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Posted on 05/19/2010 2:39:42 PM PDT by Former Military Chick
To hear them tell it, the officers who apprehended 39-year-old David Pyles on March 8 thwarted a mass murder. The cops “were able to successfully take a potentially volatile male subject into protective custody for a mental evaluation,” the Medford, Oregon, police department announced in a press release. The subject had been placed on administrative leave from his job not long before, was “very disgruntled,” and had recently purchased several firearms. “Local Law Enforcement agencies were extremely concerned that the subject was planning retaliation against his employers,” the press release said. Fortunately, Pyles “voluntarily” turned himself over to police custody, and his legally purchased firearms “were seized for safekeeping.”
This supposedly voluntary exchange involved two SWAT teams, officers from Medford and nearby Roseburg, sheriff’s deputies from Jackson and Douglas counties, and the Oregon State Police. Pyles hadn’t committed any crime; nor was he suspected of having committed one. The police never obtained a warrant for either search or arrest. They never consulted with a judge or a mental health professional before sending military-style tactical teams to take Pyles in.
“They woke me up with a phone call at about 5:50 in the morning,” Pyles says. “I looked out the window and saw the SWAT team pointing their guns at my house. The officer on the phone told me to turn myself in. I told them I would, on three conditions. I would not be handcuffed. I would not be taken off my property. And I would not be forced to get a mental health evaluation. He agreed. The second I stepped outside, they jumped me. Then they handcuffed me, took me off my property, and took me to get a mental health evaluation.”
By noon, Pyles had already been released from the Rogue Valley Medical Center with a clean bill of mental health. Four days later the Medford Police Department returned Pyles’ guns, despite telling him earlier in the week—falsely—that he would need to undergo a second background check before he could get them back. The Medford Police Department then put out a second press release, this time announcing that it had returned the “disgruntled” worker’s guns and “now considers this matter closed.”
There’s nothing wrong with looking for signs that someone is about to snap. If he is waving multiple red flags, we’d certainly want law enforcement to investigate. And obviously if someone has made specific threats, a criminal investigation should follow. But that’s a far cry from what happened to Pyles.
Pyles’ problems followed a series of grievances with his employer, the Oregon Department of Transportation. “It was never personal,” he says. “We were handling the grievances through the process stipulated in the union contract.” (Pyles declined to discuss the nature of the complaints, citing conditions in his contract.) On March 4 he was placed on administrative leave, which required him to work from home. On March 5, 6, and 7, after getting his income tax refund, he made three purchases of five firearms. Pyles describes himself as a gun enthusiast who already owned several weapons.
All three purchases required an Oregon background check, which would have prohibited the transactions had Pyles ever been convicted of a felony or a misdemeanor involving violence or been committed by the state to a mental health institution. Pyles says he has no criminal record, and he says he never threatened anyone in his office. (Later reports confirmed that Pyles never made any threat of violence.) The Oregon State Police, the Medford Police Department, and the Oregon Department of Transportation did not respond to requests for comment.
“In my opinion, the apprehension of David Pyles was a violation of Oregon’s kidnapping laws,” says James Leuenberger, a criminal defense attorney who is advising Pyles. “He definitely deserves to be compensated for what they did to him, but even if he wins a civil rights suit, that will just result in the officers’ employers paying for their mistakes.” That means the final tab will be paid by Oregon taxpayers, not the offending cops. “I want these law enforcement officials held personally responsible,” Leuenberger says. “I want them criminally charged.”
It’s hard to see that happening. Joseph Bloom, a psychiatrist at Oregon Health and Science University and an expert on civil commitment law, says the police who apprehended and detained Pyles likely were acting within the state’s laws. Bloom says the police are permitted to decide on their own to take someone in for an evaluation, and that there’s no requirement that they first consult with a judge or a mental health professional.
Bloom believes this is a wise policy. “It’s important to remember that this is a civil process,” he says. “There’s no arrest. These people aren’t being taken to jail. It’s not a criminal action.”
SWAT teams, guns, and handcuffs …but not a criminal action? And what if Pyles had refused to “voluntarily” surrender to the police? “Well, yes,” Bloom says. “I guess then it would become a criminal matter.”
If what happened to Pyles is legal in Oregon or elsewhere, we need to take a second look at the civil commitment power. Even setting aside the SWAT overkill in Medford, there’s something discomfiting about granting the government the power to yank someone from his home based only on a series of actions that were perfectly lawful.
Even if the apprehension of Pyles was legal, the seizure of his guns was not. Civil commitment laws do not authorize the police to search a private residence. According to Pyles, he closed the door behind him as he left his home. Because the police didn’t have a search warrant, they had no right to enter Pyles’ home, much less take weapons that he bought and possessed legally.
“For me,” says Pyles, “this is about civil rights. This seems like something the NRA and the ACLU can agree on. South Oregon is big gun country. If something like this can happen here, where just about everyone owns a gun, it can happen anywhere.”
Radley Balko (rbalko@reason.com) is a senior editor at reason.
“They woke me up with a phone call at about 5:50 in the morning,” Pyles says. “I looked out the window and saw the SWAT team pointing their guns at my house. The officer on the phone told me to turn myself in. I told them I would, on three conditions. I would not be handcuffed. I would not be taken off my property. And I would not be forced to get a mental health evaluation. He agreed. The second I stepped outside, they jumped me. Then they handcuffed me, took me off my property, and took me to get a mental health evaluation.”
Well... what can I say ... they will always lie in situations like that.... you can count on it ... :-)
Americans have a lot of work to do before we can reclaim our liberty and freedoms. Getting rid of SWAT teams is a necessary step.
I agree with both of you. But it ain’t going to happen. If anything, they will be promoted.
I'd be outraged if they asked if he was an illegal alien...!
>>Psychiatrists: The Men Behind Hitler, authors Thomas Roeder, Volker Kubillus and Anthony Burwell
This is an rather informative book on the subject, albeit from a Scientology press, and explains in detail how the Psychiatric community in Germany supported Nazism.
An event like this would have gone wrong at my house.
I’m normally up by that hour. Our dogs would have gone crazy and let me know something was up.
As soon as I saw armed men coming toward our house, things would have gone rapidly downhill.
Multiply me by about 300,000 other homeowners and you’re just asking for something like this to end badly.
I really doubt the cops have any idea just how lucky they were.
I wouldn't expect much. This is what happens with the increased militarization of local law enforcement. On a different thread today, one of our Freepers posted something to the effect that when he questioned his LEO brother-in-law about how they viewed the Oathkeepers, he was told they had it on their potential terrorist watchlist; simply incredible. This is vintage Obama administration paranoia which views all critics as "potential domestic terrorists". The so called "fusion centers" are intended to link all of the LEOs to the federal government in the event of domestic hostilities, especially those aimed at removing a tyrannical government. Bottom line: don't depend on the LEOs.
Money quote.
I almost always defend the police.
Not this time. This was a violent kidnapping.
Oregon Department of Transportation
Hmmmm....A government department, go figure.
He should sue, as it sounds like his “constitutional” rights, we severely violated.
Accordingly to the Libs, Arizona has become a Nazi state.
Meanwhile, over in Oregon ...
Well, no. It's criminal conduct. And FELONY criminal conduct, at that.
Title 18, United States Code, U.S. Criminal Code Section 242:
Deprivation of rights under color of law
Whoever, under color of any law, statute, ordinance, regulation, or custom, willfully subjects any person in any State, Territory, Commonwealth, Possession, or District to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured or protected by the Constitution or laws of the United States, or to different punishments, pains, or penalties, on account of such person being an alien, or by reason of his color, or race, than are prescribed for the punishment of citizens, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both;
and if bodily injury results from the acts committed in violation of this section or if such acts include the use, attempted use, or threatened use of a dangerous weapon, explosives, or fire, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; and if death results from the acts committed in violation of this section or if such acts include kidnapping or an attempt to kidnap, aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to commit aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to kill, shall be fined under this title, or imprisoned for any term of years or for life, or both, or may be sentenced to death.
A person not from Earth came to our planet and surmised that the most powerful person was a psychiatrist. Cops and lawyers and judges have to actually convict you of a crime, convince a jury of your peers, and lock you up for a determined sentence.
A psychiatrist can lock a person up indefinitely based upon their own opinion.
>I really doubt the cops have any idea just how lucky they were.
Indeed.
>or may be sentenced to death.
If we applied that sentence to officers who do the no-knock-warrant/home-invasion SWAT teams, how long would it be before the police started behaving politely towards [other] Citizens?
RKBA bump.
Pretty much. Resisting arrest, comrade?
Did they at least kill his dog?
Here in Pennsylvania, it seems like every cop is on some sort of tactical team or wishes they were. I love it when I see them walk around with their "bloused" BDUs on, when the reality is that its unlikely they could even hump a rifle and their gear 5 feet let alone 5 miles.
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