News (Media Awareness Project) - US CA: Warrantless Search Settlement |
| Title: | US CA: Warrantless Search Settlement |
| Published On: | 2000-05-26 |
| Source: | Alameda Times-Star (CA) |
| Fetched On: | 2008-09-04 08:39:31 |
WARRANTLESS SEARCH SETTLEMENT
$350,000 For Hells Angel Neighbors
Yet another Oakland resident will collect a hefty legal settlement from law
enforcement authorities who entered and searched a home without a warrant.
The state and Monterey County have agreed to pay $350,000 to settle a civil
rights lawsuit filed by Margaret Rohrbach and her daughter, Kayla Musick.
State Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement Officers and a Monterey County
District Attorney's investigator entered their home about 7:30 a.m. March
27, 1998, according to plaintiffs' attorney Andrew Schwartz of Walnut Creek.
The officers had obtained a warrant to search the Hells Angel Motorcycle
Club on Foothill Boulevard but had no warrant for the Rohrbach home next door.
Officers forced their way in with guns drawn, threw Rohrbach to the ground
and handcuffed her.
They detained her for five hours and her daughter for three hours.
Officers allowed the girl, then 6, to leave but would not tell Rohrbach of
her whereabouts.
Schwartz said the settlement vindicated his clients' right to security in
their home and freedom from warrantless searches as guaranteed by the
Fourth Amendment.
He said the money will help Kayla keep receiving the therapy she needs to
recover from that morning's terror.
The police who entered Rohrbach's home that day were investigating the 1994
disappearance of a Hells Angels Monterey chapter vice president and the
robbery of another club member.
They reportedly seized boxes of paperwork, a loaded handgun and possible
bags of marijuana from the club's headquarters that day.
Earlier this week, Oakland City Council received a resolution confirming a
$110,000 settlement paid to Dolynnthia Williams-Davis, who had sued the
city, the police chief and various officers claiming violation of her and
her 11-year-old daughter's federal civil rights.
According to that lawsuit, officers entered Williams-Davis' home without a
warrant May 23, 1998, ordering her and her daughter to the floor at
gunpoint, searching the house and forcing them from it barefoot and in
their pajamas.
$350,000 For Hells Angel Neighbors
Yet another Oakland resident will collect a hefty legal settlement from law
enforcement authorities who entered and searched a home without a warrant.
The state and Monterey County have agreed to pay $350,000 to settle a civil
rights lawsuit filed by Margaret Rohrbach and her daughter, Kayla Musick.
State Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement Officers and a Monterey County
District Attorney's investigator entered their home about 7:30 a.m. March
27, 1998, according to plaintiffs' attorney Andrew Schwartz of Walnut Creek.
The officers had obtained a warrant to search the Hells Angel Motorcycle
Club on Foothill Boulevard but had no warrant for the Rohrbach home next door.
Officers forced their way in with guns drawn, threw Rohrbach to the ground
and handcuffed her.
They detained her for five hours and her daughter for three hours.
Officers allowed the girl, then 6, to leave but would not tell Rohrbach of
her whereabouts.
Schwartz said the settlement vindicated his clients' right to security in
their home and freedom from warrantless searches as guaranteed by the
Fourth Amendment.
He said the money will help Kayla keep receiving the therapy she needs to
recover from that morning's terror.
The police who entered Rohrbach's home that day were investigating the 1994
disappearance of a Hells Angels Monterey chapter vice president and the
robbery of another club member.
They reportedly seized boxes of paperwork, a loaded handgun and possible
bags of marijuana from the club's headquarters that day.
Earlier this week, Oakland City Council received a resolution confirming a
$110,000 settlement paid to Dolynnthia Williams-Davis, who had sued the
city, the police chief and various officers claiming violation of her and
her 11-year-old daughter's federal civil rights.
According to that lawsuit, officers entered Williams-Davis' home without a
warrant May 23, 1998, ordering her and her daughter to the floor at
gunpoint, searching the house and forcing them from it barefoot and in
their pajamas.
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