Another Great Alex Kozinski Opinion
Via Eugene Volokh comes a link to an excellent opinion by Judge Alex Kozinski slamming police for an unjustified warrantless entry into a private home:
The facts are remarkable. Plaintiff, Susan Frunz, and her two guests were in Frunz’s home in Tacoma, Washington, when police surrounded the house, broke down the back door and entered. The police had no warrant and had not announced their presence. Frunz first became aware of them when an officer accosted her in the kitchen and pointed his gun, bringing the barrel within two inches of her forehead. The police ordered or slammed the occupants to the floor and cuffed their hands behind their backs—Frunz for about an hour, until she proved to their satisfaction that she owned the house, at which time they said “never mind” and left.
I feel bad for the plaintiffs, but on the other hand, they won $138,000. I’d go through that experience for a chunk of change that large. Still, the officers’ behavior was undoubtedly outrageous, and if that’s what it takes to get their attention, so be it. Read the whole opinion.
What a neat moneymaking scheme!
David Ehrenstein (1a2b16) — 11/16/2006 @ 6:57 pmEek! there ought to be a law against websites with music where you dont expect it.
actus (10527e) — 11/16/2006 @ 7:29 pmCorrect me if I’m wrong, but: Frunz gets $138K for having the cops put a gun to her head, and this firefighter in LA gets how many MILLIONS for eating dog-food? What is wrong with this picture?
Another Drew (758608) — 11/16/2006 @ 8:38 pmThey made the poor man eat dog food?
Christoph (9824e6) — 11/16/2006 @ 8:47 pmI couldnt get the opinion to open…….what are the supposed damages? isn’t the 4th amendment supposed to protect people and property from unreasonable search and seizure?
if the people were not hurt, and their property not taken, wouldnt the proper “punishment” be to make the officers involved take some sort of sensitivity training? (please….tongue in cheek of course)
I’m so tired of people getting rich off “mistakes” where no real damage was done.
senorlechero (360f45) — 11/16/2006 @ 8:55 pmsenorlechero, the majority of damages were punitive, and entirely appropriate in this case.
Also, there is a certain amount of potentially life changing emotional trauma that goes with having your local police force break into your home, hold a gun to your head, and keep you tied up for an hour while threatening you with further confinement and jail.
Christoph (9824e6) — 11/16/2006 @ 8:59 pmSince the officers (most likely) will not have to pony up any of the 138K from their own pockets, just how is their attention gathered? Of course, the couple of months of un-paid admin leave they could be stuck with could possibly make a difference.
Another Drew (758608) — 11/16/2006 @ 9:00 pmsenorlecher – I have had a gun placed against my head, and I would like nothing better than to be able to recover monetarily (or by other means) from the …hole who was holding it.
I’ve had guns pointed at me too.
Do you think the police officers’ city and boss had their attention gathered?
Christoph (9824e6) — 11/16/2006 @ 9:04 pmAt the end is a nice little pimp-slap directed at the defendant/appellants:
As to the vigilant neighbor in this case, does anyone beside myself suspect he’s going to receive an ExLax-flavored fruitcake on his doorstep this Christmas?
JD (044292) — 11/16/2006 @ 10:38 pmOff topic, but I remember the story of the mother who was baking ExLax-chocolate chip cookies with her daughter and her daughter’s friend because she thought it would be funny for them to take this into school and for her daughter’s teacher and all the other students.
Oh very droll. Oh very charged.
Christoph (9824e6) — 11/16/2006 @ 10:45 pmI’ve had guns pointed at me too.
I have had a gun pointed at me as well — by a cop.
It’s scary, but you do what they say pretty quickly.
Patterico (de0616) — 11/16/2006 @ 11:01 pm“I have had a gun pointed at me as well — by a cop.”
Thanks for the personal story, Patterico.
In my case it was by 6 cops, 1 auto pistol, 3 revolvers, 2 shot guns, in a closed in environment (vehicle compound attached to a police station) when I was 17.
While they arrested a seriously injured and distraught young person, I critiqued their arrest and performance and found they were very professional. Not perefect. They varied. Some nervous, one a bit mad, mostly confused, but professional all the way.
It took me a couple minutes to comply while I decided my future. Thank God I made the right decision.
Maybe it was an experience like that that made me as pro police as I am?
At the same time, I am a realist.
I’ve seen, in person, awful cops including one smoking crack cocaine in uniform in his marked police car. I’ve been detained (totally innocent, just going for a jog and matching a description) by an officer and was mad that she jeopordized her safety so seriously because I could have easily disarmed her in seconds: She was grossly incompetent (that department, the largest in my province, is and has been poorly lead for a long time and it’s a night and day contrast; the police chief in my city is a political liberal and I don’t agree with him on harm reduction and coddling homeless street youth, etc., but he is has demonstrated personal bravery repeatedly, sets a great example, the one time I corresponded with him he was very accountable and assisted in opening an investigation and taking my concern seriously, and runs a tight, tight department) and I could go on.
Good cops, bad cops, definitely.
I’m glad that you complied instantly and your point was well made. You followed instructions and survived.
If I had not complied (to drop the knife I had just stabbed myself with), my parents may have sued or cursed the police, but I would not have. I take responsibility for my actions and understand the position I had placed them in and the split second decisions this requires.
I am as law abiding as you are likely to find.
I’d be the sort who is more likely to be a whistleblower even if this causes me personal financial or safety problems; I respect the law greatly.
To those officers on that day whom I shall never get to thank in person, sorry for stressing you out. You were magnificent and unlike many parts of your jobs, your actions were part of a very successful outcome including much love, life, and happiness. Thanks.
Christoph (9824e6) — 11/16/2006 @ 11:28 pmIf I had not complied (to drop the knife I had just stabbed myself with)
I’m reminded of something one of the South Park kids once said:
“Dude, that’s pretty f[explicit parts deleted]ed up right there.”
Patterico (de0616) — 11/17/2006 @ 12:04 amI can’t open the opinion, either. I googled news stories.
How does one go about collecting a judgment from a municipality, anyway? Do you levy on city hall? Have the sheriff attach a bunch of police cars? Have the city council held in contempt if they don’t appropriate the funds in the budget?
The neighbor who called in about the restraining order shows more than ordinary neighborly interest in, and knowledge of, another neighbor’s business. Does it sound to anyone else that the police got caught in the middle of a multi-household variant of a police officer’s worst call — the domestic dispute?
nk (956ea1) — 11/17/2006 @ 6:17 amalex kozinski is usually right. i’d like to see him on the supreme court.
assistant devil's advocate (c54f35) — 11/17/2006 @ 6:57 amthe events in this case point up a disturbing trend in police work. it’s become paramilitary, and ordinary citizens are being treated like iraqi insurgents. the officer acknowledged that the immediate goal after entering the house was to get the occupants down on the floor and shackled.
these cops committed a crime. possession of a badge doesn’t justify breaking into a house and terrorizing the occupants. when cops commit crimes like this, i support the right of homeowners to shoot back at them. if an armed man suddenly appeared in my kitchen with absolutely no warning…i am the law in my kitchen.
i am the law in my kitchen.
Another Drew (8018ee) — 11/17/2006 @ 6:52 pmada – you need to talk to Cory Maye.
ADA is right. Whether you’re in your kitchen or not, if some thug, dressed in blue, points a gun at you and tells you to do something you don’t want to do, you have two choices: Kiss the hand that beats you or cut it off. It’s the difference between a free man and a slave. That your child will grow up without a father; the thug will be a hero and you will always be remembered as a villain; that in revenge the thug’s collegues will burn your child alive as they did in the Branch-Davidian compound in Waco; … that’s the price you pay for plasma TVs and details about Britney Spears’s divorce. Welcome to western civilization.
nk (f58916) — 11/17/2006 @ 7:17 pm@another drew:
assistant devil's advocate (66c217) — 11/17/2006 @ 8:17 pmi’ve read about the cory maye case. i would have voted to acquit him if i had been on his jury. at least he killed one of the bastards.
@nk:
when i was a wee lad, they taught me about patrick henry and “give me liberty or give me death.” somehow we went from there to “give me highly processed, bland corporate food with low carbs and plenty of soft-core porn on cable.”
“So doth conscience make cowards of us all”. (Hamlet)
(I believe that in Shakespeare’s time “conscience” meant something close to our current meaning of “thought”.)
nk (2ab789) — 11/17/2006 @ 8:27 pmdamn yet again a case of overzealous LEOs who believe thay can do what ever they want.
Lets not forget that the gov’t that governs best, governs least.
sblawman (1f23c1) — 11/17/2006 @ 8:43 pmRead the opinion again. The plaintiffs amended their complaint to drop the muni and proceed against the cops individually. See footnote 2 of the opinion: “She also sued the city and the police department, but the district courtgranted summary judgment for the city. Frunz subsequently amended hercomplaint to state claims only against the three officers.” OTOH,I know some police officers have indemnity-type agreements with the city they work for, for the city to pay the damages. They mention this at Volokh. That’s a private arrangement saving them from paying though, not official governmental immunity.
Linus (719cc0) — 11/17/2006 @ 10:53 pmThanks, Linus. As I commented earlier, I could not open the opinion. I wondered whether 1983 now allowed actions against municipalities.
nk (77d95e) — 11/18/2006 @ 5:52 amI have no sympathy for the concept of cops who break in unannounced with guns cocked and aimed.
seePea (adaca1) — 11/18/2006 @ 8:55 pmAnd I would really like to know how it was justified with the lack of warrants.
Come chat with sexy cam girls…
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Free (35b971) — 8/23/2007 @ 12:34 am