The real lesson in this story is not so much about what most people will see on the surface or what race baiters will try to push. It's not about the cop at all. It's about big government, the lack of freedom and the lack of a free market. Asset forfeiture has been legalized for a quite a while and yes it is theft just like taxes. You see in a true free market you would not have welfare but that would not matter because you would have the freedom of creating your income through small business or micro business. Many people blame our economic problems on the free market but the truth is that it doesn't exist. We have a command centrally planned economy. True free market capitalism is the free exchange of goods and services without government intervention and without a central bank. That stopped existing in this country 104 yrs ago when a command economy was adopted and a central banking cartel implemented The IRS who's true purpose is to collect the interest payments from the people on behalf of the banks was created simultaneously. All the regulations in this economy are sold as "for our own good and safety but what they are really about is protecting the polically connected corporations from smaller competition. Our system is not about competition or free enterprise. It's a form of socialism as the losses are socialized and the gains go to the politically connected and their cronys.