Eclipse Government

Officers are allowed to search and seize any and all illegal or potentially dangerous items from the person of interest, and any and all property involved at the time of the crime, and at the time of an arrest.

• When Mr Meekins was not near the vehicle at the time of his arrest.
• Substantially the search of his car was wrongful.

A citation alone does not authorize law enforcement officers the right to conduct a search and seizure, but does authorize them to lawfully identify the person(s) involved.

Tyrone Balakay wrote:03 Sep 2021, 00:15 My responses to the statement can be found in red.

On 09/JUL/2021 around 04:30, I was driving in the parking lot of Paleto Bank when what appeared to be two Sheriff's Deputies (They were all wearing gang clothing.) pulled up with a Deputy's cruiser with lights and sirens on. After a brief conversation, they informed me that they would be arresting me for Reckless Driving. I complied with their orders and got into the back of cruiser. It is obvious that they were not Sheriff's Deputies for two reasons. First, they are wearing gang clothing. Second, they are in a Los Santos Police Department Cruiser.

From the bank, we were driving towards Paleto Station when another Sheriff's Deputy's cruiser pulled up behind the one I was in and attempted to pull us over. It was at this time I realized the two men in the seats in front of me were not Deputies, but instead were impersonating them. There were not two men in the seats in front of him. There was one man driving, and one female sitting next to him in the back seats. They were not impersonating, as they were not wearing any type of clothes that resembled law enforcement.

A pursuit then took place and I had no opportunity to leave the cruiser once I realized what had happened. After a vehicle crash that flipped the cruiser I was in, I immediately exited the vehicle and put my hands up, waiting for the real Deputies to take control of the scene. I was then arrested for Attempted Grand Theft Auto of a Government Employee and Felony Evading, despite the fact that I was a victim in this situation. Meekins ran about 200ft, before dropping to his knees. Yes his hands were up, but still ran along with the female suspect.

On the way to DOC, I was informed that Sheriff's Deputies had searched my vehicle that was legally parked at the bank without my consent. Due to the fact that my vehicle was not involved in the alleged crimes I was charged with, I believe this was an illegal search. Deputies allegedly recovered a firearm from my vehicle and I was additionally charged with Possession of Illegal Firearms/Weapons. This is covered in my statement above.

I returned back to the bank shortly after the scene, to check the vehicles. Note, the driver of the pursuit and Meekins' vehicles were parked right next to each other, with no parking pay. As we had probable cause due to the owners of those vehicles a) not having parking pays and b) having felonies currently on their warrant list, we searched and impounded the vehicles. Meekins' car had an illegal firearm inside of it, and was thus charged with that due to it being in his possession as the car was not reported stolen. Both vehicles were impounded, and the gun was stored in the evidence room. Also, Ms. Mason is referring to the Police Department's public statement about their probable cause, but that is an entirely different Department and has a different handbook than the Los Santos County Sheriff's Department.