A federal jury in Iowa awarded $105,000 to a former college student late last week after officers wrongfully arrested him for driving under the influence without probable cause. The award comes nearly four years since the Fourth Amendment-violating traffic stop went viral.
On a rainy night in August 2022, Tayvin Galanakis, a then-19-year-old member of the William Penn University football team, was stopped by officers in Newton, Iowa, for driving with his high beams on within city limits. Body camera footage of the stop shows Galanakis explain that he was using his high beams because one of his headlights was out and turning them off when other cars approached.
It was the first time he had ever been pulled over, and Galanakis was slow to find his up-to-date registration and insurance information. Just a few minutes into the stop, Newton Police Officer Nathan Winters asked Galanakis to step out of the car and had him sit in the police cruiser.
“How much have you had to drink tonight?” Winters asks. “None,” Galanakis responds. “What do you mean, ‘none’?” Winters shoots back.
Winters proceeds to accuse Galanakis of being under the influence, citing “watery and bloodshot eyes,” “fumbling over the registration,” and an “odor of alcohol” he says is coming from Galanakis. After confidently asserting he’s had “nothing to drink” and that he “can’t wait” to take a test, Galanakis asks what happens if “nothing pops up.” “Do you get in trouble?” Galanakis asks. “No,” Winters responds, “I’m doing what I’m supposed to do.”
Winters leads Galanakis through several field sobriety tests in the rain. Despite no obvious evidence of intoxication, Winters claims Galanakis is showing “signs of impairment” before moving on to a breathalyzer test. But Galanakis blows a blood alcohol level of 0.00.
“When’s the last time you smoked weed?” Winters asks, to which Galanakis denies having smoked weed recently. “I blew a zero, so now you’re trying to say I smoked weed?” asks Galanakis. “You can’t do that, man. You really can’t do that.”
“Absolutely I can,” Winters responds.
Galanakis was then arrested on suspicion of driving while intoxicated and taken to the Newton Police Station. Eventually, Galanakis was released after voluntary drug tests proved he was, in fact, completely sober.
Shortly after his arrest, Galanakis posted the body cam footage online, where it’s gained almost 2 million views and sparked hundreds of calls to the Newton Police Department expressing outrage, according to the Iowa Capital Dispatch. And in February 2023, Galanakis filed a lawsuit against the arresting officers and the City of Newton for claiming, in part, they arrested him without probable cause and in a “gross disregard of Tayvin’s civil rights.”
Winters and the second arresting officer struck back with a counterclaim, arguing Galanakis had defamed them when he published the footage and criticized them online. But in May 2023, most of the officers’ defamation claims were dismissed when a federal judge ruled that Galanakis’ statements were clearly “his opinion or ‘rhetorical hyperbole’ about what had happened during the encounter.”
Galanakis’ claim, however, moved forward and even overcame qualified immunity after a federal judge found that “no officer could reasonably conclude that there was a substantial chance that Galanakis was under the influence of marijuana” and that he showed “almost no indicia of intoxication.” (Qualified immunity is a doctrine that shields state actors from personal liability for violating constitutional rights that aren’t clearly established.)
Now, nearly four years since the initial stop, an Iowa jury has ruled in favor of Galanakis, awarding him $105,000, including damages for both his civil rights and false arrest claims, and punitive damages against both arresting officers.
Holding law enforcement officers accountable for violating constitutional rights is essential for not only preserving civil liberties, but for deterring government overreach and abuse of power. And while Galanakis was eventually successful in standing up for his constitutional rights, his case remains an outlier in a legal system that makes it incredibly difficult, if not impossible, to hold bad cops accountable.
