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Police blew up an innocent man’s house in search of an armed shoplifter. Too bad, court rules.
Washington Post ^ | Octoer 30,2019 | Meagan Flynn

Posted on 10/30/2019 12:11:07 PM PDT by Hojczyk

When they were finished, it looked as though the Greenwood Village, Colo., police had blasted rockets through the house.

Projectiles were still lodged in the walls. Glass and wooden paneling crumbled on the ground below the gaping holes, and inside, the family’s belongings and furniture appeared thrashed in a heap of insulation and drywall. Leo Lech, who rented the home to his son, thought it looked like al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden’s compound after the raid that killed him.

But now it was just a neighborhood crime scene, the suburban home where an armed Walmart shoplifting suspect randomly barricaded himself after fleeing the store on a June afternoon in 2015. For 19 hours, the suspect holed up in a bathroom as a SWAT team fired gas munition and 40-millimeter rounds through the windows, drove an armored vehicle through the doors, tossed flash-bang grenades inside and used explosives to blow out the walls.

The suspect was captured alive, but the home was utterly destroyed, eventually condemned to be demolished by the City of Greenwood Village.

The suspect, Robert Jonathan Seacat, had stolen a shirt and a couple of belts from a Walmart in neighboring Aurora, Colo., and then fled in a Lexus, according to a police affidavit.

(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...


TOPICS: Chit/Chat
KEYWORDS: armedshoplifter; colorado; copsneedjailtime; dudewheremyhouse; incompetent; judiciary; philipabrimmer; police; rougecops; shouldbecarpenters; superdougnuteaters; usednukeonspider; wtf
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To: Faith Presses On

Huh. Someone posted here that the father owned the house.


141 posted on 10/30/2019 3:20:00 PM PDT by SkyDancer ( ~ Just Consider Me A Random Fact Generator ~ Eat Sleep Fly Repeat ~)
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To: Darksheare
His new home!


142 posted on 10/30/2019 3:24:17 PM PDT by TexasGator (Z1z)
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To: SkyDancer

“The WaPoop headline was posted here and that’s what I read.”

Congratulations!


143 posted on 10/30/2019 3:26:42 PM PDT by TexasGator (Z1z)
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To: TexasGator

Love your demeanor. Goes well with you.


144 posted on 10/30/2019 3:30:25 PM PDT by SkyDancer ( ~ Just Consider Me A Random Fact Generator ~ Eat Sleep Fly Repeat ~)
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To: Hojczyk
As usual, some of the posts show that some FReepersdon't actually read the story before commenting.(not you)

Yes, this was shoplifting...before he shot at the cops.

Then it became something else. Did Lech own the house?

His father said he didn't have renters insurance.

If he was renting why would he rebuild the house?

If he owned the home shouldn't his beef be with his homeowner's ins co?

I agree that this sucks and he should be fairly compensated by the city but his lawyer may have given him bad advice as to the grounds for sueing.

145 posted on 10/30/2019 3:45:36 PM PDT by Eagles6
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To: Darksheare

“They would have blown up Fido too if present.”

Two dogs were in the yard. Both survived.


146 posted on 10/30/2019 3:51:08 PM PDT by TexasGator (Z1z)
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To: cpdiii

Inhalation of high concentration ammonia is like breathing fire. The ammonia when it encounters moisture in the lungs becomes ammonium hydroxide which is caustic and deadly to tissue. It burns like fire. If one has every had a whiff of ammonia from cleaning fluids just multiply that by millions. That is what anhydrous ammonia is really like.

Due to an industrial accident I have had this experience but luckily no permanent harm. Your eyes stream tears and you can not see well, your lungs are on fire and you are coughing uncontrollable and oxygenation of your blood is most decreased due to your lungs refusing to accept bad air with ammonia in it. You pant, puff and cough and die.

The guy would come out and be very amenable. It is really a very nasty death.

This could only be used if only a bad guy is in the house. If innocents are in the house all is changed. If I were an innocent in that house I would not like that police department trying to rescue me.


147 posted on 10/30/2019 3:52:43 PM PDT by cpdiii ( canecutter, deckhand, roughneck, geologist, pilot, pharmacist THE CONSTITUTION IS WORTH DYING FOR)
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To: Notthereyet

Article: ““His out-of-pocket expenses to rebuild the house cost him nearly $400,000, he said. “

He chose to tear up the foundation and build a new luxury home to replace the 1974 house.

He could have rebuilt to original for no out-of-pocket expense.


148 posted on 10/30/2019 3:56:21 PM PDT by TexasGator (Z1z)
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To: Hojczyk

He was armed and he fired at the Police.
There have been many cases like this where tear gas shot into the building resulted in a fire which destroyed the place.

This is why you have home owners insurance.


149 posted on 10/30/2019 4:02:33 PM PDT by VicVanleeuwenhoek
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To: Eagles6

“If he owned the home shouldn’t his beef be with his homeowner’s ins co?”

Insurance paid him. City paid deductible. He chose to build a totally new luxury home.

Lawsuit didnt even detail losses. Merely asked the court to award a sum as it deemed plus expenses.


150 posted on 10/30/2019 4:03:08 PM PDT by TexasGator (Z1z)
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To: Darksheare; TexasGator; Eagles6
Here's something from the Denver Post article to club Trolling Gator over the head with, Darksheare:

Police also caused about $70,000 worth of damage to the house next door and insurance refused to compensate that homeowner, but the city only offered $2,000, Maxam said.

TG always stakes out a position on a controversial article and then trolls relentlessly without regards to the actual facts.

That's where the "IBTG" tag on the Waco motorcycle murders came from.

You know, TG, you'd have a lot more credibility if you actually did a deep dive before you started trolling.  face 

with tears of joy

151 posted on 10/30/2019 4:21:27 PM PDT by kiryandil (The Media & the DNC tells you who you're gonna vote for. We CHOSE Trump.)
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To: Faith Presses On; Erik Latranyi; SkyDancer
From everything I’ve read, the criminal and homeowner didn’t know each other; he just randomly ran to the house while trying to evade police.

Yes, correct.

You can read about the situation in the first pages of the 10th District 3-judge panel's decision:

https://www.ca10.uscourts.gov/opinions/18/18-1051.pdf [October 29, 2019]

This is quite the fascinating case, and I'm doing a deep dive on the judicial players.

Fascinating that there's a number of posters claiming that the homeowner and the gunman are related, when that's patently NOT true [see above PDF].

It's also interesting that the 4 judges involved don't seem to have an answer to a commonsense question - why can the government obliterate your innocent house and then flip you off because it's not a "taking"?

Perhaps an interested government would proactively make some helpful suggestions about compensation for an innocent bystander that got hit by the law enforcement train.

152 posted on 10/30/2019 4:37:54 PM PDT by kiryandil (The Media & the DNC tells you who you're gonna vote for. We CHOSE Trump.)
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To: kiryandil

How many times have you read where cops get off after beating up someone?


153 posted on 10/30/2019 4:39:11 PM PDT by SkyDancer ( ~ Just Consider Me A Random Fact Generator ~ Eat Sleep Fly Repeat ~)
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To: kiryandil

“TG always stakes out a position on a controversial article and then trolls relentlessly without regards to the actual facts.”

I am the one with the facts.

“You know, TG, you’d have a lot more credibility if you actually did a deep dive before you started trolling. “

LOL! That is where I get my facts which, BTW, you do not dispute but choose only to attack me personally.

Please: NO profanity, NO personal attacks, NO racism or violence in posts.


154 posted on 10/30/2019 4:42:38 PM PDT by TexasGator (Z1z)
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To: kiryandil

Perhaps you should read the lawsuit in your deep dive.


155 posted on 10/30/2019 4:43:54 PM PDT by TexasGator (Z1z)
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To: ican'tbelieveit

In my mine this is similar to the hi-speed pursuit ROE that LE agencies had to put in place to prevent accidents to innocent bystanders and property. Unless extreme circumstances warrant the chase, the police break off the chase. But in this instance they get to shoot their guns, break out the big toys and blow shit up...


156 posted on 10/30/2019 4:48:49 PM PDT by shotgun
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To: kiryandil

“TG always stakes out a position”

Please cite that position!


157 posted on 10/30/2019 4:51:59 PM PDT by TexasGator (Z1z)
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To: kiryandil

“That’s where the “IBTG” tag on the Waco motorcycle murders came from.”

Are you referring to where those dope-dealing gangsters chose to have a shoot-out at a family plaza on a Sunday afternoon?


158 posted on 10/30/2019 4:56:58 PM PDT by TexasGator (Z1z)
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To: Darksheare
And now for the rest of the story.

Philip A. Brimmer initially ruled against Lech et al. in May of 2018.

Philip A. Brimmer (born March 15, 1959) is the Chief United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Colorado. He is the son of Clarence Addison Brimmer Jr., a former federal judge in Wyoming.

Brimmer was appointed by George W. Bush.

The current ruling was by a 3-judge panel of the United States Court Of Appeals For The Tenth Circuit [Before HOLMES, McKAY, and MORITZ, Circuit Judges].

Jerome Holmes was appointed by George W. Bush [67-30 confirmation vote].

Monroe G. McKay was appointed by Jimmah Carter, and is 91 years old. This inspires confidence in me [not].

Nancy Moritz was appointed by ClownBammy [60-38 cloture vote, 90-3 confirmation vote].

=================

The decision referenced in the PDF doesn't indicate whether it was unanimous or split. It was delivered by Nancy Moritz.

159 posted on 10/30/2019 4:57:25 PM PDT by kiryandil (The Media & the DNC tells you who you're gonna vote for. We CHOSE Trump.)
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To: TexasGator
Are you referring to where those dope-dealing gangsters chose to have a shoot-out at a family plaza on a Sunday afternoon?

I'm referring to the motorcyclists who were murdered by law enforcement with assault weapons.

You've been kind of scarce on the Waco threads lately.

What up wit dat?   face 

with tears of joy face 

with tears of joy face 

with tears of joy face 

with tears of joy

160 posted on 10/30/2019 4:59:35 PM PDT by kiryandil (The Media & the DNC tells you who you're gonna vote for. We CHOSE Trump.)
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