UPDATE: MARCH 22, 2022
A jury in Navarro County has acquitted Michael Police of the misdemeanor charge of possession of drug paraphernalia.
March 28, 2020 was a cool, rainy day in Corsicana Texas. Students Michael Police and Drewshard Bell were walking near the Navarro College campus when they drew the attention of campus police officer David Arnett. Michael Police was smoking a cigar. Arnett had other suspicions.
The officer ordered the two students to walk to his car. In actions that were captured on Arnett’s police body camera the officer and two other college employees would spend more than an hour searching the two men and their campus rooms without consent or search warrants. With ease and confidence, Arnett transitions between his role as a uniformed officer and a college administrator, giving him the ability to conduct searches without a warrant, he says on the video.
Arnett calmly talked to a dispatcher, collecting information as he emptied their pockets of contents and set items on the hood of his squad car.
Police had an empty plastic tube and a baggie, items Arnett promptly declared drug paraphernalia. Michael Police said he kept CBD in the tube. “CBD? That ain’t no CBD, man,” Arnett said as he smelled the tube. Bell had a bit of a marijuana cigarette about the size of a penny. Arnett said he would not arrest either, but would write them citations, based on his warrantless search, for illegal possession of drug paraphernalia, a class C misdemeanor.
The officer was not done.
“Y’all give me permission to look in your rooms?” Arnett asks on the video.
“No sir.” answers Police.
“Did you say no sir? I’ll look anyway, you must have something in there bro.” said Arnett, who then contacts another college employee. “Drewshard said I can search his room but Michael Police says no. I think Michael Police might have something in his room.”
As Bell begins to protest he is quickly shut down by Arnett. “Sir, you can just keep on. You’re pressing to go to jail. You want to go to jail for possession of marijuana? Well you might want to shut your mouth right now.” Arnett says.
The group then goes back on campus and over to the two rooms, across a stairwell from one another. Two college employees are seen joining Arnett. One of the employees is seen explaining how the college law enforcement staff has the unique ability to act in different capacities, allowing them to search without getting a warrant. “The police wear about three to four different hats. They put the police hat on, that’s one hat. Then he puts the college administrator hat on, that’s another hat. So he can do the same thing.” Arnett is heard agreeing.
The search of the two rooms is seen on the body camera video as Arnett probes through drawers, backpacks and mattresses. At one point the uniformed officer is seen in Michael Police’s bathroom, taking his toothbrush out of box with his bare hands, before returning the brush.
“There’s gotta be some marijuana in here.” Arnett says before turning to Police. “Where you hiding it man?”
No marijuana was ever found in the plastic tube, the baggie or Michael Police’s room.
The ease of the search caught the attention of Dallas Attorney Ray Hindieh, who decided to represent Michael Police free of charge.
“There’s Fourth Amendment violations. You have a police officer marching students back to their dorm, telling them he wants to search it without a warrant. Searching the dorms, tearing the dorms up without their consent.” Hindieh said.
The attorney also pointed out the two students were repeatedly questioned without being read their rights, something Hindieh says violates the Fifth Amendment. He is also disturbed by the role changes that Arnett used to justify his warrantless search.
“The problem with this officer is he glides back and forth between being a college administrator when it suits him and being a law enforcement officer when it suits him.” Hindieh says
Underlying the entire matter was the belief by both Police and Bell that they were stopped, off campus, because they were two Black men who were simply walking. The officer is White.
“I see White people walking over here all the time, they can smoke their cigarettes.” said Bell.
“A student? Where?” asks Arnett
“All the time. And they don’t get in trouble.” said Bell.
“And so you stay out here and watch us?” asked Arnett. “Do you stay out here and watch us? I’m not playing this. Y’all are in the wrong not me.”
Bell later accused Arnett of lumping him into a stereotype, which Arnett denied.
“I think there is racial profiling going on and I think it’s systemic.” said Hindieh.
Related
The Navarro College administrators declined to allow employees to talk to KRLD news for this story, citing “open litigation.”
But another former officer is speaking out. Keith Johnson, a retired Dallas Police officer who worked for the Navarro College Police, quit over the case.
“I did not want to wear the same police uniform as these guys at the Corsicana campus who conduct themselves this way.” Johnson said. “I’m a retired police officer, my name means something to me. My profession means something to me. Police conduct means something to me and I want no part of these shenanigans.”
Bell did not contest his citation. His fine has gone into collections. Michael Police is scheduled for jury trial this week. Navarro County District Attorney William Thompson declined to answer questions about evidence that may be used. But he thinks the state has a solid case. “If I didn’t we wouldn’t have gone forward.
For his part, Hindieh has already lost a motion to suppress the evidence and the search. He says the Justice of the Peace hearing the case is not a lawyer, but is a retired police officer. He says he is ready to cast his lot with a jury.
The District Attorney had a different take. “Most of these cases get resolved when people pay the ticket and move on.” Thompson said.
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