On a Friday morning in October 2018, two police officers who worked for a Texas school district kidnapped a 14-year-old girl from her home based on spurious child abandonment concerns. Although Texas Child Protective Services (CPS) promptly determined there was no reason to suspect neglect or abuse, the cops pursued criminal charges against the girl's mother, leading to a trial in which a jury acquitted her after deliberating for five minutes.
A civil rights lawsuit provoked by these outrageous abuses has been working its way through the federal courts for nearly four years. On Tuesday, a federal judge scathingly rejected the officers' motion for summary judgment, clearing the way for a trial.
