Posted on 11/17/2017 11:56:53 AM PST by Vigilanteman
A Buffalo Township couple is suing the township police and the Nationwide Insurance Co. after, their lawsuit says, hibiscus plants growing in their backyard were mistaken for marijuana plants.
In a lawsuit, Edward Cramer, 69, and his wife, Audrey Cramer, 66, claim that Buffalo Township police handcuffed them both and made them sit in the back of a police car for hours last month as police ransacked their house looking for marijuana.
But rather than running a pot-growing operation, the Cramers say they grow flowering hibiscus in their backyard.
The Cramers were not charged.
They filed a civil lawsuit Thursday in Butler County Court against Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co., Nationwide agent Jonathan Yeamans, Buffalo Township and three of its police officers.
Among the allegations are use of excessive force, false arrest, false imprisonment, intentional infliction of emotional distress and invasion of privacy.
“Nationwide is not in a position to discuss the matter at this time,” company spokesman David Gilligan wrote in an email.
Buffalo Township police did not immediately return a request for comment.
The trouble started when a neighbor's tree fell on the Cramer's property in September.
The lawsuit states that Yeamans came to the property on Oct. 5 to investigate the insurance claim.
But the suit claims that Yeamans surreptitiously shot photos of the flowering hibiscus growing in the Cramers' backyard and sent them to police as evidence of a marijuana grow operation.
(Excerpt) Read more at triblive.com ...
“Hibiscus coccineus or scarlet rosemallow, is a hardy Hibiscus species that looks much like Cannabis sativa. “
I had LEO’s search my home cause I grew Bassia scoparia for a wind break in my garden. Anywhere a seed eating bird poops hemp may grow in Nebraska.
It shows the effectively unlimited power of the runaway State, and the absurdity of contraband law in any supposedly free society. Anyone who calls himself a "small government" conservative and believes in such arbitrary law is a hypocrite who puts nanny state Tyranny ahead of Liberty...
We live in Washington... the police were basically ignoring pot plants on medical calls we went to that they came to even before marijuana was legalized here. But yes most of it does stink and I have seen so much of it that I doubt whether I would make the same mistake.
“Swatting”
Swatting is the act of deceiving an emergency service (via such means as hoaxing an emergency services dispatcher) into sending a police and 9-1-1 emergency service response team to another person’s address, based on the false reporting of a serious law enforcement emergency, such as a bomb threat, murder, hostage-taking or other alleged incident. The term derives from SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics), a specialized type of police unit in the United States and many other countries carrying military-style equipment such as door breaching weapons, submachine guns and assault rifles.
Swatting has been associated with online harassment campaigns, and episodes ranging from small events to large incidents, from a single fabricated police report meant to discredit an individual as a prank or personal vendetta to the deployment of bomb squads, heavily armed SWAT units and other police units and the concurrent evacuations of schools and businesses.
Swatting has been described as terrorism due to its potential to cause disruption, wasting resources and time of emergency services, divert attention from real emergencies and possibly cause a risk of injuries and psychological harm to the persons targeted and for the first responders. It also causes money and tax dollars to be wasted by the city or county when responding to a false report of a serious law enforcement emergency. Swatting is linked to the action of doxing, which is obtaining and broadcasting, often via the Internet, the address and details of an individual with an intent to harass or endanger them. Making false reports to emergency services is a criminal offence in many countries, punishable by fines and imprisonment.
Wikipedia
Uh, you should read the article you posted.
I'm starting to think that before too long we'll be calling it "a futuristic utopia".
There’s always a silver lining...
Nice to see you, friend. :)
I think it was a bad insurance adjuster.
I was just to say something to that effect!
Good thing they didn't have a pitbull to protect their hibiscus! ;)
“If it were my place and my dog was shot, it would be the last act of the cop who shot her!”
They shot a dog over hibiscus plants?
Dreadful.
.
.
The cops figure it’s safe and good on their record as fighting the war on drugs. They keep their pensions. The insurance adjuster gets a raise for finding a bogus reason not to pay the claim.
Nice to “see” you too!! (How’s Joey doin’??)
Some people who are the most ignorant about the laws have badges and a gun.
Not the first time it has happened. There have been police that have invaded homes of people for just purchasing in home plant growing apparatus, commonly used for vegetables.
...the plants were hibiscus and noted the flowers clearly in bloom
Yet the police searched the house anyway. "I mean, heck, we're already here and have a warrant, so let's see what we can find."
“They shot a dog over hibiscus plants?
Dreadful.”
No they didn’t, I was just responding to an earlier post that said “it was good that the people who were raided didn’t have a dog.”
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