Kansas Highway Patrol seizes 1959 Corvette from innocent owner and now wants to destroy it
By Daniel Strohl on Sep 4th, 2021 at 8:00 am
Under civil asset forfeiture laws, states across the country have the right to confiscate property from somebody accused of a crime, even if the person is later cleared of any wrongdoing. In Kansas, that means one man may never get to enjoy the 1959 Chevrolet Corvette that he bought and that the Kansas Highway Patrol now wants to destroy. From the Kansas Justice Institute:
Mr. Martinez bought the classic car in 2016, went to register it in Kansas, and KHP discovered there were VIN issues. The Kansas Highway Patrol then seized the car even though Mr. Martinez was unaware of those issues. In fact, the government’s attorney admits Mr. Martinez is innocent. But, instead of returning the classic car, the government has spent years in court working to destroy the Corvette. After acknowledging Mr. Martinez’s innocence, the Kansas Highway Patrol still argues that the vehicle must be taken from Mr. Martinez as “contraband” and has spent years trying to demolish the vehicle.
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= new reply since forum marked as read
It is an example of the intersection of legislative overreach and law enforcement working hard to crawl up its own ass while turning a profit. This is just power mad assholes feeding their decaying empires. However wrong it is that someone lost a vintage 'vette, I don't care so much about the folks losing their 60+ year old classic car worth $50,000. I care mostly about folks like single moms losing $500 beaters that can cost them jobs, homes and child custody. These officers and the lawmakers that give them such power are absolutely the vectors for disease eating our society similar to flesh eating bacteria.
Events like these inspire despair, anger, hopelessness and fear. Absolutely nothing good comes from this. Well maybe cops get new cars and more bullets. 
