Justice comes in many forms, but the delicious irony of the seizure of a former Sheriff’s vehicle using civil asset forfeiture law is almost too good to be true.
This past January in New Mexico 21-year-old Sylvia Solano crashed her car into a brick wall. A breathalyser test pegged her blood-alcohol level at 3 times the legal limit and police booked her for Driving While Intoxicated (DWI). They also seized her vehicle using civil forfeiture law after determining this was Sylvia Solano’s second DWI offense.
Funny thing is… the 2003 BMW she crashed wasn’t Sylvia’s vehicle at all; it belonged to her father, former Santa Fe County Sheriff Greg Solano.
The story gets even better.
While in office back in 2006 Sheriff Greg Solano advocated extensively to use civil forfeiture law to seize vehicles from repeat drunk drivers. Yes, including vehicles not belonging to the drunk driver, as in his daughter’s case.
Karma is a bitch, and she bites hard some days, doesn’t she Greg Solano?
While I certainly don’t condone drink driving, I do enjoy seeing one of law enforcement’s finest getting bit by the law he fought so hard to pass.
Now that the shoe is on the other foot Greg Solano no longer sees the law as “fair” or “just”. Suddenly the very law he fought so hard to pass, and used to his department’s financial benefit, is now a “violation of a car owner’s due process rights.”
Hypocrite is obviously Greg Solano’s middle name.
Back when Solano held the office of Sheriff of Santa Fe County he didn’t value the property rights of we “mere citizens” at all. He seized the property of innocent people all the time and did it with a smile on his face.
Now that it’s his ox being gored it’s a whole different ballgame.
Gotta love the hypocrisy of it all, not to mention the incredibly delicious irony!
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