most of this information. I would also verify the information they provide. Contact the Tyler FBI office Civil Rights Division and get a real good lawyer. City insurance, TML will try to settle for a minimum amount, sort of nuisance settlement, they always do, don’t take it, take this one to federal court. It is an open and shut case of civil rights violations. Its time these “wanna be” law enforcement agencies are made to answer for their actions. They make the rest of us look bad. I would love to see the police incident report for this call. Best of luck to you Mr. Wiegand Liability

Regardless of almost anything argued here, with the exception of Santiago's last comment, they had no legitimate reason to tow the truck. Period. It was on private property, and the bank did NOT call to have it towed. I'd like to know what the FPD's "official" reason was...

David, what does the police report actually say about that?

I'll have all of you know Goodman & Son is a great wrecker service. The driver in the video was going with what the police were telling him. Which was probably some lame story, and maybe he shouldn't have towed the man's truck, but don't down the wrecker service in this story. They have a good reputation and it needs to stay that way.

The fault of this issue is on the FPD, not Goodman & Son.