Posted on 03/02/2012 5:09:12 PM PST by Altariel
A judge this week ruled that an elderly couple could sue the San Francisco Police Department and other federal agents over what the couple claims was an illegal raid on their San Francisco home.
According to court documents, Malaquias and Cayetana Reynoso were inside their home on June 18, 2009, when officers with the SFPD and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives forced their way into the house and held them at gunpoint for five hours while they searched the property.
The couple -- both were in their 70s at the time -- claim the officers refused to let them go to the bathroom unattended or take their medication. When the officers left, Malaquias Reynoso said he noticed $200,000 in cash had "disappeared" from his bedroom during the search.
When he confronted the officer, the cop allegedly pointed a gun Malaquias Reynoso's head and said "go back in that house or I'll blow you [sic] head off."
Agent Megan Long, the ATF, and the U.S. government asked the court to dismiss the couple's complaint, but U.S. District Judge Susan Illston refused, noting that, as the Reynoso's claimed, officers took the money without reporting it as part of the search. She also disagreed with the defendants who claimed the Reynosos failed to state a claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress, according to court documents.
"Defendants knew that plaintiffs, who were in their seventies, had no criminal record," the judge wrote. According to the complaint, the search resulted in Malaquias suffering a 'complete physical and mental collapse, necessitating his being carried off to a hospital.'"
Illston, however, dismissed claims of "unreasonable force" and unlawful seizure of property under the Federal Tort Claims Act, finding that the federal defendants had immunity.
Matt Dorsey, spokesman with the S.F. City Attorney's Office, told SF Weekly they aren't too worried about these allegations.
"No findings have been reached about any of the factual allegations, and the city is confident it will prevail at trial with respect to claims against the San Francisco Police Department," Dorsey said.
Armed robbery... by cops.
Obviously a false story and the couple are lying. No dogs were shot.
$200,000 in cash, in your house? Who does that?
(I can think of a couple of kinds of people who might do that...)
Perhaps more people than you might think no longer trust banks and have saved money for years. I know of many immigrants who have large amounts at home in cash who came by it honestly.
Old people do. So did Jack Benny. Now I suppose a few specific cops do, after this raid.
My grandparents had stashes throughout the house.
It was the way they were. We used to joke about getting to their house after they died before my mom & aunt slapped on the padlocks.
As they aged my mom & aunt took over the day to day tasks for them. After going through the house with my grandfather they took him to the bank to deposit almost $15,000. This was after the $10,000 law had been passed. :) It wasn’t confiscated.
My grandparents had stashes throughout the house.
It was the way they were. We used to joke about getting to their house after they died before my mom & aunt slapped on the padlocks.
As they aged my mom & aunt took over the day to day tasks for them. After going through the house with my grandfather they took him to the bank to deposit almost $15,000. This was after the $10,000 law had been passed. :) It wasn’t confiscated.
Yes, they did this to ME also, the SFPD in the Mission District. But on the street, and on a smaller scale.
You NEVER imagine you will be robbed by COPS.
In fact it DOES happen....! I’m still shocked.
The screw-up alone should be worth the 200k assessed to the department and the feds. This is absolutely unacceptable in a free society.
While we know this kind of police state is where we're headed, we're not there yet; see, there's this little archaic document standing in the way...
Prohibition laws are for our own good.
Slavery is freedom
I forget how much money I found, after my aunt died and I received our dishes and glasses collection.
She had stock piled cash in between several dishes.
She grew up in the depression. We had many a Hellmann’s mayo glass jars stock piled, as with many a can of food.....along with other stock piled items.
It always seemed weird, but not now.
Same thing happened to us, found cash taped to bottom of drawers, behind picture frames, in pockets of things hanging in the closets....even found cash years later in backs of books....
Why not do it.
The banks are paying .10% interest on your money now.
Might as well keep it at home.If I had a safe that’
s what I would do with mine.
That way when the Ovbamacare goes into effect the Feds couldn’t just take it out of my account.
“H.R. 3590 gives the federal government specific access to individual bank accounts and medical records as provided by that individuals health plan. The government may monitor an individuals finances and medical records electronically, for the purposes of determining an individuals eligibility for certain programs under the bill. They may also monitor an individuals finances and medical records to ascertain whether that individual has health insurance and is making regular premium payments to an approved health insurance plan; this will allow the federal government to determine each individuals financial responsibilities with respect to penalties and fees prior to or at the point of care as outlined in the bill. This clause also gives the government the ability to transfer funds electronically to or from an individuals bank account for the purposes of debiting his/her account for fees and penalties.”
Fact is I may take the money out of my accounts while I can.
People who lived through the depression and don’t trust banks. Some people keep gold coins in their homes, too.
So everyone here thinks that what was stolen was 200 1k bills? $200,000 dollars is a lot of paper AND there were at least two agencies there with multiples of each in the house. So this conspiracy was hatched by 6-12 all corrupt law enforcement officers, most of whom had just met each other AND all of them are crooked?
None of your business.
Or mine.
And for damn sure, none of the stinking ATF's business.
How can the Reynoso’s PROVE they had $200,00?
Did the cops give them a receipt? Did they admit it?
No?
Then it didn’t happen.
Not the issue I was addressing in my reply.
The issue I had is just whose business is it if someone does keep or have $200,000 cash in their home.
Not my business, nor yours, and I cannot fathom why the ATF would have an interest, unless they could prove it was connected to a crime.
They have produced no evidence of such crime, so...either the couple had the money and the ATF thieves took it, or the couple had the money and the ATF thieves took it and will never charge the couple with any crime.
Hell of a world we live in, huh?
And just as an aside, every ATF agent I have met was a low-life piece of dog excrement, with a holier-than-thou attitude and a definite tendency towards thievery, should opportunity present.
Jack-booted thugs.
I had a cop try and rob me too.
He was a minority and had an extremely serious drug problem so they didn’t feel he should be held accountable.
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.