Bill Dawson, a lawyer in Birmingham, said he's had about two dozen people contact him with allegations, but for years, many have been too reluctant to complain. Police must direct traffic before the 1 p.m. court session starts.. I wouldnt be surprised if they opened up an investigation. The accounts told to AL.com detail harassment and intimidation. Because I am a police officer.. For Michelle Jones, it has been a dedicated three-year fight. She pulled to the side of the road as the SUV pulled behind her, and a wrecker simultaneously parked nearby. We get calls about Brookside quite regularly because they really go outside their jurisdiction to stop people, Pettway said. (Joe Songer for AL.com).Joe Songer. People who were stopped by Brookside police and fined more than the state allows. Use of and/or registration on any portion of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement, Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement, and Your Privacy Choices and Rights (each updated 1/26/2023). Michelle Jones, of Forestdale, has fought the Brookside police department for three years. Vincent Witt and his sister, Tareya, who said the small police department fabricated charges against them and listed them as fugitives because Witt complained about an officers racist remark. BROOKSIDE, Ala. After a tumultuous few weeks for the city of Brookside, including the resignation of police Chief Mike Jones, more allegations were brought to light against the city's police department on Thursday. And theyre saying they were nowhere near Brookside.. Its unheard of.. We encourage Brookside to form more partnerships with local, state and federal authorities to fully take back the town. He reported that his Police Chief was mad.. Read also: Brookside police patrolled social media, threatening town critics. The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office is the police department that serves the area, where Mike Hale is the sheriff. Five others resigned Jan. 28, and Jones second-in-command, former Lt. James Bo Savelle III, resigned Jan. 31, resigned after questions about his past. BROOKSIDE, Ala. (WBRC) -The town of Brookside is facing another lawsuit. Her lawyers argue that the city uses obscure possible violations to justify stopping and searching passersby, hoping to add more offenses in a sort of highway lottery to fill the coffers. Bill Dawson, a lawyer who has represented several clients in Brookside, said defendants have faced possession charges for a joint, with paraphernalia charges tacked on for the paper it was rolled in. Brumlow pleaded not guilty, and had to go to court over and over again as the case was postponed. Careful examination of individual officer behavior is also important. YouTubes privacy policy is available here and YouTubes terms of service is available here. All rights reserved (About Us). Thats why I hesitated to fight it. The deputy has since also issued a speeding ticket to go along with the impersonation charge.. Brookside has 1,253 people, according to the most recent census. Sheriff Pettway gaped at the Brookside ratio. Stories of how Alabama legal systems criminalize poverty. The town survives on the fringes of Birmingham with tax revenue from the Dollar General, which forms the totality of its commercial district. Hudgens told Jones about the call and gave him the mans contact information. This is the statement from the Town of Brookside: Mike Jones resigned as the Police Chief for the Town of Brookside. The affidavit says Jones told the Covington deputy he was the chief in Brookside, a town a couple hundred miles north, just past Birmingham. Drivers, both in responding to the stories and in a town hall held last week to address police and court concerns, have complained of bullying, intimidation, detention, retribution, threats, racial profiling, and charges made up of whole cloth to stack fines on drivers, among other things. And while sitting in court I heard that half the court was also stopped for the same thing.. The Brookside Police Department's practices include stacking charges so that a single violation results in a handful of charges, with corresponding fines, fees and court costs for each. There were two cars and one SUV that surrounded my car and police were everywhere, she wrote. "You're taking the money for them to potentially get that light fixed by making them pay a fine.". He wanted to speak to someone who could take his badge.. Detective Johnson had called and asked that I come to the Brookside Police Department to talk to them. We respect the process and its outcomes., Montague Minnifield talks passionately about his experience with Brookside Police. A report quoted in the suit claimed she tighten (sic) arm muscles from getting handcuff (sic).. He is still torn, wondering if he should have fought the town harder. In the second town hall meeting hosted by Rep. Juandalynn Givan and Jefferson County Sheriff Mark Pettway, attendees addressed more concerns with the city's police. BROOKSIDE, Ala. The police chief of a northern Alabama town resigned Tuesday amid allegations that he set up an aggressive traffic trap that by 2020 accounted for nearly half of the town's . Lt. Gov. YouTubes privacy policy is available here and YouTubes terms of service is available here. ABC 33/40s Cynthia Gould reported at the time. The audits show, however, how the town came to depend on the ticket money. The problem for those alleging misconduct is that officers may be immune from lawsuits if their actions are found to be a part of their official duties, Dawson said. Fines and forfeitures seizures of cars during traffic stops, among other things doubled from 2018 to 2019. They let her out of jail at midnight, long after her family had made bond. He said people have stories about their cars getting towed and being left on the side of the road, then being charged by both the town and the impound company to get their vehicles back, on top of daily storage fees. The Town of Brookside participates in the affairs through a pattern of racketeering activity, it says. Mayor Bryan said he inherited a bad situation when he took over as mayor in November, and was fooled by Jones. Do you understand what you are charged with? the judge asked on that first Thursday in December. Vincent Witt and his sister, Tareya, Chief Jones tried to intimidate her in a social media message, Police in this tiny Alabama town suck drivers into legal black hole, Pastor, sister say rogue Alabama police force sought revenge, This Alabama county fastens ankle monitors on hundreds who arent convicted of crimes, Life on an ankle monitor in Alabama: $10 a day and inevitable imperfections, Buy newspaper front pages, posters and more. Jones blamed the lawsuits on ambulance-chasing attorneys.. The next day she spoke to the husband of the woman who complained to Hoover police. Brookside officials this afternoon said in a statement that the Tahoe is registered in Jones name and does not belong to Brookside. The courtroom and the parking lot are packed with people. Neither the police nor the town have responded to questions since the original story ran. James Sebestain Bo Savelle III (Photo courtesy of Hoover Police). A department of nine officers in a 1,253-person town is far larger than average. The town's median household income is less than $40,000, according to demographic data. Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers, and GOP Lt. Gov. Stories from people stopped in the ticket-happy town continue to roll down like an avalanche, since AL.com last week published the story of how the tiny town turned to aggressive ticketing to build a ballooning police force that came to provide half the towns revenue. Information found on CountyOffice.org is strictly for informational purposes and does not construe legal, financial or medical advice. The deputy described a Brookside badge with a chief indicator at the bottom. They tell, with consistency, of specious tickets and arrests, of retaliation by a police department and by a chief who challenged those who questioned him as he sought to build an empire on the backs of drivers. Video above: Federal class action lawsuit filed against Town of Brookside, police officers Advertisement Mike Jones, former police chief in the troubled Alabama town of Brookside, was arrested today on felony charges of impersonating a peace officer during a traffic stop in south Alabama. Updated 5:15 p.m. May 2 to add Brookside response. He said hed like to see even more growth in revenue from fines and forfeitures. Brookside, which in 2018 had one full time police officer, now parks a riot control vehicle townspeople call it a tank outside the municipal complex and community center. The curious case of the financial income of the town, on the outskirts of Birmingham, exploded into a scandal following a local news report on AL.com last week. Buy newspaper front pages, posters and more. I saw him and we looked eye to eye, the Chelsea business owner said. Hudgens, who lives in Brookside, said she is concerned for her town. 2023 Advance Local Media LLC. They were doing the same thing to every person that was there. Another woman, Emily Sierra, emailed AL.com to say she was pulled over in Brookside three years ago for a single flash of her lights to warn oncoming traffic about a speed trap. Will Ainsworth has requested an audit of Brooksides town and police force, and lawmakers across party lines have called for bills to help curb small-town policing for profit on Alabama Interstates. Subscribe to our WBRC newsletter and receive the latest local news and weather straight to your email. He said police accused him of running a stop sign that I never did run, and he complained about it on Facebook. Tiny Brooksides style of policing under Jones has become known nationally in recent weeks. Brookside police officers in sworn depositions indicated they did not follow drivers for a full mile and a half before or after the new law was passed, and they continued to write tickets under the old law after the new road rage bill passed. We had no knowledge of Mike Jones whereabouts after his resignation January 25, Mayor Mike Bryan said. Rep. Juandalynn Givan, D-Birmingham, talks to reporters about reports of police abuses in the town of Brookside, which is in her Jefferson County district. Brookside, Alabama, a former mining community of about 1,250 with a median household income less than $40,000, has no traffic lights and only a handful of two-lane roads, yet it raked in so. called for the second town hall meeting this week. WBRC FOX6 News has reached out to the Town of Brookside leaders for a response to the special report, and we will update this story when we receive a response. He swore hed seen the cop from a distance and was careful as he braked. Fallout over the Brookside revelations continues. Total town income more than doubled from 2018 to 2020 from $582,000 to more than $1.2 million as fines and forfeitures rose 640%. He has not commented since. AL.com story revealed a department so intent on ticketing and criminalizing motorists, arrested Savelle for public intoxication and two counts of harassment that night. AL.com published a story outlining Brookside policing, , former Lt. James Bo Savelle III, resigned Jan. 31. says he was a passenger in car stopped for driving with an improper tag, and that he was detained, among other things. All rights reserved (About Us). Chief Jones testified under oath that just one of the 10 Brookside vehicles is painted with police striping, but nine others bear no emblems, and seven are tinted all the way around, making it impossible to see inside. They gave me a ticket for running a stop sign. You may not use this site for the purposes of furnishing consumer reports about search subjects or for any use prohibited by the FCRA. Jones, accompanied by his lawyer, Corey Bryan of Andalusia, turned himself in at the Covington County Jail on Monday, Covington County Sheriff Blake Turman said. Savelle on Monday resigned from the Brookside Department, hours after AL.com asked city officials about his past. They seek damages against the individual police officers for wrongful fines, forfeitures, and arrests, including mental anguish damages., In trying to establish a conspiracy, the complaint contends that the town of Brookside, its court and its officers, exist to extract the payment of unlawful fines from the people.. See also: Savelle among those sued by preacher who claimed Brookside revenge. In a sworn deposition in the civil suit Jeff Brumlow said he went to court three times before the case was ultimately dropped, and saw many people hed guess 25 to 30% of all defendants charged with the dubious left lane violation. The Brookside Police Department is located on Municipal Drive, and the Chief of Police is Jason Springfield. Type: The interim chief and Town leaders announced reforms within the police department in February 2022. Jones is not alone in complaining about Brookside. She complained directly to then-Brookside Police Chief Mike Jones. 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