Not sure I disagree with the ruling offhand. Not like they hit the wrong house or something, there was an actual violent perpetrator therein and, presuming otherwise proper reasoning (i.e.: they would have done the same had it been the perp’s house) they did what they needed to get the guy.
If our social contract includes handing over some degree of our defensive rights to the police, then that includes the power to reasonably destroy property to stop/apprehend a perp to protect the public at large. Otherwise, nobody has a right/power to apprehend a perp on someone else’s property without immediately asking permission. (Probably expressed this poorly, but hope ya get the point.)
It’s one reason to have home insurance: criminal damages, including consequence of police taking said criminal down.
Upshot: it’s not the police’s fault the home was damaged, it’s the criminal’s. If you want a police force, you have to assign their damage to the criminal. (Now, had police hit the wrong house, or did it for fun, certainly their responsibility.)
The suit was simply asking that the Fourth Amendment’s requirement of “just compensation” be enforced.
“they did what they needed to get the guy”
Sounds more like they did what they needed to play with all the fancy toys Homeland Security sent them.
What about just waiting the guy out?
Even if he fired a few shots at them, how much ammo did he have versus them?
Couldn't they have just sieged him, and wait for him to fall asleep?
Did they really NEED to blow out the house, or was that just an expedient thing to do so the cops could go home while the homeowner went homeless?
-PJ
Oh sure. The criminal made the police destroy the house.
Right.
There's a difference between damage and rendering uninhabitable.
What the police did there was inexcusable and they owe him for the cost of the repairs.
That judge is wrong.
Another factor is, if the police are not held accountable,, there's no reason for them to show restraint next time, or the next.
Serving the public is not destroying the public's housing to get a shoplifter.
With all the high tech equipment out there enabling them to see everything going on inside homes, seems they could have strategically taken him out.
False premise.
The police are under no Constitutional obligation to protect you; SCOTUS has routinely upheld this. Your defensive rights and defensive obligations are yours, and yours alone.
Thanks for signing up for "thread idiot." There's always one.
I didn’t read the entire piece - it is NPR after all, but I think there is a possibility that homeowners insurance would not cover this.
There are exemptions for war and civil insurrections. I don’t know how this “incident” would be treated.
Personally, since the homeowner was innocent of any participation it seems the police, i.e. the local government, should be liable for destroying his house.
***OK I called my State Farm agent & he was very helpful.
There are basically two type of policy coverage for property damage.
1 - Coverage covers anything NOT excluded - State Farm has this with a fairly short list of exclusions
2 - Some companies sell “named inclusion” policies. Basically the opposite. ONLY that which is specifically listed as covered IS covered. A short list also.
“Upshot: it’s not the police’s fault the home was damaged, it’s the criminal’s. If you want a police force, you have to assign their damage to the criminal. (Now, had police hit the wrong house, or did it for fun, certainly their responsibility.)”
The ruling was correct. It was not the police department’s fault. So the owner can sue the crook - lotsa luck with that one though.
You don’t blow up someone’s house for damn shoplifter who took a shirt!!!
You completely fail your own “reasonableness” test.
Yeah I’m sure you’ll continue agree with the ruling when the same happens to your house.
Fact is, the cops had other options to get the bad guy out without reducing the home to rubble.
For instance, a hostage negotiator, even if there are no hostages, can use various psychological tricks to persuade him to walk out.
Sleep deprivation, denial of food, tell him his mama had a heart attack, etc.
Or get him next to a window & sniper takes him down— a broken window instead of a demolished house.