PASADENA, Texas – At 26 years old, Juan Tapia climbs into his prized pickup truck still upset over his arrest last Friday night by the Pasadena police.
Tapia was first stopped about 6:05 that evening for running a stop sign at the intersection of 225 and Scarborough.
Police dashcam video obtained by Channel 2 Investigates shows Tapia, a CAT scan technologist, being stopped and questioned by an officer and then after several minutes being handcuffed and taken to jail.
Tapia says he did not argue with the officer and everything was completely civil and quiet until he refused to give the officer a phone number where he could be reached.
Tapia says he offered to give the officer his email but did not want to give him a cellphone number, or the number to his employer.
Tapia says minutes later he was arrested.
“I told him the phone that I have belongs to my sister and that I was not comfortable giving away that number, or the number of my work… a few minutes later, more police arrived and I was arrested,” Tapia says, shaking his head.
Not only did the officer ask for Juan’s phone number, he also asked for his Social Security number as well.
“I believe I was unnecessarily arrested… I was very humble and I respected that officer,” Tapia says.
Channel 2 legal analyst Brian Wice agrees that Juan was arrested unnecessarily.
“To put someone in jail because they won’t give you a telephone number, to me that seems unfair, unjust and unnecessary,” Wice says.
Thursday, Channel 2 Investigates asked Assistant Pasadena Police Chief Susan Clifton why the department is asking for so much information from drivers on traffic stops.
“It’s part of the citation. They are additional identifiers that we need. If someone is to appear in court, we need some type of identifiers to locate that person. A Social Security number identifies you,” Clifton says.
In the end, Pasadena police say Tapia was arrested solely for running a stop sign, not for refusing to give a phone number.
When asked if she thinks that officer acted appropriately in this case, Clifton tells us, “Yes. I don’t have any problem with his actions, no I don’t.”
