An Iowa school scholar was arrested on suspicion of driving whereas intoxicated, despite the fact that he confirmed no bodily indicators of intoxication and a breathalyzer check confirmed a blood-alcohol stage of 0.00. The person has now sued the officer who falsely arrested him—and as a part of a prolonged authorized battle, a federal court docket has dominated that the case can go ahead.
In August 2022, 19-year-old Tayvin Galanakis was driving late at night time in Newton, Iowa, when he was pulled over by native cops Nathan Winters and Christopher Wing. In response to physique digital camera footage, Winters virtually instantly started interrogating Galanakis about his alcohol consumption.
When Galanakis denies ingesting, Winters replied “What do you mean none?” In response, Galanakis steered that he take a breathalyzer check. Nonetheless, Winters as a substitute subjected Galanakis to a sequence of area sobriety assessments. Whereas Galanakis seems sober, Winters claims he failed the assessments. Lastly, Winters offers Galankis a breathalyzer check that exhibits that Galanakis is totally sober. However as a substitute of letting Galankis go, Winters then shifted to quizzing Galanakis about how a lot marijuana he had smoked.
“I’ve had no weed tonight,” Galanakis instructed Winters. “I blew a zero so now you’re trying to think I smoked weed? That’s what’s going on. You can’t do that, man. You really can’t do that.”
Galanakis was arrested and brought to a neighborhood police station, the place he underwent additional drug testing, all of which got here again unfavorable. Quickly after his arrest, Galanakis printed physique digital camera footage from the incident. The frivolously edited footage sparked intense backlash on-line and finally gained greater than 2 million views on YouTube.
Galanakis filed a lawsuit in February 2023, claiming that the officers wrongfully arrested him and that their actions amounted to a “gross disregard of Tayvin’s civil rights.” Nonetheless, quickly after, Winters and Wing filed a countersuit, alleging that some claims Galankis made on-line following the incident have been defamatory.
Final week, a federal choose dominated that Galanakis’ case may go ahead, discovering {that a} affordable juror “could conclude that Winters violated Galanakis’s clearly established constitutional rights.”
Choose Matthew S. Brick discovered that Winters had no possible trigger to arrest Galanakis as a result of his “speech and movements were not even remotely consistent with someone under the influence of a controlled substance.” Including, “Galanakis insisted almost from the first moment that he wanted to blow into a breathalyzer, which would be a remarkable act of bravado for someone under the influence.”
Nonetheless, the ruling is not an entire victory for Galanakis. Brick discovered that Galanakis’ feedback that Winters “is on the slow side of the spectrum” and “is not fit mentally for the job and physically” weren’t defamatory. Nonetheless, Brick did discover that Winters may proceed suing Galanakis for defamation over Galanakis’ remark that Winters was “convicted” of home abuse. Whereas Winters’ ex-girlfriend acquired a home abuse restraining order and submitted an affidavit alleging abuse, Winters has by no means been charged, a lot much less convicted of home abuse.
Tayvin Galanakis is not the primary particular person to be wrongfully arrested due to a false DUI declare. In 2020, a Colorado man gained a $400,000 settlement after he was arrested for driving whereas intoxicated, despite the fact that assessments confirmed he was fully sober.