Suit Claims Cops Forced 13-Year-Old Boy to Take Alcohol Breath Test After School Complaint
A Michigan teen claims in a lawsuit that police in Livonia forced him to take an alcohol breath test at a school picnic in violation of the Fourth Amendment.
The 13-year-old boy says he was wrongly accused, and the breath test registered a zero, the Detroit Free Press reports. An assistant principal called police because he suspected the boy was drinking after he and a group of friends went into the woods for a walk, the suit says.
The boy was at the park for a celebration of his eighth-grade class graduation.
The American Civil Liberties Union filed the suit on behalf of the boy and his mother, Tina Barbee. The Free Press quotes ACLU staff attorney Dan Korobkin. “Federal and state courts have ruled over and over again that if a teen is not driving, the police need a search warrant to administer a breath test,” he said.
The Detroit News also has a story.
