Posted on 10/11/2012 9:58:26 AM PDT by Altariel
Paul Brown was working on his computer in his north suburban home when police smashed in the front door, pointed guns at and handcuffed him and other family members, and ransacked the house in a search for drugs.
The authorities had burst in immediately after a postal worker delivered a package to the home that they said contained marijuana. But a search of the house found no further contraband, and officers left without making an arrest.
Brown, outraged, said he was sure the cops had the wrong house. Police maintained they had the right place, but the target of their investigation wasn’t there at the time.
Brown, a 58-year-old who works in building design, said he supports law enforcement in general. But he said innocent bystanders shouldn’t be subject to such dangerous and damaging searches without any compensation.
“I was scared to death,” he said. “I really felt like a hostage. These guys are supposed to be on my side.”
The package delivered to the home in a middle-class neighborhood on Adelphi Avenue was addressed to someone named Oscar, who Brown said has never lived there and is unknown to him.
Brown would have liked police to pay for the $3,000 leaded-and-stained-glass door, lock and frame they broke, to clean up the mess they made, and to apologize. Police say that won’t happen.
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...
“Get a nasty-faced lawyer.”
Get a nice Jewish lawyer, dressed in Hasidim garb affiliated with the ACLU. That I’ll do it.
BTW I am not anti-Semitic just a realist.
“Make it a crime to raid a house ‘by mistake’”
It is a crime: breaking and entering. Also, illegal search. They just don’t enforce it because cops are above the law unless it affects some politically important group or person.
“How about...”
No, because their convenience trumps your rights. SCOTUS says so. The chance that a peep will escape or evidence be destroyed constitutes an emergency akin to damsels in distress.
If they start with the drug war defenders, that'll at least be a silver lining in the cloud.
Mr. Brown needs to have a little, ahem, discussion with his mailman.
Or a very large Greek gentleman...
Then they will just plant drugs (more often than now) on the innocent and never make a "mistake" again.
I don’t believe I claimed the post was coming from the home computer / laptop.
;-)
Seriously, not all Freepers post from their home computers, and most Freepers have access to multiple computers (work, library, relatives, friends, etc.)
I wonder how long it will take Mr. Brown’s neighbors to realize that with a “suspiciously dropped off package”, they *too* can be the victims of a Government Employee Invasion?
The Drug warriors have done a number on the US Constitution.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.