Police in a Texas border town used stay-at-home orders in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic to unlawfully stop and arrest a high school senior driving to his mother’s house, according to a civil rights lawsuit that has its first hearing this week.
The lawsuit cites findings from a ProPublica and Texas Tribune investigation that featured Socrates Shawn, who was commuting between his divorced parents’ homes when he was pulled over and arrested in April 2020 by an officer in Progreso, Texas.
Hundreds jailed, thousands ticketed for violating South Texas COVID restrictions Twilight in the Rio Grande Valley. (Source: Miguel Gutierrez Jr., The Texas Tribune) By KCBD Staff | December 20, 2020 at 4:44 PM CST - Updated December 28 at 12:38 AM
The day that Dallas salon owner Shelley Luther was arrested for reopening her business in defiance of Texas emergency stay-home orders, Robin Torres sat in a county jail 500 miles away facing the consequences of his own failure to follow such rules.
Luther became a conservative darling this spring for her provocation, spending two days in custody on contempt of court charges. Largely in response to her case, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott eventually prohibited the authorities from jailing anyone for violating the stay-home orders established to stop the spread of COVID-19.