BEAT FEET' FACES THIRD CHALLENGE

Crusader Wants Innocent To Keep Their Cars

OAKLAND -- Sam Horton does not pick up hookers or smoke crack cocaine, and
he did not lose his car to the city's Beat Feet program.

But the vehicle forfeiture law used in drug and prostitution stings has
claimed the cars of plenty of regular citizens just like him. And while the
74-year-old Horton does not know any of them, it bothers him -- a lot.

In defense of "innocent owners" whose cars were seized in Beat Feet stings,
even though they were not the ones behind the wheel, the East Oakland
resident has challenged the city ordinance in court twice, and he is
currently gearing up for round three.

Horton vs. City of Oakland is zero for two, he having lost in Alameda
County Superior Court and again last Monday in the First District Court of
Appeals. He has 40 days to appeal to the state Supreme Court, and with help
from the American Civil Liberties Union, which has argued Horton's case for
two years, he is going to do just that.

And if the third time does not prove to be the charm, Horton says, he will
find a way to file a new lawsuit. He may not have a personal stake in the
outcome, but the crusader refuses to give up his fight against a law he
thinks really stinks.

"Being a black man from the South, I know there were times when black
people were cheated out of their property and treated with injustice,"
Horton said recently. "I think the same thing's happening in Oakland:
Innocent people's property is being taken unjustly."

Before taking on Beat Feet, the Louisiana native had never sued anyone. A
retired truck driver for the former Alameda Naval Air Station, he had no
relevant experience with the law. But when Beat Feet was proposed in 1997,
he penned letters of dissent to city attorney Jayne Williams and
then-police chief Joseph Samuels Jr.

Williams never wrote back, but Samuels responded with an assurance the law
would not violate constitutional property protections. Horton did not buy it.

"It just wasn't right," Horton said. "It got under my skin, and I wanted to
do something about it."

He sought legal advice, and then a retired attorney helped Horton prepare
the case, filed first in federal court. ACLU attorney Alan Schlosser read a
news story about the lawsuit, contacted Horton, and the pair teamed up. The
federal case was withdrawn and refiled in county court in July 1998.

By October Judge Henry E. Needham Jr. had shot it down. The suit argued
that Beat Feet violates state laws regarding property seizure. Needham
ruled the city is free to enact laws to deal with local problems.

Because Horton was not stung by Beat Feet, the suit could not argue the
law's constitutionality. But that issue remains his primary concern, as
well as the ACLU's.

"It takes a lot of foresight and sophistication to be able to understand
that the constitutional limits on police actions are a very important
aspect of our democracy," Schlosser said.

"Most people act out of self-interest. (Horton) saw (the law) as a problem,
and though it didn't directly affect him, he decided to act."

The city maintains that Beat Feet combats crime in areas that serve as
drive-throughs for johns and drug buyers by sending a zero-tolerance message.

Neighborhood groups overwhelmingly approved the program. Horton's own
neighborhood has been a target area, with enforcers conducting stings just
blocks from his modest home.

He insists he does not support the bad guys. He just believes there must be
a better way to battle them.

"Oakland has shown a total disregard for people's rights," he said. "They
have no concern for taking cars, (even) if that's the only car people have.
It could cause a whole ripple effect on a family. It could just devastate
them, but they don't care."