Regardless of what we may or may not know, or think we know, about the "law," about the difference between the "Right of Way" also known as the "Right of Free Passage" and the "Privilege of Driving," or about a perceived "legal duty" to produce documents to the police (See U.S. supreme Court case Hiibel v. Nevada, 2004) and who are "subject" to such legal duties, or about the difference between an "infraction" and a "crime" or "criminal activity," see if you can count the number of crimes committed by the "trooper" who initiated the unlawful "Terry stop," by the rest of the criminal street gang and by the prosecutors who brought the subsequent criminal "proceeding" not "action."
Since the judge in the underlying case determined that "she [Murakami] had no reason to pull him over" because what Lee did "falls within the broad range of normal driving behaviors" (Idaho's "Emory standard"), everything that happened after the stop is also illegal AND unlawful. Let's see: Illegal seizure of Lee's car, illegal seizure of his person, illegal search and trespassing (when she opened his car door), assault upon Lee and each of his family members in the car (by threatening to "bust" his car window with her baton), battery, fraud upon the court, barratry (bringing a groundless judicial proceeding), malicious prosecution, obstruction of justice, providing false information... I could go on, but... police brutality is self-evident regardless of the surrounding circumstances.
Read what Idaho Code 18-703 says about illegal arrests and seizures; it will blow your mind. It describes the difference between arrests and seizures by "lawful authority" or by "legal authority" and proves that most of the time, these "employees" (they are NOT "officers"), and "persons pretending to be officers," are committing misdemeanors even while acting "within the scope of their employment." Trooper Murakami lied repeatedly, she couldn't decide which "pretext" she used to go on her "fishing expedition," and she lied about her feigned concern for Lee and his family. If she didn't want to arrest him, she could have issued a citation, since Lee told her his name and she could have looked him up in her database. Consider also the fact that "resisting and obstructing" Statutes have a very narrow application and are being used by police in a manner that is "overbroad" and misapplied as an excuse for punishing any refusal to cooperate with their "investigative procedures" even if such refusal is well within our rights as secured, protected and guaranteed by Article the fifth of the Bill of Rights, which is pretty much a "dead letter," with the exception of Article the third. We don't have soldiers quartered in private homes... yet.
Further, in 2009, Boise Police Chief Masterson said that "A Code 3 response from police needs to be reserved for life and death emergency calls" in order to "balance emergencies with the safety of motorists and others on the road." Murakami's code 3 was a true criminal act that endangered others and she reported an emergency that did not exist -- except for Lee and his family. Hopefully, a large compensatory damage award (Lee is asking for much more than the stated $100,000), an even larger award of punitive damages (to punish the perpetrators and to act as a deterrent in the future) or a substantial settlement, will result in the appropriate behavior modification of overzealous law enforcement personnel. I once read a case where the judge, defining what the police do, said that the police go about the community "looking for trouble." How true.
Lee has never played the "race card" or alleged any racial profiling, although it may be a factor here; and, even when it happens, it is often difficult to prove. In many places, what Dr. Benjamin Spock says it true: “Most middle-class whites have no idea what it feels like to be subjected to police who are routinely suspicious, rude, belligerent, and brutal.” However, here in Idaho, if law enforcement personnel were to limit their brutality to racist motivations, with the possible exception of our Hispanic population, they wouldn't have much chance to indulge their sadistic and sociopathic tendencies, now would they? Safe Travels.