Jury Awards Texas Driver $76 Over License Plate Reader Stop

A federal jury in San Antonio awarded Houston driver Alek Schott $76 — one dollar for every minute he says he was illegally detained — after finding that a Bexar County sheriff's deputy used automated license plate reader (ALPR) data to engineer a traffic stop his lawsuit called an "unconstitutional traffic stop scheme," according to Ars Technica's report on the late-September verdict.

Why Did the Jury Award Exactly $76?

Schott's attorneys at the Institute for Justice asked jurors for that specific, symbolic figure — one dollar for each of the 76 minutes Deputy Joel Babb held him during the March 2022 stop — rather than seeking compensatory damages, Ars Technica reported. "Money was never what mattered," Schott's lawyers said, according to the outlet. "This was and has always been about the Constitution."

Schott, who sells oilfield supplies, said in a statement cited by Ars Technica that he complained to the Bexar County Sheriff's Office before suing. "After the stop, I filed a complaint with the Sheriff's Office because I knew what happened to me was wrong," he said. "The department reviewed it, told me they didn't see any violation, and said if I had a problem with it, I should sue them. So I did."

What Triggered the Traffic Stop?

Babb initially told Schott the stop was for "lane drifting," but later admitted in a deposition that the stated reason was false, Ars Technica reported, citing Schott's civil complaint. Dashcam footage from Schott's own truck showed no lane drift, according to the Institute for Justice's account of the case, as relayed by the outlet.

The actual trigger, per Babb's deposition, was a tip passed through a law-enforcement WhatsApp group by a contact identified only as "Kiki," who worked with a federal fusion center in Laredo. A fusion center is a multi-agency intelligence hub that pools federal, state and local data — including ALPR feeds — to flag vehicles for officers on the road.

How Did License Plate Data Factor Into the Stop?

ALPR systems are camera networks, often mounted on patrol cars or fixed roadside infrastructure, that photograph and log plate numbers as vehicles pass, building a searchable record of where and when a given plate has traveled. According to Babb's deposition as reported by Ars Technica, Kiki had near-real-time access to this data and flagged Schott's truck for a "one-day turnaround": Schott had driven from Houston to Carrizo Springs, stayed one night on a work trip, and returned home the next day — a pattern Kiki treated as a potential smuggling indicator. Babb then waited for Schott's truck to pass his location and pulled him over.

During the stop, Babb said he was working the "Criminal Interdiction Unit," looking for "human smuggling, drug smuggling, and all those things like that," Ars Technica reported.

What Happened During the Search?

Bodycam footage reviewed by the Institute for Justice showed Schott giving "calm, mundane answers about a run-of-the-mill work trip," the group said, as cited by Ars Technica. Babb called in a drug dog regardless. Moments before the dog alerted by jumping on the truck, the handler's own bodycam appeared to show him signaling the animal, according to the Institute for Justice's account of the footage.

Deputies searched Schott's truck for the full 76 minutes he was held. They found no drugs or contraband.

What Happens Next for Bexar County and ALPR Use?

Schott's legal team said it will now ask the court to enjoin Bexar County from using baseless traffic stops as a surveillance tool, according to Ars Technica. The verdict puts a dollar figure — however token — on a detention built from an algorithmic travel-pattern flag rather than any observed driving violation, and it shows how license plate data shared through informal channels like a WhatsApp group can translate directly into a roadside stop and vehicle search.

Ars Technica's report does not indicate that Bexar County disputed the underlying sequence of events at trial; the case went to a jury rather than ending in settlement. For departments that rely on fusion-center tips built from ALPR databases, the Schott verdict is a data point — a small one in dollars, larger in precedent — on what a federal jury considers sufficient grounds for a stop, a drug-dog call, and a 76-minute search that turned up nothing.