A late-night traffic stop in DeKalb, Texas, drew national backlash after bodycam footage showed officers ordering a paralyzed driver out of his car without a wheelchair, leaving him on the roadside while they searched the vehicle, and later refusing his request to use a catheter despite his warning that he was facing a medical emergency.
The encounter involved 28-year-old Jacob Jackson, who is paralyzed from the waist down, and his passenger Dallas Bruce, who is completely blind. The stop was featured by EWU Bodycam, which also included commentary from board-certified criminal defense attorney Bruce Rivers.
Police initially stopped Jackson because a rear license-plate light was out, but the encounter escalated after Officer William Rhodes said he smelled marijuana and announced that he had probable cause to search the vehicle.
No marijuana was found.
A Minor Traffic Stop Quickly Escalates
Bodycam footage shows the interaction beginning relatively calmly, with officers speaking to Jackson and Bruce and even chatting about the dog inside the vehicle.
Jackson told officers he did not have his wallet or identification with him and was trying to obtain proof of insurance.
The tone changed when Rhodes asked whether there was marijuana in the car.
Jackson’s wife, Caitlyn, denied it, while Rhodes insisted he could smell marijuana and asked whether everyone would consent to a search.
They refused.
Rhodes then told the occupants that the odor itself gave him probable cause and ordered everyone out.
That immediately created a problem because Bruce did not have his blind cane, while Jackson repeatedly explained that he could not walk and did not have his wheelchair.
Blind Passenger Shows Officers His Prosthetic Eyes
Bruce’s effort to explain his disability became one of the more unusual moments in the footage.
When officers continued ordering him out, he removed his prosthetic eyes and held them up as proof that he was completely blind.
An officer then helped guide him toward a patrol car.
Jackson, meanwhile, remained in the driver’s seat and repeatedly told Rhodes that he physically could not comply in the way the officer was demanding.
“My legs do not work,” Jackson said.
His wife also told police several times that he had no wheelchair and could not walk.
Rivers said the officers should have slowed the situation down once those facts became clear.
He noted that while police can be lied to during traffic stops, the circumstances here made Jackson’s explanation highly believable, especially after Bruce had just demonstrated his own severe disability.
‘If You’re Going to Crawl, Crawl Yourself Over’
The encounter became much more controversial when Jackson eventually maneuvered himself out of the car and onto the pavement.
Rather than helping him immediately into a safe position, Rhodes told him, “If you’re going to crawl, crawl yourself over that way, sir.”
Rivers reacted strongly to that moment.
“How cruel,” he said. “How absolutely insensitive and cruel.”
Jackson remained on the ground, angry and frustrated, while officers continued preparing to search the vehicle.
He complained that he could develop pressure sores from sitting on the pavement and repeatedly reminded officers that he had been forced into the situation because he did not have his wheelchair.
At one point, he managed to move himself back into the driver’s seat, where his legs could be seen shaking violently.
That led to another argument over whether officers could search the car while he remained inside.
Rhodes told Jackson that if he would not allow the search with him seated there, he would have to get back out.
Medical Issue Makes the Stop More Serious
The situation then took another troubling turn when Jackson said he needed to use a catheter.
He explained that his spinal injury required him to empty his bladder on a schedule and that delaying could cause a medical complication called autonomic dysreflexia.
Jackson asked whether he could retrieve the catheter from the back floorboard.
Initially, officers told him no and said they would wait until a lieutenant arrived.
“So I got to piss on myself?” Jackson asked.
When he later reached into the back seat to look for the catheter, Rhodes ordered him to stop.
Jackson again explained that he was not trying to hide anything and that he was dealing with a medical need.
Rivers criticized the response, saying the officers should have recognized that Jackson’s condition could create legitimate and potentially serious complications.
When Jackson indicated that he might have to use the catheter roadside, Rhodes warned that he could be charged with indecent exposure.
Rivers called that interpretation unreasonable, arguing that medical necessity and the circumstances should have been taken into account.
Lieutenant Arrives but the Search Continues
Eventually, Lieutenant Alexander Norman arrived at the scene.
By then, Jackson had already spent a significant amount of time arguing with officers about his inability to walk, his lack of a wheelchair and his need for medical accommodation.
The lieutenant did not bring a wheelchair.
Instead, the officers proceeded with their plan to get Jackson out of the vehicle and conduct the search.
Jackson declined to be physically lifted and instead moved himself backward toward the rear of the car.
He sat on the ground while officers searched the vehicle and its contents.
The search turned up no marijuana.
Officers did find an open container of alcohol, however, and that became the only criminal citation arising from the stop.
EWU Bodycam reported that Jackson also received a warning for the defective license-plate light.
Legal Commentator Says Officers Had Discretion
Rivers did not argue that police had no authority to conduct a search once they claimed probable cause based on marijuana odor.
Instead, much of his criticism focused on how they exercised their discretion after learning about Jackson’s disability.
He said officers have considerable room to decide how aggressively to handle a traffic stop and argued that this was a situation where backing off, slowing down or finding a safer accommodation would have cost very little.
Rivers also criticized Jackson’s tone at several points, saying motorists generally should not take an aggressive attitude with police because arguments can make an already tense stop worse.
Still, he repeatedly returned to the same conclusion: Jackson was mistreated.
“This is a lesson in what not to do in terms of police work,” Rivers said.
That distinction matters because the problem was not only whether police had legal authority to search, but how they treated a disabled person while carrying it out.
Jackson Was Convicted on the Open-Container Charge
According to EWU Bodycam, Jackson was later convicted of possessing an alcoholic beverage in a motor vehicle and fined $250.
His defense subsequently argued that his due-process rights had been violated because he was forced to attend a trial without proper notice and had been deprived of his constitutional right to counsel.
A motion to set aside the judgment and obtain a new trial was filed in August 2025, but a judge denied it the following month.
Jackson later discussed the case on his TikTok account, saying an attorney who had considered taking a civil case had become less interested after the criminal conviction remained in place.
The traffic stop therefore ended with a relatively minor open-container conviction, but the bodycam footage created consequences far beyond the citation itself.
Officers and Supervisors Faced Fallout
After the footage circulated publicly, the DeKalb Police Department came under intense criticism.
EWU Bodycam reported that Police Chief Chris Atkinson and Lieutenant Norman later submitted their resignations.
The mayor said those decisions were personal and were made by the men themselves.
Rhodes later moved to the Commerce Police Department, where his hiring drew further scrutiny because officials knew about the DeKalb traffic stop.
Commerce initially defended hiring him, saying he had acknowledged mistakes and showed potential to improve with training.
Less than three weeks after city officials publicly defended that decision, Rhodes was terminated during his probationary period for violating department policies in a separate matter.
Officer Foster, the other officer involved in the original stop, remained listed with the DeKalb Police Department under new leadership.
A Stop Remembered More for Treatment Than the Charge
The final outcome of the stop was an open-container citation, a $250 fine and no marijuana discovered in the car.
What made the case nationally significant was not the charge, but the way officers handled a driver who repeatedly told them he could not walk, did not have his wheelchair and needed help managing a serious medical condition.
The bodycam footage shows Jackson arguing, swearing and challenging the officers, but it also shows police continuing with a rigid approach even after his physical limitations were obvious.
Rivers’ criticism was ultimately less about whether police had authority and more about judgment.
Officers had discretion throughout the encounter, and the footage suggests there were several opportunities to slow things down, obtain proper assistance or make basic accommodations without compromising the search.
Instead, the stop became a case study in how quickly a routine equipment violation can turn into a much larger controversy when disability, medical needs and police authority collide.
Raised in a small Arizona town, Kevin grew up surrounded by rugged desert landscapes and a family of hunters. His background in competitive shooting and firearms training has made him an authority on self-defense and gun safety. A certified firearms instructor, Kevin teaches others how to properly handle and maintain their weapons, whether for hunting, home defense, or survival situations. His writing focuses on responsible gun ownership, marksmanship, and the role of firearms in personal preparedness.
