Posted on 02/09/2021 8:09:42 AM PST by Brookhaven
BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — With guns drawn in the middle of a cold winter’s night, home security video captures armed bounty hunters with their fingers on the trigger, pointing a gun at Seneca Babcock resident Jake Reinhardt on his property on Oakdale Place.
“Up until that point I thought there was a mistaken address,” he said.”
Barefoot and barely clothed, Reinhardt says he was ordered to leave his home. In the surveillance video, you can see him walking out on the porch, visibly shaken. On video, he lets the bounty hunters know his three year old daughter and wife are in the back room sleeping.
The bounty hunters, who Reinhardt says are from out of state point a gun at him as he orders them to put the gun down.
They then ask where his relative is.
“The person they’re looking for does not reside here, does not live in this house has never lived here,” he said.
Still, the hunters enter the home anyway. Reinhardt can be heard asking if they have a warrant.
“Can I see it?” He said.
But they ask him to step aside, not producing any paperwork, instead walking through the home with guns drawn.
In the back room, his wife, who is eight months pregnant and their young daughter.
What’s more troubling, Reinhardt says he saw two Buffalo Police Officers looking on, and thinks the search is official police business. He can be heard on video asking the bounty hunters if they’re Buffalo Police.
The raid didn’t stop there. Video shows the armed men going upstairs to his tenant’s apartment where there were other children, including a baby. This time, the armed men were caught on baby camera with their guns drawn, storming the house.
While this is going on, two Buffalo Police Officers stand on Reinhardt’s porch. They can be heard questioning what agency the bounty hunters are with.
“I don’t even know what agency that is either,” one officer said. “Me neither,” said the other. “I think they’re from PA.”
When they don’t turn up who they’re looking for, the bounty hunters and police leave.
R. Anthony Rupp III is representing Reinhardt in a civil lawsuit filed in U.S. Federal Court for Civil Rights violations.
“This is the absolute worst I’ve ever seen” Rupp said.
The Buffalo Police Department will not comment because of pending litigation.
Reinhardt says he feels violated and unsafe in his own home. He wants answers from the unidentified men, the police and the city.
Erie County District Attorney John Flynn is investigating this incident.
It's pretty chilling. There's interior video of them roaming the house with shotguns at the ready.
At one point, a bounty hunter points a shotgun at a pregnant woman. She easily could have been killed had she made the wrong move.
Another millionaire in the making due to monumental incompetence.
And why hasn’t the AG, DA US Attorney,... Filed Criminal Charges against ALL OF THEM, 30 years to LIFE!
Night raiders can’t be wrong about something like this.
They have to be right every time they bust up someone’s home.
Bust them down to washing cars somewhere. I sure don’t want them serving fast food.
Because bail enforcement agents are private and don’t need a warrant. There is little they can’t do and the law protects them. Buffalo PD were not there in an official capacity.
They should be 100 percent liable.
And don’t wait for the state legislature to make it so. County and municipal level action can be taken. Buffalo police are answerable to Buffalo. I hear they pass ordinances in Buffalo all the time.
If it doesn’t hold up in court later, rewrite it, rinse and repeat.
Protect the citizens of your community. What a concept.
Then they can be sued in civil court?
How is this different, from a legal perspective, than a felony home invasion? Other than having a police escort of course.
>>Because bail enforcement agents are private and don’t need a warrant. There is little they can’t do and the law protects them.
They crossed state lines. This is a federal case.
How stupid are these cops? Hey, let's go on an armed “raid” with people we don’t even know!
I’d think that if the bounty hunters had been white and the property owner black (opposite of what occurred) their chances of winning in court would be greatly enhanced.
Our house was mistaknly raided by the King County County Swat Team about 25 years ago, just after we moved in. My wife was recovering from surgery and I was at work. There was all sorts of yelling and she hobbled down stairs just as they were starting to batter the door. They actually did do some damage to the door and frame before she was able to open it for them.
She never saw any paperwork at all. A deputy held her against the wall while another had a gun pointed at her head. She was concerned about our dogs which fortunately were contained. When she mentioned her concern they told her that the dogs would be shot if they were threatening.
After they made a complete mess of the entire house, they left with no explanation. I was never able to get a straight answer from anyone and we never received any compensation for the damage that they did. My wife has been justifiably paranoid about brutes working on behalf of the government ever since.
And why hasn’t the AG, DA US Attorney,... Filed Criminal Charges against ALL OF THEM, 30 years to LIFE!
They are all part of the same criminal gang.
You are absolutely incorrect about that. That is a legal misinterpretation of a very old case that hardly anybody reads, but which actually does not say what bounty hunters say it says.
Headline writer must not have read the story. They stormed the right house. He just didn’t give them the information they wanted about the bail jumping relative.
And the bounty hunters even gave local cops a “heads up” so that there wouldn’t be any unfortunate incidents.
Hannah Buehler apparently got the reporting job via her looks, not her reporting skills. Some basic unanswered questions - what was the bail jumper’s name? What are the pending charges against the accused? How much was the bail?
Not buying that. They were right there, giving official sanction. Any claim of "this ain't us" is a bit disingenuous.
With guns drawn in the middle of a cold winter’s night, home security video captures armed bounty hunters with their fingers on the trigger, pointing a gun at Seneca Babcock resident Jake Reinhardt on his property on Oakdale Place.
Who were the Bounty Hunters looking for and why?
A 10-second internet search finds that bounty hunters can indeed search a house without a warrant, when they have probable cause. They do actually have legal arrest powers. They can travel anywhere in the country to arrest a bail skipper, as long as they obey the laws of the state they are operating in.
That is not law enforcement gone bad.
I thought they did a bang up job.
It’s the ATF guy who screwed up BIG TIME.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.