“Well, my glove compartment is locked, so is the trunk in the back, And I know my rights, so you gon’ need a warrant for that.” ~ JAY -Z, 99 PROBLEMS
Miami Police have been ordered to return nearly $20,000 to a stripper after dash cam footage revealed that officers illegally searched the car she was riding in.
According to the Miami-Herald, officers illegally seized a cache of guns and the cash from Ras Cates and his wife Lizmixell Batista, a stripper at Cheetah Gentleman’s Club, during a traffic stop then bragged about to a local news station.
Back on May 15, an officer pulled over Cates and Batista, his passenger, when their car cut off a patrol car in Miami’s West Little River neighborhood. From the car, patrol officers seized six guns, three of them assault-style rifles, plus the cash, suspected marijuana oil and several bottles of powerful codeine cough syrup without a valid prescription.
Miami-Dade police touted the arrest to a local TV station, showing off photos of the guns. “It’s amazing how something as simple as a traffic stop can lead us to crack a lot of cases,” a police spokesman told WFOR-CBS4. “A lot of serial killers are behind bars because of traffic stops.”
Cates told cops he legally owned the weapons, and also had a valid concealed-weapons permit. His story checked out. And body-camera footage showed that an officer, while friendly with Cates, never got permission to search the trunk but instead “commanded defendant to pop the trunk,” prosecutors wrote.
“Search of the trunk was illegal,” prosecutor Johnathan Nobile said in a memo explaining why the state declined to press charges.
As for the money, the bills were discovered in Batista’s purse. Body-camera footage obtained by the Miami Herald showed she immediately told cops about her cash-only job. “I was supposed to go the bank to deposit the money. We got bills to pay, sweetie,” she told police.
The Judge overseeing court proceedings agreed there was no probable cause for the seizure and ordered the money returning to the couple. In addition to returning the money, the department to pay the $3,000 owed to the couple’s lawyers.
Cates and Batista have yet to receive their guns back.
To see the body cam footage of the stoppage, flip the page.