In December of 2002, Arizona resident Terry Bressi came upon a police checkpoint on a state highway running through the Tohono O'odham reservation outside of Tucson, AZ. Bressi's car was stopped by Tohono O'odham tribal officers, who demanded that Bressi produce his driver's license.
Bressi refused to produce the document, and maintained that the checkpoint was illegal. Bressi was arrested and detained for several hours. The arrest, as well as subsequent events, led him file a civil rights suit against the officers.
After his lawsuit was dismissed by a lower court, Bressi sought review by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. The appeals court held that Bressi's claims had merit, in part. They remanded his case back to district court for rehearing.
We feature an interview with Terry Bressi about this case on our YouTube channel.
