Officers raid wrong house - Resident says family traumatized

North County Times ^ | 5/7/05 | William Bennett

[latina4dubya]

I'd eventually get around to thinking about the armed felon I didn't know I had for a next door neighbor. I'd thank the police and leave the attorney out of things.

if you have ever had anything like this happen to you or to someone dear to you, you might not get around to thanking the police... you would feel horrible... helpless... furious...

[Ursus arctos horribilis]

Cops are out of control, period.

[JSteff]

"Why should a cop who conducts a raid which is not even facially authorized by a warrant be regarded as anything other than an armed home-invasion robber? Start holding cops accountable and I don't think it will take long before they start insisting upon checking certain details of any raid in which they take part."

Exactly. I can not believe the people who are posting the family should be grateful the police TRIED to raid a criminal's house and instead terrorized a citizen and his family.
Pathetic. I think this is exactly WHY we have a constitution and this country. King George and ilk were doing this sort of stuff so the founders left and came to America to get away from that..
According to Jefferson the rule of law applies even more to the government than the individual citizen. I hope they sue and win big.

[henderson field]

"Uncle Joe" Stalin would be pleased. He would admire today's American (or anti-American, as the case may be) police.

[Nov3]

FYI

At least no one was killed. If they were the Swat boys are above the law and would not be charged. This type of shit is going to ruin the moral authority of the real police.

[B4Ranch]

>>When Jennifer asked the officers why they had come to their house, that night, "they kept telling us to shut up, shut up and wouldn't tell us what they were looking for." <<

This would be, to me, the most frustrating part of the entire issue. Tell me to shut up in my own home and I promise you will be explaining it to my attorney!

Just because you have a badge is not any reason not to show me your warrant and explain quickly why you entered my home without my permission. The moment I told you that you have the wrong address, I would expect you to verify it and then immediately cease all operations, apoplogize and get the hell out.

Keeping me in the dark while you (the police) romp through my home will never be acceptable to me! Every minute that you continued will be money from your budget to mine.

[Lurker]

Yep, that was a clear cut case of government sponsored murder if there ever was one. The Forest Service wanted his land, and he refused to sell. So, the Forest Service bogused up a 'tip' that there was pot growing on the property.

Here's something most people don't know about that case.

After the homeowner died, his house burned down under suspicious circumstances and his widow all of a sudden decided to accept the Forest Services generous offer to buy the now uninhabited land.

Funny, eh?

L

[calex59]

The police say they were within their rights even though they made a mistake. They are wrong. The probably cause they used was only good for the correct residence. They didn't have probable cause to enter the incorrect residence and in fact required a warrent or permission to enter. They violated this families civil rights and should be brought to task for it.

IMO probable cause is unconstitutional, I don't see anywhere in the bill of rights that states they can enter without a warrent, this is another right usurped by judges.

Also the part about the SUV, when they said it was only a "piece" of the puzzle and wasn't critical, it was the only pie ce they had and was most certainly critical. Not knowing the license plate number and not checking it if they did know is inexcusable.

While I fully support our police I do not see these things as human mistakes "that we all make". Cops are like doctors, when they make mistakes people sometimes die, they can't afford to make mistakes and then pass it off as just another day's work. This is BS.

[Blue Jays]

Hi All-

"..."They couldn't light it up with a flashlight to verify the numbers, because that would put them at a tactical disadvantage, he said..."

---

Who says you need flashlights? Just walk across the lawn in pure darkness and read the number on the side of the house or on the mailbox...there is enough ambient light in virtually any part of our country to do that.

On second thought...nah. Just point loaded rifles at completely innocent people instead. All citizens should know by now to use glow-in-the-dark paint on house numbers or to illuminate them with 500-watt spotlamps around the clock. [/sarcasm]

~ Blue Jays ~

[agitator]

"Sorry citizen ...thought you were someone else."

Sorry, cops have never heard of the word "citizen." You're a "subject"

[calex59]

On second thought...nah. Just point loaded rifles at completely innocent people instead. All citizens should know by now to use glow-in-the-dark paint on house numbers or to illuminate them with 500-watt spotlamps around the clock. [/sarcasm]

Yeah, maybe we should all have glow in the dark license plates also, and have 5 foot numbers on the side of our houses so the cops can see them better, or an audio that would anounce the street number every 30 seconds, that might work.

[Roccus]

What about us that don't have street numbers? }:^)

[SpaceBar]

For a conservative news forum, it's amazing how few realize the close connection with Gestapo raids like these with no legal consequences whatsoever and the war on drugs. It's all one and the same. RICO and forfeiture laws, disregard for legal constraints on searches and seizure, a booming prison industry and very little being done to stop it. Quite lucrative if you get into the food chain at the right point. A big dirty money circle. And today it might be drugs. Tomorrow it might be the Smith & Wesson you keep in your nightstand. Governments constantly test their populace to see what they'll put up with.

[Blue Jays]

Hi Calex59-

Oh yeah, I almost forgot...

Each home needs a 12' x 12' black square painted on the roof with the house number printed in 10' fluorescent yellow numerals inside. Makes it easier for the chopper to shine the floodlights from above. ;-)

~ Blue Jays ~

[Centurion2000]

"They couldn't light it up with a flashlight to verify the numbers, because that would put them at a tactical disadvantage," he said.

Like raiding the WRONG house and making a boatload of noise and disturbing people in the WRONG HOUSE isn't going to tip off the bad guy ??

Idiots.

[tomakaze]

What they need to be asking is "what steps are being taken to keep this from happening again?"
 
restoration of constitutional government for starters?

[latina4dubya]

Keeping me in the dark while you (the police) romp through my home will never be acceptable to me! Every minute that you continued will be money from your budget to mine.

i just don't get it when people pretty much accept anything and everything the police do... i am grateful to the police... they've come to my aid at different times... most that i've met have been decent... but i'm not going to thank them when they mess up badly...

[Outland]

"...I think this is exactly WHY we have a constitution...

We do??? Oh yes... that "doormat" that legislators, law enfarcement and many others wipe their feet on and scoff at.

[razorback-bert]

They couldn't light it up with a flashlight

I have night vision with in-fared, I sure the elite cops can afford them too.

The authorities excuses are getting weaker and weaker as the mistakes pile up.

[tomakaze]

re: There was a case in Malibu several years back... Man woke up to hear people busting into his house. He pulled out his gun and went to see what was happening... The intruders wwere cops, serving a warrant based on a bogus claim that there was pot at the house. Cops shot the homeowner dead.
LA District Attorney refused to prosecute. The Ventura District Attorney investigated and determined that the cops raided the home out of a desire to seize it for cash (police departments get to keep the proceeds from drug related seizures)
 
I remember that one.
Government agencies were interested in the property of this reclusive millionaire. A warrant was issued based on concocted "evidence" of supposed marijuana plantings, and a major raid was conducted with a 32-man assault team. Scott was shot to death in front of his wife. No drugs were found.
A later official report found: "It is the District Attorney's opinion that the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department was motivated, at least in part, by a desire to seize and forfeit the ranch for the government. Based in part upon the possibility of forfeiture, Spencer obtained a search warrant that was not supported by probable cause. This search warrant became Donald Scott's death warrant." (excerpt from the 1st link that popped up on google. more information linked below)
 
How a 32-Man Assault Team Murdered Donald P. Scott at Trails End Ranch