Well, you need to punish the DEA somehow.
A lesson needs to be given somehow about this behavior.
I don’t know if the kid deserves $20M, but I know I want the DEA to be sent a message.
$1,000 is way too low for the student, though.
20 million is a drop in the bucket for DEA’s budget, and considering how much they seize in drug money and other assets, it really is nothing.
Here’s a good message for the DEA. You’re fired, all of you. Top to bottom.
Don’t worry, if the kid wins the lawsuit he will end up with about $1,000 after the lawyers and the government get their cut.
The punishment MUST be in a form that all of the DEA from the lowest field agent to its chief will never want to allow this incident to be repeated. Further, it must get the attention of every other Federal law enforcement bureaucracies so they will take proactive steps to prevent this or a similar incident from happening.
What comes to mind is an immediate closure of the offending office couple with immediate demotion of that leadership. The final fine, adjudicated through the court system, comes out of the local and regional DEA funding until it is paid.
Sounds harsh don't it?
But, then when you take a look at the repeated “Sorry, wrong address..” raids, and “Your dog was threatening me...’ shootings, and “He pointed a gun at me but I couldn't find it later..’ killings that seem to make the news on regular basis how else are you going to force competency onto our law enforcement — I will NOT call them “protectors” and more; they lost that honorific a long time ago.