(Story from the Iowa Capital Dispatch) – A civil lawsuit alleges an Iowa State Patrol trooper has a history of bullying citizens and initiating illegal searches. Dominic Tangen of Black Hawk County is suing Trooper Bryce Bilharz, alleging he’s guilty of “humiliating and bullying” citizens, and Trooper Michelle Beck of the Iowa State Patrol in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Iowa. In his lawsuit, Tangen alleges that on the afternoon of July 12, 2023, he was northbound on Highway 63 in Bremer County when he was pulled over by Bilharz, who correctly suspected Tangen’s car windows were tinted darker than allowed by Iowa law. During the stop, Bilharz allegedly asked Tangen “about the red tint inside his mouth,” and Tangen replied that he had acetaminophen tablets dissolving on his tongue, adding that he often used the pain reliever to help manage pain related to sciatica in his legs. A bottle of acetaminophen tablets was sitting in plain view in the passenger seat, the lawsuit claims.

At that point, the lawsuit alleges, Bilharz frisked Tangen, searched him, placed him in his patrol car and asked him to submit to field sobriety tests. Tangen agreed but allegedly told Bilharz he might be unable to keep his balance due to his sciatica. In his police report, Bilharz said he observed indicators of impairment during Tangen’s performance of the “walk and turn test” and the “one-leg stand test” — although, the lawsuit claims, a preliminary breathalyzer test administered at the scene indicated Tangen had a blood-alcohol level of 0.000. Bilharz allegedly handcuffed Tangen and transported him to the Bremer County Sheriff’s Department for a urine test. At the sheriff’s department, Tangen consented to a second blood-alcohol test that allegedly indicated a blood-alcohol level of 0.000.

While being detained for roughly three hours, Tangen alleges, he was only allowed to use the bathroom once, when Bilharz and Beck collected a urine sample for a drug test. Tangen alleges he was then arrested for operating a vehicle while intoxicated, was stripped and placed in a holding cell. The lawsuit claims “Tangen was released after 9 p.m., after being held for almost six hours, and was given his keys and a note as to where he could find his truck.”  Court records show that on Sept. 28, 2023, the Bremer County Attorney’s Office filed a motion to dismiss the OWI charge against Tangen, informing the court the state lacked “sufficient evidence to proceed with the prosecution.”

According to the criminal court file, county prosecutors acknowledged the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation’s laboratory had “made three examinations or evaluations” of Tangen’s urine and “all three resulted in a determination that no detectable level of controlled substances was present in the defendant’s body when the sample was taken.” The records also indicate Bilharz’s decision to arrest Tangen was based in part on Bilharz’s status as a drug recognition expert and his alleged observations of Tangen being talkative, “constantly sniffling his nose,” and displaying body tremors during the traffic stop. Throughout Tangen’s encounter with Bilharz, the lawsuit states, the trooper “bullied” Tangen and behaved in a “condescending” manner.

The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages for unlawful search and seizure, false arrest and abuse of process. According to the Iowa State Patrol’s Facebook page, Bilharz graduated from the Iowa Department of Public Safety Academy in 2020, has worked with the patrol’s District 10 team in Oelwein, and is a field training officer and defensive tactics instructor.