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Sunday, November 03, 2019 7:18:46 AM
Colorado: Innocent Man’s Home Destroyed After SWAT Shows Up In Search Of Clothing Shoplifter – Court Says He’s Owed No Compensation
November 1, 2019
A federal appeals court ruled this week that an innocent Colorado man is owed no compensation after a SWAT team literally blew up and tore out sections of his house following the illegal entrance into his home of a suspected clothing shoplifter.
Leo Lech sued Greenwood police after they fired gas munition and 40-millimeter rounds through the windows of his home in the June 2015 during a 19-hour standoff with the shoplifter who illegally entered his home and barricaded himself inside.
Robert Seacat barricaded himself inside a house in Greenwood Village, Colo., police said.
Seacat barged into Lech's home after stealing from an Aurora Walmart, authorities said. The 9-year-old son of Lech's fiancé was home at the time and exited unharmed.
Authorities said they worked to bring Seacat out peacefully by isolating him inside the home. They cut power, fired flash grenades, sent in robots and blew open the sides and windows of the house.
The blasts were so powerful, a neighbor's car windshield shattered.
Seacat fired at police throughout the standoff and was taken into custody Thursday, officials said.
Lech said he didn't understand why police did not just use tear gas and raid the home. He called their actions an "abomination."
The damages and replacement costs total nearly $400,000, according to Lech.
First, take a look at the damage.
According to WaPo:
Now, after the Leches sued, a federal appeals court has decided what else the city owes the Lech family for destroying their house more than four years ago: nothing.
On Tuesday, a three-judge panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit unanimously ruled that the city is not required to compensate the Lech family for their lost home because it was destroyed by police while they were trying to enforce the law, rather than taken by eminent domain.
The Lechs had sued under the Fifth Amendment’s Takings Clause, which guarantees citizens compensation if their property is seized by the government for public use.
But the court said that Greenwood Village was acting within its “police power” when it damaged the house, which the court said doesn’t qualify as a “taking” under the Fifth Amendment.
The court acknowledged that this may seem “unfair,” but when police have to protect the public, they can’t be “burdened with the condition” that they compensate whomever is damaged by their actions along the way.
“It just goes to show that they can blow up your house, throw you out on the streets and say, ‘See you later. Deal with it,’ ” Leo Lech said in an interview with The Washington Post on Tuesday. “What happened to us should never happen in this country, ever.”
If using all those explosive and rounds weren’t enough, the police actually drove an armored vehicle through the doors and tossed in several flashbang grenades and detonated explosives.
Seriously, this is in a neighborhood and over a clothing shoplifter! Who is training these guys? Or should I say, who is indoctrinating them to think they are in a war zone?
According to the Washington Post, after the suspect was apprehended, it left Leo Lech’s son, John, without a home. John lived there with his girlfriend and her 9-year-old son.
However, seeing the damage, you would think the police and the city would have taken responsibility, but they didn’t.
They insulted the Lech’s by refusing to compensate them and then insulting them by offering them $5,000 in temporary rental assistance and for the insurance deductible.
https://thewashingtonstandard.com/colorado-innocent-mans-home-destroyed-after-swat-shows-up-in-search-of-clothing-shoplifter-court-says-hes-owed-no-compensation/
https://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/colo-home-blown-open-19-hour-standoff-condemned-article-1.2249060
November 1, 2019
A federal appeals court ruled this week that an innocent Colorado man is owed no compensation after a SWAT team literally blew up and tore out sections of his house following the illegal entrance into his home of a suspected clothing shoplifter.
Leo Lech sued Greenwood police after they fired gas munition and 40-millimeter rounds through the windows of his home in the June 2015 during a 19-hour standoff with the shoplifter who illegally entered his home and barricaded himself inside.
Robert Seacat barricaded himself inside a house in Greenwood Village, Colo., police said.
Seacat barged into Lech's home after stealing from an Aurora Walmart, authorities said. The 9-year-old son of Lech's fiancé was home at the time and exited unharmed.
Authorities said they worked to bring Seacat out peacefully by isolating him inside the home. They cut power, fired flash grenades, sent in robots and blew open the sides and windows of the house.
The blasts were so powerful, a neighbor's car windshield shattered.
Seacat fired at police throughout the standoff and was taken into custody Thursday, officials said.
Lech said he didn't understand why police did not just use tear gas and raid the home. He called their actions an "abomination."
The damages and replacement costs total nearly $400,000, according to Lech.
First, take a look at the damage.
According to WaPo:
Now, after the Leches sued, a federal appeals court has decided what else the city owes the Lech family for destroying their house more than four years ago: nothing.
On Tuesday, a three-judge panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit unanimously ruled that the city is not required to compensate the Lech family for their lost home because it was destroyed by police while they were trying to enforce the law, rather than taken by eminent domain.
The Lechs had sued under the Fifth Amendment’s Takings Clause, which guarantees citizens compensation if their property is seized by the government for public use.
But the court said that Greenwood Village was acting within its “police power” when it damaged the house, which the court said doesn’t qualify as a “taking” under the Fifth Amendment.
The court acknowledged that this may seem “unfair,” but when police have to protect the public, they can’t be “burdened with the condition” that they compensate whomever is damaged by their actions along the way.
“It just goes to show that they can blow up your house, throw you out on the streets and say, ‘See you later. Deal with it,’ ” Leo Lech said in an interview with The Washington Post on Tuesday. “What happened to us should never happen in this country, ever.”
If using all those explosive and rounds weren’t enough, the police actually drove an armored vehicle through the doors and tossed in several flashbang grenades and detonated explosives.
Seriously, this is in a neighborhood and over a clothing shoplifter! Who is training these guys? Or should I say, who is indoctrinating them to think they are in a war zone?
According to the Washington Post, after the suspect was apprehended, it left Leo Lech’s son, John, without a home. John lived there with his girlfriend and her 9-year-old son.
However, seeing the damage, you would think the police and the city would have taken responsibility, but they didn’t.
They insulted the Lech’s by refusing to compensate them and then insulting them by offering them $5,000 in temporary rental assistance and for the insurance deductible.
https://thewashingtonstandard.com/colorado-innocent-mans-home-destroyed-after-swat-shows-up-in-search-of-clothing-shoplifter-court-says-hes-owed-no-compensation/
https://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/colo-home-blown-open-19-hour-standoff-condemned-article-1.2249060
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