Man settles with Roosevelt County over arrest

link Staff photo: Tony Bullocks Abdoulaye Sarr of Portales recently settled a federal lawsuit against Roosevelt County and state police after being falsely accused of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

Roosevelt County officials have quietly settled a federal lawsuit for malicious prosecution and false imprisonment filed by a Portales man who claims he was arrested for no reason.

Abdoulaye Sarr, 58, was a student at Eastern New Mexico University when arrested in Portales three years ago and accused of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

Although Sarr had no prior arrests and registered .00 on a breath test for alcohol, he spent 15 days in jail and lost his job before being cleared by a blood test. Charges were eventually dropped four months after his arrest.

Terms of the cash settlement reached Dec. 5 in U.S. District Court in Albuquerque are sealed.

Roosevelt County Manager Amber Hamilton said Tuesday that she couldn’t disclose the amount of the settlement because the attorney for the county’s insurance carrier hasn’t returned several phone calls. Hamilton said she only recently became familiar with the case because Sarr was arrested prior to her appointment as county manager.

“It really was racist,” said Sarr. “I don’t think if I had been white they would have done this to me.”

Sarr was stopped on U.S. 70 about 10 p.m. on a Saturday for driving 35 mph in a 45 mph zone, according to court records. A Roosevelt County sheriff’s deputy alleged Sarr’s slower than posted speed aroused suspicion of driving under the influence.

The deputy’s report noted Sarr’s eyes were bloodshot and his speech slurred. Sarr said he tried explaining that his eyes were red due to a medical condition. Sarr also said while he is fluent in five languages, he sometimes struggles with speaking English.

“If you don’t speak English the way they do, they suspect you,” Sarr said. “They don’t take you seriously if you don’t talk like they do.”

Sarr is African-born and became a naturalized U. S. citizen in 2009. He said he fled his native Mauritania in 2000 for political and religious reasons. He was helped by a religious group in Amarillo that provided food and shelter. He moved to Portales in 2006 to attend ENMU.

Sarr was headed home from his job when he was stopped by the deputy.

Sarr said he tried to explain to the deputy that he didn’t use alcohol or drugs because he is Muslim and it would violate his faith.

Sarr failed field sobriety tests given alongside the highway by the deputy and a state police officer called to assist, according to court records. Another state police officer trained in detecting drug use was also called, records show, and accused Sarr of being under the influence.

Sarr then volunteered to give blood for a test.

“They were laughing at me when I ... (took) the test,” said Sarr. “They said we screen for over 200 substances and we’re going to find one. I was very humiliated.”

Sarr said his employer fired him because he didn’t report to work the 15 days he spent in jail, unable to make $1,500 bond. A friend finally raised the cash and Sarr said he was rehired after explaining the circumstances. But after being fired, Sarr had to start as a new employee, losing four weeks of accumulated vacation.

During the four months Sarr waited for results from the state lab, he was placed on probation. Terms of his probation included no driving, no eating at restaurants that serve alcohol and no leaving the county.

Sarr said he filed the lawsuit “to help and do anything I can to help somebody so they don’t go through what I did.”

“This,” said Sarr’s attorney Dan Lindsey of Clovis, “is the kind of stuff he fled his country to get away from. He didn’t get so much as an apology from the police.”

Lindsey said he was also bound by terms of the confidentiality agreement not to discuss terms of the cash settlement.

“We settled and my client is very happy,” Lindsey said.