Warrantless Entry

**metalgearsolid11** · 12-17-2007, 09:49 AM

Just this morning I heard a knock on my door; the maintenance man from my apartment complex wanted to come in and check to see if there was a leak because they said there was one upstairs. He came in, checked the bathroom and left.

A few minutes later another knock at the door so I open it up thinking it's him again and 4 State Police officers come barging into my apartment and grab my buddy who I had been let stay here since his g/f and him broke up and he needed a place to stay and arrest him.

I never invited them in, they never showed me any warrant nor stated that they had one and wouldn't tell me what he was being arrested for. They then threatened to arrest me for "harboring a fugitive" and I was like WTF I didn't know.

They also broke MY cell phone that my friend had on him because I let him use it. I think they wanted the SIM card but they only took the battery.

What can I do here?! I'm freakin out!

**cdwjava** · 12-17-2007, 10:47 AM

Well, you can place a claim for damages to the state police.

You can also consult an attorney to see if you have a viable claim against the state police. However, as it seems YOU are not charged with a crime and they simply were after your pal who apparently had an arrest warrant (and sufficiently wanted to justify the sending of the cops AND a ruse to confirm his presence).

Some states allow entry into a third party residence if they have reason to believe a suspect with a warrant is there ... not sure if your state is one of those or not. However, they could probably justify an exigency because if they failed to make entry he could take hostages, escape, etc.

The usual remedy for an unlawful entry is suppression of evidence. there is no evidence here, so I am not sure that there would be much of a remedy.

However, if you want to wring a couple of bucks out of the state you can consult an attorney and see if this might be worth something to you.

- Carl

**metalgearsolid11** · 12-17-2007, 11:02 AM

Yeah I'm not too pissed about them coming in. My friend lied to me so he'll get what he gets. But I am pissed about my phone. How do I go about getting a claim for the damage?

**BOR** · 12-17-2007, 12:38 PM

Quoting cdwjava

Some states allow entry into a third party residence if they have reason to believe a suspect with a warrant is there ... not sure if your state is one of those or not. However, they could probably justify an exigency because if they failed to make entry he could take hostages, escape, etc.

- Carl

Carl, if it was a 3rd party residence, would'nt the police also need a search warrant in addition to an arrest warrant under Steagald, USSC, assuming exigency did not apply? I don't see how they could make emergency cause stick here myself!

**cdwjava** · 12-17-2007, 02:01 PM

Quoting BOR

Carl, if it was a 3rd party residence, would'nt the police also need a search warrant in addition to an arrest warrant under Steagald, USSC, assuming exigency did not apply? I don't see how they could make emergency cause stick here myself!

I used to think that was the case but have come to discover that some states actually allow for third party residence entry when they have good cause to believe that a subject with an arrest warrant is present. My state is NOT one of those states, but I know of a few states where that IS the case. Whether that can be articulated here, I don't know.

The problem is that there really is no challenge to be made. No damage usually means no ... well, damages.

Metalgear, the claim process should be relatively simple. You go to or call the agency and ask how to go about requesting compensation for items damaged by the agency's employees. It will likely require a written submission from you (maybe on a specific document), as well as supporting documents to support the replacement cost of the phone or the depreciated value of the phone.

- Carl