Posted on 06/09/2006 7:38:19 AM PDT by VRing
A Stockbridge couple whose home was mistakenly raided by Henry County Police last year as they sought a drug suspect is seeking $8 million in damages from the incident.
In a lawsuit filed last month in Superior Court against county officials and police, Roy and Belinda Baker say they were roused out of bed by police who used a battering ram to knock down their door and threw concussive grenades into their home around 1 a.m. Sept. 30.
“The Law Enforcement Defendants accosted the Bakers in the hallway to their bedroom, where they had been sleeping, and yelled at the Bakers, threatened, assaulted and unlawfully touched the Bakers, and placed the Bakers face down, at gunpoint ...” the suit says.
(Excerpt) Read more at henryherald.com ...
They should make the individuals who did this PERSONALLY responsible, rather than the Department.
Lets see how many doors they kick in then.
I'm willing to make some exceptions. There must be a very good reason to allow such raids, and recoving some drugs is not one of them.
If someone flushes down some drugs, then the police offercers can lift the toilet bowl and recover the contraband. If it is too small to recover, then it is too small to use a SWAT team.
I don't think the TAXPAYERS who will fund the lawyer's new BMW would agree with you.
"If you've got nothing to hide, why are you so upset? (/sarc)"
LOL, I'm surprised some idiot hasn't tried to run that one yet, without the /sarc>!
Why does law enforcement attract so many BGLD (Big Gun, Little D*ck) types?
Exactly right...no personal accountability...just sue the crap out of the deepest pockets you can find. If you get a jury full of Democrats, they will give you the JACKPOT. As usual, the TAXPAYER takes it in the shorts.......
Interesting...
Second offense should be double with the addition of the people involved losing their jobs.
Thank God the people didn't mistake these aholes for the usual criminals and try to resist with weapons, they would have been murdered in their own home.
I agree 100% with that...it's the "pain, suffering, loss of consortium, etc., etc., plus PUNITIVE DAMAGES in the Millions" that's out of control. Reasonable compensation in addition to ACTUAL DAMAGES is where it needs to be, and the Lawyer-Lobby that holds the purse-strings of re-election campaigns have bought their jackpot for the forseeable future, as tort reform will NEVER eliminate the price-gouging practices.
Even with sovereign immunity there still can and should be severe disciplinary actions for screw-ups.
If actual damages by law enforcement were punished by actual jail time, maybe there wouldn't be as high a civil reward given later.
It makes ZERO difference to the city, police, etc., as it's not THEIR MONEY. ONLY if the responsible parties (i.e., the ones responsible for the improper performance of their duty) are HELD ACCOUNTABLE, rather than the TAXPAYERS, can the situation be corrected. When the RESPONSIBLE parties, as opposed to the TAXPAYER JACKPOT is it going to be brought back to reasonable.
If this had been my home, myself and at least one LEO would no longer be here.
"When the RESPONSIBLE parties, as opposed to the TAXPAYER JACKPOT is it going to be brought back to reasonable."
This is never going to happen, at least not any time in the near future. Here in the real world the only way to change any part of government is to make the taxpayers so mad that they force the change through. The only way to make taxpayers that mad is to hit them in the wallet. It's not right but that's what we have to work with, unless you have a better suggestion.
Sorry Geezeer, but I could not disagee more. The war on drugs is irrational, if not frankly insane. It doesn affect the availability of drugs, only the price. It inevitably leads to the corruption of public officials. And it puts law-abiding citizens at significant risk, as this household amply illustrates. There have been many killings of innocent citizens in this exact setting. Severely punishing incompetence sends the right message to public officials. It is time to end the war on drugs, and if they don't get the message that the war should end, they should be prepared to pay dearly for their mistakes!
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