The Third Amendment

This story is a few weeks old and as expected, the Obama Steno Pool pretty much ignored it. There is a case that has been filed against a Nevada police department for violating the Third Amendment rights of a family.

Now for those who failed lunch, never mind the Constitution, the Third Amendment deals with quartering troops in people’s homes. The Amendment reads:

No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law ((Third Amendment to the United States Constitution)).

Basically, it means that you can’t be forced to give a room to a soldier, feed him, (Or Her), and basically make them a part of your family at your cost. This was something that the British did to the colonies and was one of the reasons cited in the Declaration of Independence ((United States Declaration of Independence)).

This amendment, to my knowledge, has never been used in a lawsuit. There has never been any need to. As far as I can tell, a 3^rd Amendment case has never gone to the Supreme Court, or any of the lower courts…Until now. It seems that police officers from the Henderson Police Department wanted to use someone’s house for some odd reason. Here are the details from Fox News:

A Nevada family is using a rare legal argument in a lawsuit claiming police tried to commandeer their homes for a surveillance operation and then arrested the homeowners for resisting — invoking the Third Amendment, which bars soldiers from being “quartered” in a residence without permission.

The Mitchell family, in a lawsuit filed July 1, detailed the incident from July 10, 2011. According to the complaint, it all began when the Henderson city police called Anthony Mitchell that morning to say they needed his house to gain “tactical advantage” in a domestic violence investigation in the neighborhood.

Apparently the Mitchell’s said no to the police. They didn’t like that and made known their displeasure, with a battering ram.

The situation turned ugly when Mitchell refused repeated requests to leave and police smashed through the door, the 18-page complaint states.

Mitchell alleges the police, upon entering his home, forced him to the floor at gunpoint, then shot him and his “cowering” dog with a few rounds of pepper-spray pellets. Police then allegedly handcuffed and arrested Mitchell in connection with “obstructing a police officer” before occupying his home.

Lets see, aside from the 3^rd Amendment, we have violations of the 4^th Amendment as well as various violations of assorted civil rights laws.

However, these goons didn’t stop with this home. Oh no, they decided they wanted to move into other homes as well.

It didn’t end at Anthony Mitchell’s house in suburban Las Vegas, the complaint continues. That same day, the officers also took over the home of Mitchell’s parents, Linda and Michael Mitchell, who live in the same neighborhood and are named as plaintiffs.

So these thugs masquerading as officers of the law, broke into a family’s home, with no warrant, no probable cause that any crime had been committed, assaulted the owner and then arrested him. And they shot their dog. (They used pepper spray rather then lead this time. Ammo shortages no doubt being the reason)

Now the lawsuit using the 3^rd amendment is novel and untried. Theoretically, police are not military personnel. However, over the last 20+ years, police have become very militarized, blurring the lines between civilian authority and military. It will be an interesting case to watch. One lawyer, (No longer practicing since he mastered it. Ok, he quit the field and took up writing), says this case might just make it to the Supreme Court. According to the Mitchells attorney:

“I’m confident the Mitchells have a good case,” said Frank Cofer, a partner in the firm Cofer, Geller & Durham LLC representing the plaintiffs.

Cofer told FoxNews.com that what struck him about the case was the officers’ use of military-style tactics. “And after entering the houses, they drank water, ate food, enjoyed the air conditioning,” he said. “That struck me as quartering.”

At best, this sounds like quartering troops. To me it sounds more like armed home invasion, assault with a deadly weapons, assault and battery with a nice batch of false arrest thrown in for good measure.

Part of the problem with today’s police is they like to play dress up soldier with real guns. I’ve heard stories from range safety officers and private gun ranges having to evict swat teams for their complete lack of basic safety with their weapons. Getting back to the story:

The suit alleges that, at the parents’ house, police lured Michael Mitchell from his home to a nearby “command center” by saying they needed him to get the neighbor involved in the domestic violence case to surrender. When officers began to backpedal, Mitchell eventually attempted to leave, which resulted in him being handcuffed and eventually charged with obstructing an officer.

Police then returned to Mitchells’ house where they allegedly yanked wife Linda from the premises after she refused to let them in without a warrant.

And what was the leadership of these Keystone Kops doing to control these clowns. From what I can tell, nothing. He was rooting them on.

Among those named in the suit are the city of Henderson, the city police department, the police chief, five officers and the North Las Vegas Police Department.

The suit also alleges both police departments “developed and maintained policies and/or customs exhibiting deliberate indifference to the constitutional rights of United States citizens, which caused the violations of the plaintiffs’ rights.”

Irregardless of what happens with this suit, the police department has demonstrated a structural problem that can’t be fixed with training. The entire force needs to be disbanded and the officers terminated from their jobs. They should also be black listed to keep them from any position with any other law enforcement agency at any level. While it is unusual for an entire police department to be fired, it has happened. In fact, it happened in a town not from from the Anger Central Main Offices. The townsfolk had had enough with their arrogant chief and his department and they were voted off the island as it were.

This needs to happen here for one simple reason. The next time they pull this crap, the homeowner may resist violently and shoot a few of the police. It might even escalate to the police surrounding the property, but the owner calling for help from friends and neighbors. Then the “police” might find they’re the ones being surrounded and cut off from outside help.

Come on Henderson city government. Close these morons down. As the county and the state to provide temporary staff until new officers can be recruited and trained. Of course, that training must include the constitution and what it means. Stay tuned. This is going to be a fun case! I have no doubt it will hit the USSC, and I woujld be surprised if they didn’t take it if only out of pure curiosity.

Thatisall

~The Angry Webmaster~

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