Tulsa police arrested a woman in line with a ticket just for her "I can't breathe" T-shirt

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31. Interesting case

I don't disagree about who is in the right, and certainly it is possible to win such cases if all you're after is a nominal award such as $1. The problem is it's hard to win such cases in a way that gets the police to alter their behavior.

In practice, the courts have leverage over the police to get them to abide by constitutional right when prosecuting a case. Courts can and do throw out evidence if it wasn't handle or acquired properly. Police and prosecutors can and sometimes do still cheat, but it's harder to get away with it, so mostly they play by the rules.

It's different if they don't care about ever going to trial. There's just not the same kind of deterrent for meritless arrests if the intent was never to prosecute anyway. As you note, you can win a case, but it's not likely to seriously change police behavior.