Haven't read the opinion yet (I'm listening to the oral argument right now), but for those with some familiarity with the legal issues here, what's curious is that the plaintiff didn't file a Bivens action, but old-fashioned common-law claims for assault & battery (and intentional infliction of emotional distress).
I am thankful the court held the illegal home raiders guilty. I am not happy that the finding was due to their abuse of children and not the abuse of the parents in being so incompetent that they raided the wrong home and victimized innocent people.
We need a law on protecting innocents from wrongful raids. If the price is high enough, they will make sure they have the right address before terrorizing Americans. This is carelessness and unprofessionalism and there is no cost in it to the raiding agencies.
U.S. District Court Magistrate Craig M. Kellison ... cited a Supreme Court precedent acknowledging that the “freedom of individuals verbally to oppose or challenge police action without thereby risking arrest is one of the principal characteristics by which we distinguish a free nation from a police state.”...
Guess we know what we're living in...
I had this happen to a neighbor of mine. It was a middle-aged couple from Alabama. They bought the house next door to us that had been vacant for 3 years.
The people who owned it previously were definitely BAD people. They had been a blight to everyone in the neighborhood and basically terrorized the entire block to do anything to stop them because they did retalliate - not directly, but to your property (tires ice-picked, garbage in your yard, on your roof, eggs on your car and house) - stuff you could never prove.
Anyway, the BAD family were using their 5 year old kid to sneak into peoples homes and steal stuff. They finally got caught but they all beat town and were never seen again. Several family members and extended family members had lived in the house and no doubt drug dealing was probably going on.
Back to the couple from Alabama. As I mentioned the house was left vacant three years. HUD had the place remodeled - they had to completely tear everything out of the house, carpet, dry wall, all appliances - bathrooms - tile - everything. It looked pretty nice after the remodel and then this couple, with a 15 yr old daughter, from Alabama bought the place.
We got to meet them and found them to be very nice and great neighbors. After they had been in the house for a few months, in the middle of the night, cops by the truck full, SWAT, etc. broke down the door with guns drawn. They dragged this couple out of bed, as well as their daughter out of her bed, to the floor, guns to their heads, handcuffed, the works.
After several minutes the cops finally realized this was not the people they were after - it was someone from the BAD family that they wanted - who had left the place over three years ago. The easiest indicator that they had the wrong couple was that the people the cops were after were black - this couple from Alabama was white. Kind of difficult to miss even at night with thirty flashlights on you.
After they realized their mistake the “police” left - no apologies - no offer to fix the damage. This poor shaken couple unfortunately did not pursue legal action. I guess they didn’t want any trouble since they had just moved in, I don’t know. Anyway, how could that happen??
Don’t these guys recon these places before busting in the door, don’t they watch the place? I mean they must have spent thousands on that raid - how in God’s Name would they have not made absolutely sure they had the right people. They had the right place - three years too late - and totally wrong people!!
Administrative Punishment; TEN LASHES
Then they are fired.
No pay, no benefits, no retirement, no rehire, no nothing.
.
Extra! Extra! Blind squirrel finds nut!
How nice of the DEA to condition young girls to become easy prey for criminals.
What’s next? Will the want ad literally read:
Wanted: Men who are willing to scream obscenities at and bind young girls after ordering them from their beds. — The DEA
Maybe that's ominous. The fact that even FReepers recognize what a tyranny we've become. There was a time when this thread wouldn't have been popular at all.
Looks like Steve Kinney got out of the DEA just a little too soon....