A federal civil rights lawsuit filed this week in Dallas describes a January 2024 encounter at a Hunt County medical clinic that ended with a three-hour detention at the Commerce Police Department, even though no criminal charges were ever filed.

The case was brought by Robin Powell, a Commerce-area resident who says police officers stopped him from leaving a clinic parking lot, demanded identification without legal grounds, and arrested him when he refused. 

What happened at the clinic

According to the filing, Powell was at a medical center in Hunt County on January 8, 2024, when he had a dispute with staff. Clinic employees asked him to leave, and he complied, walking to his truck in the parking lot with the intent to drive away. 

Before he could leave, officers from the Commerce Police Department arrived and blocked his truck, preventing him from pulling out of the lot. Officers then surrounded Powell and his vehicle, effectively placing him in custody even though, according to the court filing, they had no reasonable suspicion that he had committed any crime. 

The officers demanded to search him and asked for identification. Powell declined both requests, which the lawsuit says he was legally entitled to do. At that point, Lieutenant Marcus Cantera twice threatened to arrest him if he did not submit to a search. Powell responded by turning out his pockets to show they were empty and verbally criticizing what he believed was unlawful police conduct. 

Arrest ordered over “failure to ID”

Lieutenant Cantera then ordered Powell’s arrest, saying it was for “failure to ID during his investigation.” Officers Giovanni D. Morgan, Kasey C. Hodgson, Tyler A. Oakley, and Colton S. Spinks moved in at once, grabbing Powell and placing him in handcuffs. 

After Powell was restrained, officers tried to persuade clinic staff to file criminal trespass or disorderly conduct charges. Clinic employees declined both times. Even so, Powell was taken to the Commerce Police Department, where he remained handcuffed for about three hours. He was never booked, and no charges were ever filed. 

The lawsuit says the extended detention had no legitimate law-enforcement purpose and was carried out because Powell criticized the officers at the scene. 

Why the case went to federal court

The filing points to long-standing court rulings stating that a person in Texas cannot be arrested for refusing to identify themselves unless there has already been a lawful arrest for another offense. The lawsuit cites Brown v. Texas from the U.S. Supreme Court, Crutsinger v. State from the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, and a 2023 Fifth Circuit decision, Sauceda v. City of San Benito, which held that refusing to give a name “can never supply probable cause to make the initial arrest.” 

Based on those rulings, Powell argues that the officers had no legal basis to detain him, arrest him, or keep him in handcuffs for hours once the clinic declined to pursue any charges.

The case names Marcus Cantera, Giovanni D. Morgan, Kasey C. Hodgson, Tyler A. Oakley, and Colton S. Spinks in their individual capacities and seeks financial damages for loss of liberty, emotional distress, and other harms, along with a jury trial. 

Powell is represented in the case by San Antonio civil rights attorney Brandon J. Grable of Grable PLLC, a lawyer known for handling police misconduct and constitutional rights cases across Texas. 

The lawsuit is now pending in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas and will move forward through the federal court system unless it is dismissed or resolved beforehand.

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