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LAWYERS RAP ICE TEAM TACTICS

SHELBY -- Lawyers representing two Hispanic men question whether the county's Interstate Crime Enforce-ment team targets minorities by illegally pulling them over - all for financial gain. 

A hearing to suppress evidence seized in a traffic stop along I-85 began Wednesday morning with attorneys David Teddy and Todd Cerwin questioning Sgt.  Rodney Fitch about the traffic stop. 

On June 14, 2006, Fitch said he received a phone call at 4 a.m.  from a U.S.  Customs agent in Charlotte re-questing the I.C.E.  team pull over a vehicle that just left a warehouse under surveillance for drug distribution.  He said the agent told him the vehicle's occupants just put several bags in the red Ford Ranger and were on I-85 headed toward South Carolina.  Fitch said he parked in the median and waited as the agent continued to update him about where the vehicle was on the interstate.  Fitch said he spotted the vehicle and then pulled behind it.  He said he paced the vehicle going 70 mph in a 65-mph zone and said the driver crossed the white line twice.  Fitch then pulled over the vehicle driven by Jose Arrassaenz.  Jose Rodriguez-Otero was Arrassaenz's passenger.  "If I couldn't get a traffic violation I wasn't going to make a traffic stop," said Fitch.  "I didn't feel comfort-able stopping the vehicle with the information I had." When he approached the vehicle, Fitch said he saw what the agent told him would be in the vehicle. 

He wrote Arrassaenz a warning ticket for failing to maintain a lane and speeding.  Fitch said Arrassaenz agreed to his request to search the vehicle.  Fitch said he found five "bricks of cocaine" in bags in the vehicle. 

Teddy's Questions

Teddy questioned whether race and/or financial motives play a factor in the I.C.E team's stops. 

Teddy asked Fitch if the majority of the people arrested during stops by the I.C.E.  team were minorities including blacks, Hispanics and Asians.  Fitch responded: "It's a fair statement." Fitch said there have been 29 stops that led to arrests and one of those was a Caucasian. 

The I.C.E.  team seized about $2.3 million during those stops.  The Sheriff's Office uses the money for equipment, Fitch said. 

Teddy asked if there was a financial incentive for the county to make stops and if the I.C.E.  team would lose money if the stop was made in South Carolina.  Fitch responded: "We use the money to fund equipment that normally would not be bought with taxpayer's money." Testimony in the case will continue today.  A ruling is expected next week.