OK to Arrest Plaintiff for Invalid Reason So Long as There was an Unexpressed Valid Reason; Civil Rights Suit Dismissed

Apodaca v. City of Albuquerque, 2006 WL 925637 (4/11/06) - Under Devenpeck v. Alford, 543 U.S. 146, 153 (2004), it was okay to arrest the plaintiff for an invalid reason as long as there was probable cause to arrest her for some other reason unexpressed by the arresting officer. The plaintiff was a passenger in her car driven by her former boyfriend when the boyfriend took the officers on a high speed chase. The officer arrested the plaintiff for violating a restraining order she had obtained against her boyfriend. The order was not mutual and so could not be enforced against her. Nonetheless, the city contended she could have been arrested for aiding and abetting, among other things, her ex-boyfriend's driving without insurance because she knowingly permitted the operation of an uninsured car. Because the plaintiff failed to contend the city did not have probable cause to arrest her for non-restraining order offenses, she lost. The 10th said: "This is not to say we are totally comfortable with the contention there was probable cause to arrest the plaintiff as an accessory or aider or abettor."