What started as an ordinary stop at a Boise car wash ended in an arrest – and a lawsuit that forced the city to take a closer look at its loitering law.
A Boise man’s late-night stop at Dirty Harry’s Snake River Car Wash off Ustick and Mitchell turned into a constitutional case. According to court documents, Luke Schuchardt pulled into one of the self-serve bays just after midnight to count his change before washing his car, when officers drove in with bright lights on, shouted commands, and ordered him to the ground for “loitering.”
WATCH:Boise pays $200K after loitering arrest – legal expert weighs in on citizens’ rights.
Legal expert weighs in after Boise settles $200K loitering lawsuit
A judge later ruled in favor of Schuchardt’s complaint, which argued the city’s loitering ordinance gave police officers “virtually unlimited discretion” to decide who was violating it. Now, the City of Boise has agreed to pay $200,000 to settle the lawsuit and says it plans to repeal the ordinance altogether…