Couple sues state over traffic arrest
A Bellevue, Wash., couple have sued Idaho, the Idaho State Police and a state trooper in federal court, claiming the trooper used excessive force and unlawfully arrested the woman over a traffic ticket in 2005.
The Kootenai County Prosecutor’s Office dismissed charges against Merrill Ihmaid, who was driving her husband, Ahmad, and her 12-year-old son, Ari Kiri, home from Silverwood Theme Park when she was stopped on U.S. Highway 95 just north of Coeur d’Alene.
Ronald Sutton, a veteran patrol trooper, pulled the family over on July 14, 2005, after a witness reported that the car was being driven erratically, according to court documents.
The family denies driving erratically, said their Spokane attorney, Michael Parker, who added that the trooper’s actions that day were “heavy handed.”
Sutton issued Ihmaid a citation for inattentive driving, according to the lawsuit. When she asked what would happen if she did not sign the citation, Sutton told her it would result in her arrest.
Ihmaid immediately signed the citation, according to the lawsuit, but Sutton asked her whether she intended to appear in court. Ihmaid said, “no,” but that she would respond to the citation in writing, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit claims the trooper then “forcibly touched” the woman, handcuffed her and arrested her without informing her of her Miranda rights. Ihmaid was booked into the Kootenai County Jail and released on bond some hours later.
Parker said that the trooper could issue a citation based on information he received, but “he has no authority to arrest for failure to appear for a traffic infraction he didn’t witness.”
Neither Capt. Wayne Longo of the Idaho State Police nor the state Attorney General’s Office had seen the lawsuit late last week, and both therefore declined to comment. The family also declined comment.
The attorney said his client was forced to undergo the indignity of jail processing when she never should have been arrested.
The lawsuit also said that Ihmaid’s husband and son had to witness the “overtly aggressive and excessive force of Trooper Sutton in the arrest and detention” of their loved one, causing them emotional distress.
It also claims Sutton violated Ihmaid’s Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches and seizures and her 14th Amendment right to due process. The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages.