An Iowa college student’s YouTube video of his police traffic stop generated 1.6 million views and, now, he is suing for false arrest.
The suit alleges that shortly after midnight on August 28, 2022, Tayvin Galanakis, 19, was pulled over by Newton (Iowa) police officers Nathan Winters and Christopher Wing after he drove past their patrol car without dimming his extra bright headlights for oncoming traffic.
Why was he driving with his high beams?
He insisted his one of his headlights had a broken bulb. As some may already know, driving with high beams can serve as a temporary fix.
Following the traffic stop, Galanakis alleges the cops were looking to arrest him for driving under the influence but the young man hadn’t been drinking and performed his sobriety tests well, even though the lawsuit alleges the cop falsely claimed Galanakis performed poorly.
The sobriety tests were recorded by the officer’s video cam.
Despite taking the sobriety tests without issue, the cops told Galanakis they had sufficient cause to make an arrest because of the young man’s inability to find his registration quickly, his bloodshot eyes and the field tests. Then Galanakis, upon request, was granted a breath test which recorded a 0.00 result according to the lawsuit.
After cops found no signs of alcohol, they decided to arrest him for marijuana possession and driving under suspension.
They’ve gotta arrest him for something, right? Anything to get an arrest.
“I’ve had no weed tonight,” Galanakis can be seen in the video telling the officers. “Why are you saying — Wait, I blew a zero, and so now you’re trying to say I smoked weed. That’s what’s going on. You can’t do that, man. You really can’t do that.”
“Absolutely I can,” one of the officers responded.
After handcuffing and escorting the 19 year old to jail, two toxicology tests were adminitered and Galanakis was clean on both.
No apology was given and we don’t know if police agreed to pay for the towing of Galanakis’ car.
When Galanakis published edited versions of the body-camera footage via Facebook ourage ensued as hundreds called the Newton Mayor Mike Hansen to complain. However, he’s still standing behind the police and insists everything was performed under appropriate protocol.
Fortunately or unfortunately, police have tremendous discretion. They can take you to jail based on suspicion of guilt regardless of how weak that suspicion might be. Hence, they don’t really need a reason because they can always create one.
In this case, it seems the cops, perhaps frustrated their initial suspicion of a DUI blew up in their faces, were deternmined to find a reason to arrest the young man.
If Galanakis rubbed them the wrong way, those cops, at most, should have ticketed him for a busted light and sent him on his way.
