Your Government Lost in Court and Still Won't Give the Truck Driver His Life Savings Back

On May 14, 2019, Mississippi trucker Ameal Woods was pulled over on Interstate 10 near Houston by Harris County sheriff's deputies for allegedly following another vehicle too closely. He was driving a rental car because his own truck's air conditioning was broken. When Woods told the deputies he was carrying cash, they seized all $41,680 of it — his and his partner Jordan Davis's combined life savings, set aside to buy a second tractor-trailer and grow his trucking business. No citation was issued. No charges were ever filed. Harris County prosecutors nonetheless pursued a civil forfeiture case to keep the money permanently, forcing Woods and Davis into a years-long legal fight represented by the Institute for Justice, which also filed a class action alleging the county runs its forfeiture program as an unconstitutional funding scheme, built on boilerplate legal filings unsupported by actual evidence of a crime. In October 2025, a Texas appeals court unanimously reversed the forfeiture judgment and ordered the county to return the money. Harris County declined to appeal that ruling — and, as of February 2026, still hadn't handed the money back.

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Commentary: Harris County had years to prove Ameal Woods committed a crime, couldn't do it, lost in court, gave up its appeal — and is still sitting on the man's life savings anyway. That's not law enforcement, that's just theft with better paperwork.

Source: https://ij.org/ll/victory-texas-couple-wins-round-two-in-forfeiture-fight/

AI disclosure: ⚠️ This content was researched and written with AI assistance and may be fully AI-generated. All facts are sourced from the linked article and corroborating sources.

Your Government Built a Shakedown Operation and Called It a Police Department

Not every government abuse is big government and the Feds:

Brookside, Alabama has 1,253 residents and sits along Interstate 22 just northwest of Birmingham. In 2018 the town discovered something more reliable than tax revenue: drivers. Beginning that year, Brookside's police department systematically transformed itself from a public safety operation into a revenue extraction machine, increasing ticket and fine income by 640% in just two years. At the height of the scheme, fines, fees, and forfeitures made up more than 50% of the town's entire general fund — and 89 cents of every dollar collected went straight back to the police department, which used it to buy unmarked black SUVs, military-style equipment, and a mine-resistant armored vehicle that officers parked outside the police station. Arrests skyrocketed 1,100% as officers fanned out along the interstate looking for anyone to pull over. When a car was towed — which happened routinely, even when vehicles were perfectly drivable — the driver owed $175 to Brookside before they could even begin paying the private towing company's fees and daily impound charges. Brittany Coleman was pulled over, handcuffed for 30 minutes, had her car searched for marijuana, passed three field sobriety tests, and was still charged with marijuana possession and had her car towed anyway. No marijuana was found. Chekeithia Grant arrived at the scene of her daughter's traffic stop to help, and both women were arrested and jailed on misdemeanor charges while their cars were towed — destroying a 60th birthday party they had been driving to. The U.S. Department of Justice eventually intervened. In February 2026, Brookside agreed to a $1.5 million class action settlement, is banned from collecting policing revenue for five years, and was required to issue a formal written acknowledgment that its aggressive policing scheme "likely interfered with the Town's obligation to administer justice equally under law" and raised serious constitutional concerns. The police chief resigned. Alabama passed new legislation aimed at curbing small-town ticketing abuse. The armored vehicle presumably remains.

S.MacMillen - public domain

Commentary: A town of 1,253 people bought a mine-resistant military vehicle with speeding ticket money while arresting people 1,100% more often than before — and called it keeping the public safe. Brittany Coleman passed every test they gave her and they towed her car anyway, because the car was worth more to Brookside's budget than her constitutional rights were. "Police are supposed to protect and serve, not ticket and collect," she said after the settlement. She shouldn't have had to say it.

📰 https://www.courthousenews.com/alabama-town-faces-1-5-million-settlement-in-policing-for-profit-case/

Additional source: https://ij.org/press-release/class-action-plaintiffs-and-brookside-alabama-submit-settlement-proposing-1-5-million-in-compensation-plus-reforms-to-towns-towing-and-ticketing-practices/

⚠️ This content was researched and written with AI assistance and may be fully AI-generated. All facts are sourced from the linked Courthouse News and Institute for Justice articles, and corroborating reporting from ABC 33/40, Alabama Reporter, and Birmingham Free Press.

Your Government Is Stealing Your Mail

For years, Indianapolis police have been stationing officers and drug dogs at the city's massive FedEx hub — the second largest in the country — and systematically seizing cash from packages passing through on their way between other states. Indiana has no connection to the senders, the recipients, or the transactions. The only connection is geography: FedEx routes packages through Indianapolis, and Indiana law enforcement has decided that's enough. When a drug dog alerts to a package and cash is found, the Marion County Prosecutor files civil forfeiture proceedings to keep the money — without ever identifying which law was broken or what crime was committed. Henry and Minh Cheng, a California jewelry wholesaling couple, had $42,825 seized this way — a legitimate payment from a Virginia client routed through Indianapolis by FedEx. Among the "suspicious" factors used to justify opening their package: the box had all its seams taped, exactly as FedEx recommends. Since 2022, Indiana has pursued forfeiture on more than $2.5 million from at least 130 packages in transit between other states, keeping roughly $1 million of it. The Chengs eventually got their money back after suing, but only after hiring lawyers and fighting a forfeiture action filed in a state they'd never set foot in.

Commentary: Indiana has essentially set up a toll booth on the FedEx conveyor belt — except instead of a dollar, they take everything in the package and dare you to come to Indiana and fight about it. The genius of the scheme is that most victims do the math, realize hiring an out-of-state lawyer costs more than what was stolen, and just let the government keep it. That's not a bug; that's the business model.

📰 https://reason.com/2024/08/12/lawsuit-claims-indiana-unconstitutionally-seizes-millions-in-cash-from-fedex-packages-every-year/

📷 Image: https://www.cbp.gov/sites/default/files/assets/images/2020-06/drug-dog-sniffs-mail-2400.jpg Credit: DHS Photo by Benjamin Applebaum / U.S. Customs and Border Protection — Public Domain

⚠️ This content was researched and written with AI assistance and may be fully AI-generated. All facts are sourced from the linked article.