Article from NPR by Bobby Allyn.
An armed shoplifting suspect in Colorado barricaded himself in a stranger’s suburban Denver home in June 2015. In an attempt to force the suspect out, law enforcement blew up walls with explosives, fired tear gas and drove a military-style armored vehicle through the property’s doors.
After an hours-long siege, the home was left with shredded walls and blown-out windows. In some parts of the interior, the wood framing was exposed amid a mountain of debris.
A federal appeals court in Denver ruled this week that the homeowner, who had no connection to the suspect, isn’t entitled to be compensated, because the police were acting to preserve the safety of the public.
“Under no circumstances in this country should the government be able to blow up your house and render a family homeless,” Leo Lech, the house’s owner, told NPR. “This family was thrown out into the street without any recourse.”
Read the entire article at NPR.
wpDiscuz
What the heck has happened to Colorado? Can’t save rain water for your garden? Cannabis stores on every Denver, Boulder & C. Springs corner. What’s next? Since this home owner PAYS TAXES for being alive in Colorado and whatever town this is, he has paid into the right to have his LIFE (which includes his property) protected and conserved. If another CITIZEN did this to his home — for whatever self proclaimed reason — that person would have to COMPENSATE the owner for the damage! This man’s insurance probably won’t pay for it because of some minute printing on the middle of an unrelated paragraph on page 13 of the insurance contract. Nah….I believe the homeowner has a case against the municipality for damages and now for penalties and court costs. I thought the motto of the police (and therefore the town and mayor) is, “Protect and Serve”! I think they failed on BOTH counts!
I hope they sue and get rewarded handsomely.
Those cops were incompetent to begin with. Make them and the city pay dearly
Since the law enforcement agencies have been getting their hands on excess & surplus military material, we hear more about forceful entries, military-type entries & demeanor. I still honor the men in blue, I still want to believe that most are honorable people, but when you have a cop shoot their neighbor in his own house, without even identifying, you have the stuff going on during Clinton’s years – remember the good ol’ days of Waco? The cuban boy in Florida? and wasn’t there another church group or something that Donna Brazille went after? – now, we see armored cars for swat teams, major weaponry upgrades and other things that seem to be pointing for government “control”. It all seemed so good at first, the usage of excess military being used, but then no one kept an eye on all that has been going on…
What they’re doing is putting on a show of force to intimidate the populace just as they did in Waco and Ruby Ridge and they don’t really care who suffers and they’re supported by another commie judge. Just as China’s doing now.
Very Unprofessional and Dangerous.
Very true and in most incidences I support the blue but not punks like these.
The citizen did not instigate any of these problems. The city must be held accountable. If the criminal was in his own house I could understand this ruling, but this is totally unfair to the homeowner. I hope he takes this to a higher, much more intelligent court, and sues the crap out of the city. One incident like this makes all police officers look bad. No wonder we have so many people hating the police. Being a supporter of law enforcement, this should and must be overturned. I don’t question the tactics used to get this criminal, but the court made the wrong decision for the final outcome.
Absolutely…..but they wouldn’t have cared if he was home. fascism at it’s finest.