Posted on 06/07/2012 4:57:15 AM PDT by marktwain
GREELEY, Colo. – A Colorado woman has filed a lawsuit after agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the ATF, entered her home without a warrant and threatened her and her 8-year old-son while looking for a previous tenant who had left the address more than a year earlier.
According to the filing from Linda Griego, it was on June 15, 2010, when officers with the ATF – as part of the Regional Anti-Gang Enforcement Task Force – violently entered her home without a warrant, handcuffed and pointed guns at her and her son, Colby Frias.
“They had multiple machine pistols pointed at my son. I could see the laser sights on his body and he began to freak out. While I was cuffed I had to calm him down while the officers broke down his bedroom door,” she said.
Her legal action is against the Greeley Police Department and the ATF for illegally entering the home without a warrant.
David Lane, Griego’s attorney, told WND that to this day the agency still has not produced a warrant authorizing it to enter her home. He said Frias continues to suffer nightmares about the events of that day.
A couple of months ago, Frias had a friend over to the house, and the family had ordered pizza. When it arrived, the delivery driver gave a loud knock on the door.
“It scared my son so bad he jumped over the couch to hide. This was two years later, and it still bothered him,” Griego said.
In the months following the incident, Frias was so scared he had to sleep with his mother.
“Here he is an 8-year-old boy, and he is sleeping with mom again,” she said.
(Excerpt) Read more at wnd.com ...
You. Are. Wrong.
These tactical assault teams are injurious to the safety and security of every person in the State wherein they are practiced; further, they are injurious to the rights guaranteed by the Bill of Rights, they are -- whether intentionally or accidentally -- designed to create a system wherein the presumption of "bad guy" is upon the target, and any "suspicious movement" or "resistance" is grounds for "legitimately" killing him. (Violating the 5th Amendment) Also, it is not uncommon that the warrants in such cases are such that they do not particularly describe a thing but rather describe an entire class of things, which should technically invalidate the warrant. (Violating the 4th Amendment)
Thank you.
I knew about the IN SC ruling, wrote a bit about how the judged should have been prosecuted for felonies.
I was unsure whether the IN bill had been signed; glad to see it was.
According to the article NO ONE HAS PRODUCED A WARRANT. They (the cops ) kick in doors threaten with death the occupants of the residence & when they find nothing stonewall . Sound about right for cops in this day & age.
I like the new law it is clear. I know that USSC had ruled that we had the right anyway but it is go to have a clear law also.
You forgot to mention that they gave medals to all the SWAP cops involved in that FUBAR operation.
Each time, Griego told authorities she was no longer living at the address and even provided them with information on how to locate Nicholson.
“I tell them to contact social services because she is getting government benefits. She is on Section 8 housing, if the state is paying her rent, they should be able to find her,” Griego said. “I have even seen her at Wal-Mart all the time. How hard can it be for authorities to track this woman down?
Begs the question doesn't it? Authorities had already been told the person of interest had moved out, yet they forced their way in to search for her without a search warrant.
An arrest warrant is completely beside the point since having been told multiple times that she wasn't living there, they weren't there to arrest per se, they were there to search the premises because they believed the currant occupant to be lying. Which means they were searching w/o a search warrant.
They can dress it up all they want, but the facts reported suggest they were jackbooting the constitution (again).
I'm done cutting LEO slack and giving them the benefit of the doubt on these issues. It's clear to me that many agencies are out of control and disrespect and abuse our constitution for their own convenience. The ATF is a particularly egregious offender and should be disbanded.
Each time, Griego told authorities she was no longer living at the address and even provided them with information on how to locate Nicholson.
“I tell them to contact social services because she is getting government benefits. She is on Section 8 housing, if the state is paying her rent, they should be able to find her,” Griego said. “I have even seen her at Wal-Mart all the time. How hard can it be for authorities to track this woman down?
Begs the question doesn't it? Authorities had already been told the person of interest had moved out, yet they forced their way in to search for her without a search warrant.
An arrest warrant is completely beside the point since having been told multiple times that she wasn't living there, they weren't there to arrest per se, they were there to search the premises because they believed the currant occupant to be lying. Which means they were searching w/o a search warrant.
They can dress it up all they want, but the facts reported suggest they were jackbooting the constitution (again).
I'm done cutting LEO slack and giving them the benefit of the doubt on these issues. It's clear to me that many agencies are out of control and disrespect and abuse our constitution for their own convenience. The ATF is a particularly egregious offender and should be disbanded.
Arrest warrants give the authorities the right to search a premise for the body of the person listed in the arrest warrant, and for that only.
The ATF seemed to have chose not to believe this woman for reasons unknown but they were not necessarily obligated to believe her. Why they did not is beyond the scope of the story and this argument because we do not have the government’s side of this incident.
Only in your mind....
Then pleas illustrate how my reasoning is wrong and the practices are indeed for the good and betterment of society.
Since the ATF has a history of murdering innocent citizens as well has lying to the courts, congress and the public to cover up illegal activities (Gunwalking being the most recent), etc., I really see no reason to believe them or their version over that of the citizen.
This is what happens when law enforcement starts doing things the easy way instead of the constitutional way. They destroy the rule of law with their own lawlessness and can no longer be believed or trusted.
That’s the fruit they’ve grown by pissing on the tree of liberty.
Also, they’ll need a reasonable basis to believe the suspect is inside, not stale information based on last known address.
Again, no word from the ATF on how they gathered their intelligence, e.g., human sources, surveillance, wiretaps, etc.
No reasonable and responsible supervisory agent would sign off on an operations order than had stale address (as in months old) information.
There is more to the story. All I am asking people to do is be skeptical of one sided stories.
This is the ATF we're talking about, remember? Reasonable and responsible doesn't seem to be their hallmark.
Their side of the story will never get told, they'll just settle this at the taxpayer's expense and continue merrily violating the law and our rights.
Checking recent utility or phone bills and the like are far too sophisticated investigative techniques for the ATF. Sheesh!
It's as plain as the nose on Bill Clinton's face that they didn't do enough to know the person they wanted had left a year earlier. Which any Barney Fife could find out in five minutes.
Here’s the filing http://www.scribd.com/doc/95498950/Griego-v-Steinhage, which alleges the defendants relied on a two year old address listing and had no “lawfully executed” warrant.
Interestingly, the lawyer David Lane has a wiki page because he is a member of the ACLU and represented Ward Churchill.
Yes, good catch. They can’t be carefully assessing each situation tactically and still hitting the wrong houses with this degree of regularity.
“I hope that at least most of our military, our FBI, and our police will be on the side of our citizens if a showdown comes.”
My son, 8 yrs in the Marine Corps, and now some years as a deputy sheriff, says the elite military will for sure be on the side of we the people. He thinks most sheriff’s depts will also side with we the people when thed SHTF. And We the People have the largest armed force in the world.
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