Gun Owner Calls Help Hotline, Get's Raided by SWAT

[njpilot 671]

Sorry if this was posted before, searched but didn't find it.

 

Pretty disgusting display of Police State abuse of powers. Total diregard for personal property rights.

 

http://www.courthous...02/06/43643.htm

 

 

 

CN) - A depressed Army reservist who made a phone call for help says dozens of police responded by surrounding his home and arresting him, vandalizing and searching his place without a warrant, seizing his dog and killing his tropical fish.

Matthew Corrigan, who lives alone with his dog, sued the District of Columbia in D.C. Federal Court.

Confronted with a massive police presence after his plea for help, Corrigan says, he denied officers permission to enter his house, but they entered and trashed it anyway, saying, "I don't have time to play this constitutional bs!"

Corrigan says the debacle started on Feb. 2, 2010.

"Corrigan telephoned what he believed to be the 'Military's Emotional Support Hotline' because he was depressed and had not slept for several days," the complaint states.

"The number Corrigan called was in fact the National Suicide Hotline. When he stated that he was a veteran, he was asked if he had firearms, to which he said yes. He said nothing about being suicidal or using a firearm or threatening anyone. After a short conversation, Corrigan hung up, turned off the phone, took prescribed sleeping medication, and went to bed.

"At approximately 4 a.m. in the morning of Feb. 3, 2010, Corrigan awoke because he heard his name being called over a bullhorn. There were floodlights outside his front and back doors and an estimated 8 police officers in the back yard and 20 in the front yard.

"Corrigan turned on his phone and found that Officer Fischer of the 5th District was calling him, asking him to come out, which he did at about 4:50 a.m., locking the door behind him. He was handcuffed and put in the back of a SWAT truck.

"When Officer John Doe I (upon information and belief, Officer John Doe I is Lieutenant Robert Glover) asked Corrigan for the key to his apartment, he informed the officer: 'There is no way I am giving you consent to enter my place.' Officer John Doe I stated: 'I don't have time to play this constitutional bs!' and ordered that Officers John Does II-V, members of the Emergency Response Team (ERT), enter the apartment." (Parentheses in complaint).

Corrigan says police took him to a VA hospital, broke his front door and entered his apartment without a warrant, where they confiscated his guns, vandalized his place and took his dog to an animal shelter.

"Although the officers had no information that there were explosives in Corrigan's home and the home had been secured, John Does VI-X, the Explosives Ordinance Disposal (EOD) team, entered Corrigan's home without a warrant and searched for explosives," the complaint states. "The EOD team opened closed containers and used X-ray equipment to search closed containers.

"After the initial warrantless search, the EOD team brought in a dog to search for firearms.

"During the search of Corrigan's home, John Does II-XV seized three firearms and numerous rounds of ammunition for those firearms and others. The three firearms were a rifle, which was unloaded and trigger-locked in a locked hard-side container under his bed, a hand gun which was in a hard case in a drawer in the closet, and another handgun which was in a zipped bag on the shelf at the bottom of a clothes rack (pillows and blankets were on top and next to the bag). The locked cases were taken but the broken latches were left on the floor. The ammunition was stored in a sealed plastic crate and the rest was in boxes, in their original packing, in a milk crate, which was stored under a sleeping bag in a utility closet.

"Corrigan's eyeglasses were broken and thrown in a corner." (Parentheses in complaint).

Corrigan says he spent three days in the VA hospital, because "having weapons pointed at him upon leaving his apartment triggered his PTSD hyper-vigilance and caused irregular heartbeat."

After he was released from the hospital and determined not to be a suicide risk, Corrigan says, police arrested him and put him in jail, where he remained for almost 2 weeks.

"When Corrigan returned to his apartment 16 days after being seized, he found that John Does I-XV had left the front door unlocked and unsecured, had left the electric stove on, had cut open every zipped bag, had dumped every box and drawer, had broken locked boxes from under the bed and the closet, and emptied shelves into piles in each room. All his tropical fish in his 150 gallon aquarium were dead."

Corrigan seeks more than $500,000 in damages for constitutional violations.

He is represented by Richard Gardiner, of Fairfax, Va.

[hd2000fxdl 422]

Will keep an eye on how this plays out..

[vjf915 456]

Corrigan seeks more than $500,000 in damages for constitutional violations.

I say he should be awarded this. Along with the constitutional violations, they tore his place up without any kind of reasonable suspicion that he was a criminal. They left it unsecured and unlocked for over two weeks. Not only that, he's now going to have to move due to the humiliation they put him through.

[alec.mc 180]

W..............T.................F

[Babaganoosh 192]

Another fine example of serving and protecting.

[RedBowTies88 41]

I hope he gets every penny. The things they can do because you're deemed "suicidal" is insane. A good friend (with good mental health) of mine get in an altercation with her man friend at the time and thus he called the police telling them she was scuicidal (a complete lie) which resulted in her being carted off against her will first to the local hospital for observation and then to a mental institution for one week.

 

after all this was over she recieved a bill for thousands of dollars for all the unwanted "care".

[johnp 45]

This sickens me. Really shows how much the government cares about it's veterans.

[SpecialK 193]

I would be suing for the money and the officers jobs. This is disgusting.

[tony357 386]

What a mess.. do not even know where to begin..

[Urban Grunt 44]

Fubar

[Krdshrk 3,877]

Gotta love DC.

[Dan 177]

Bad thing can happen when the police get involved in non-criminal matters (suicide, family matters, arguments, etc). IMO they just aren't equipped to really handle these things, just they happen to be the ones that always have to go. That is unless the help you are looking for involves tasers, swat teams, no-knock raids, killed pets, felony charges, legal fees, etc....

[vladtepes 1,060]

he should sue for a hell of a lot more than that....

[Secret Squirrel 3]

he should sue for a hell of a lot more than that....

 

I was just thinking that.

[Soju 153]

It is reasons like this why people are uncooperative and seem to act rude toward police. He tries to do the right thing, and in turn, gets arrested, his house ransacked by criminals, who kill his fish and steal his stuff, amongst other things. And sometimes the officers on this forum often don't understand the resentment toward police on a general level. I know there to be many good officers, and would like to assume the ones on this forum are not like the ones in this story. I have complete respect for the guys and gals who serve with honor. Unfortunately I have no respect for the ones who don't. The ones who abuse their authority. The ones who think wearing a badge and gun grant them extra rights. The ones who don't care about our rights. It is unfortunate that for the most part, you hear about the latter more often than the former. This gives a potentially distorting impression of police on a broad level. It is also unfair to those who act proper because of such. To those officers, I am sorry if my opinion of police is not so great. My resentment is not toward you. It is toward the criminals like in this incident.

 

People always say "well this is just one side of the story", and things of that nature. This is true. There is the possibility that things happened differently. However I can only form an opinion, and operate under the assumption that said story is accurate. If it is inaccurate, most comments from anybody wouldn't be valid, so please don't hold it against us.

 

He should sue for much more than 500k. I wish that there were DA's and prosecutors with the balls to actually charge officers who engage in police misconduct such as this, with criminal charges, rather than leaving the only form of recourse to the individual with a civil lawsuit. By one can dream.

[e80hydro 120]

So a medicated, suicidal, armed, depressed Army reservist calls the suicide hotline, tells them he has guns and is going to kill himself, then wants to sue because the cops pointing their weapons at him and triggered his PTSD hyper vigilance (whatever the hell that is?) What Army is he with, the French? I smell a ton of horseshit here. I hope it gets tossed out of court. Maybe he should take up knitting.

[Soju 153]

So a medicated, suicidal, armed, depressed Army reservist calls the suicide hotline, tells them he has guns and is going to kill himself, then wants to sue because the cops pointing their weapons at him and triggered his PTSD hyper vigilance (whatever the hell that is?) What Army is he with, the French? I smell a ton of horseshit here. I hope it gets tossed out of court. Maybe he should take up knitting.

 

I am not sure you where you are reading that account of the incident. Can you share a link?

 

Because the article I read said nothing similar to that. And his suit is about much more than that. What part of the warrant-less search and seizure, and destruction of his property did you miss?

 

And as you are confused about PTSD and it's triggers, I'll give you a link so you can inform yourself on it. Please read what it says in my link more carefully then your reading of the initial article/post.

 

http://ptsd.about.co...ervigilance.htm

[e80hydro 120]

I am not sure you where you are reading that account of the incident. Can you share a link?

 

Because the article I read said nothing similar to that. And his suit is about much more than that. What part of the warrant-less search and seizure, and destruction of his property did you miss?

 

And as you are confused about PTSD and it's triggers, I'll give you a link so you can inform yourself on it. Please read what it says in my link more carefully then your reading of the initial article/post.

 

http://ptsd.about.co...ervigilance.htm

I'm going to stick with my original opinion on this, but thank you for the links. Someone else may find them useful.

[johnp 45]

@Bonesinium-Very well said sir

[JimmyAGR 54]

If this is how it went down he should sue for more then 500K, the article never said he was suicidal, just depressed. If he was already outside and no longer a threat why wouldn't they get a warrant to search the place?

[JSF01 13]

I hope he gets every penny. The things they can do because you're deemed "suicidal" is insane. A good friend (with good mental health) of mine get in an altercation with her man friend at the time and thus he called the police telling them she was scuicidal (a complete lie) which resulted in her being carted off against her will first to the local hospital for observation and then to a mental institution for one week.

 

after all this was over she recieved a bill for thousands of dollars for all the unwanted "care".

That bill is just insult to injury. Just the other day I read a story about a woman who was having trouble with her credit card company (the service person was being rude or something) she made the statement to the guy that his treatment of customers may cause other people to commit suicide. an hour later police showed up and forcibly took her to a medical center where she had to stay for a few days for observation before they decided she was not suicidal and sent her home with a bill for the "care". Now in that case I can understand why the person at the credit card company would report it. But after that point it became ridiculous.

 

There should be no bill at minimum as if the person is wrongly accused of being suicidal making them pay is just plain wrong, and if they are suicidal then handing them a couple thousand dollar bill is not going to help and could make it worst. The only time it would be acceptable for a bill would be if a person was not suicidal but said he was just to get attention for themselves or something like that.

 

Also I agree he should be suing for more than that.

[M4BGRINGO 139]

W..............T.................F

 

This^^^^

 

Plus, what happened to his dog? Fish are useless, but dogs, they are family.

 

Sorry if any fish lovers out there disapprove............ I've had them, don't miss them. Mess with my dog, there's gonna be trouble,

[e80hydro 120]

.

[Qel Hoth 33]

So a medicated, suicidal, armed, depressed Army reservist calls the suicide hotline, tells them he has guns and is going to kill himself, then wants to sue because the cops pointing their weapons at him and triggered his PTSD hyper vigilance (whatever the hell that is?) What Army is he with, the French? I smell a ton of horseshit here. I hope it gets tossed out of court. Maybe he should take up knitting.

 

Sleeping medication, not anti-anxiety or anti-depressants... Article does not mention him being suicidal, just depressed.

 

You obviously don't know what PTSD is...

 

As for the search? Can't claim SITA, as they weren't searching his person. Emergency? Maybe, but he wasn't in the house, even if they were to be allowed to enter to determine if anyone in the house needed assistance, they can't search property under that exception.

 

Even if the entry was legal (looking for people in need of aid), they could only seize items in plain view. Locked cases are not plain view, nor are handguns underneath towels, or any items in drawers...

 

The officers (or at least the one in charge) are screwed here, and rightfully so. Jon Doe I (Lt. Glover) should be fired and charged with any criminal charges possible, and the PD should be held accountable.

 

EDIT -

 

I guess 4th amendment violation doesn't fall on your butthurt form? There was ZERO reason to conduct a warrantless search of his home, and even less of a reason to search and seize any items in locked cases or otherwise not in plain view.

[Adam 6]

So a medicated, suicidal, armed, depressed Army reservist calls the suicide hotline, tells them he has guns and is going to kill himself, then wants to sue because the cops pointing their weapons at him and triggered his PTSD hyper vigilance (whatever the hell that is?) What Army is he with, the French? I smell a ton of horseshit here. I hope it gets tossed out of court. Maybe he should take up knitting.

 

Since you can't read and understand things as a whole, I edited out the rest and highlighted the needed portions for you.

 

"Corrigan telephoned what he believed to be the 'Military's Emotional Support Hotline' "

 

" He said nothing about being suicidal or using a firearm or threatening anyone....prescribed sleeping medication.

[e80hydro 120]

The list of mindless sheep grows..............................

[Old School 611]

You guys have said it all!

 

e80hydro - I'm very disapointed in you comments. But I did save your "Hurt Feelings Report". I could see it being very helpful!

[e80hydro 120]

You guys have said it all!

 

e80hydro - I'm very disapointed in you comments. But I did save your "Hurt Feelings Report". I could see it being very helpful!

Just throwing out another point of view to counter Mathews attorneys BS story. That piece of BS is on evey right wing forum going. Let's face it, if you call the suicide hotline, whether by accident or intentional, and tell them your armed, they're not showing up with teddy bears and hugs. Sometimes people do stupid things with dire concequences. Remember, that piece was put out by his attorney. I stand by my original comment.

[Old School 611]

Just throwing out another point of view to counter Mathews attorneys BS story. That piece of BS is on evey right wing forum going. Let's face it, if you call the suicide hotline, whether by accident or intentional, and tell them your armed, they're not showing up with teddy bears and hugs. Sometimes people do stupid things with dire concequences. Remember, that piece was put out by his attorney. I stand by my original comment.

 

The source being a lawyer I understand your sceptisizm.

[diamondd817 827]

Well it is DC, wich is for the most part immune from the US Constitution.