Federal involvement in Washington policing escalated three weeks ago, prompting warnings about potential overreach from defense lawyers and law enforcement experts. Tensions surfaced in federal court when U.S. Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui dismissed a weapons case after concluding an unlawful search. The judge called the search flagrantly illegal and said Torez Riley appeared singled out for being Black and carrying a heavy-looking backpack. Officers reported finding two weapons in Riley's crossbody bag and noted a prior weapons conviction. The dismissal occurred while presidential and U.S. Attorney directives push for more federal charges and pretrial detention, straining the court system.
Veteran defense lawyers and law enforcement experts have been warning about the potential for overreach since the federal government muscled its way into policing decisions in the nation's capital nearly three weeks ago. Inside the federal courthouse in Washington, D.C., on Monday, those tensions broke into open court. A federal judge dismissed a weapons case against a man held in the D.C. jail for a week concluding he was subject to an unlawful search.
"It is without a doubt the most illegal search I've ever seen in my life," U.S. Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui said from the bench. "I'm absolutely flabbergasted at what has happened. A high school student would know this was an illegal search." The judge said Torez Riley appeared to have been singled out because he is a Black man who carried a backpack that looked heavy.
Law enforcement officers said in court papers they found two weapons in Riley's crossbody bag after he had previously been convicted on a weapons charge. The arrest and the decision to abandon the federal case come at a time of heightened scrutiny on police and prosecutors in the District. President Trump has ordered National Guard members and federal law enforcement officers to "clean up" the city and crack down on crime.
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