Higway Robbery In Texas? By Police?

A Chicago Tribune story reports that a federal class action lawsuit has been filed to stop the Tenaha, Texas police from "strip[ping] motorists, many of them black, of their property without ever charging them with a crime. Instead, they offer out-of-towners a grim choice: voluntarily sign over your belongings to the town, or face felony charges or other serious crimes." Court records show that, between June 2006 and June 2008, 140 people accepted this "deal." A grandmother who happens to be black gave $4,000 to the police, "and an interracial couple from Houston . . . gave up more than $6,000 after police threatened to seize their children and put them into foster care . . . Neither the grandmother nor the couple were charged with any crime."