At The Washington Post, Christopher Ingraham told the story of how a routine traffic stop turned into the police seizing tens of thousands of dollars from the manager of a Christian band.
What makes this story unique is not the facts of the case, unfortunately, but that it went viral.
Eh Wah is a refugee from Burma, a Texas resident, and a citizen for more than 10 years. He’s a volunteer manager for a Christian rock band from Burma, Klo & Kweh Music Team.
Muskogee County, Oklahoma, police pulled him over for a broken tail light and found $53,000 in his car. That money was raised by the band, whose finances he managed. It was to be donated to a religious college in Burma, an orphanage in Thailand (money was “bundled in two or three dozen sealed envelopes with the orphanage’s name written on them”), and some was just for the operating costs of the band itself.
Ingraham noted that police “didn’t like Eh Wah’s explanation for how he got the cash.”
He was not charged with a crime, but his money was seized by police.
As shocking as this may sound, it’s unfortunately common. This is called “civil asset forfeiture.” It “allows law enforcement to seize and keep private property, even if the owner has never been charged with a crime,” according to the Institute for Justice (IJ). IJ argues, “No one should lose his or her property without being convicted of a crime.”
Eh Wah’s attorney is Dan Alban, who works at IJ. Their attorneys regularly represent people like him in similar cases.
“Muskogee has no excuse for this gross miscarriage of justice,” said Alban. “Based on next to no evidence, what started as an ordinary traffic stop turned into a nightmare. …This is a clear-cut case of abuse of power.”
What is unique about Ed Wah’s case, which is worth a full read, is how widely his story was shared. Hours after thousands of people shared the article, the Muskogee County District Attorney dropped the charges against Eh Wah.
Alban told THE WEEKLY STANDARD, “The Muskogee District Attorney’s rapid dismissal of both cases is most welcome, but it indicates how flimsy these cases often are. Based on practically zero evidence to support either the civil forfeiture or the criminal charge, they ruined Eh Wah’s life for two months, and likely would have permanently ruined his life if IJ hadn’t gotten involved and attracted publicity to this gross injustice.”
The outcome is a testament to how the public eye can check government’s power, encouraging it to back down when pursuing an illegitimate end. If Eh Wah’s story didn’t receive so much attention, IJ would likely be defending him in court.
But if IJ was unable to represent him pro bono, Eh Wah’s future would have been even more uncertain.
