Right to resist
The cops show up to serve civil papers without a search or arrest warrant. The woman of the house attempts to close the garage door. The cops force their way in, attempt to subdue the woman who screams in pain. Out comes the husband who takes a cop’s Taser, smacks him in the head with it, and beats the crap out of the two police officers.
A judge ruled that the man had a right to defend himself from the police officers because they unlawfully entered his home.
March 20th, 2007 at 9:23 am
Not that good of a choice for self-defense : hitting someone in the head with a reasonably weighted object is an unfortunately simple way to cause severe injury. I doubt the judge would have ruled as nicely if he had ended up giving more lasting injuries to the police.
On the other hand, arresting a woman roughly enough to cause her to scream just for closing a garage door isn’t exactly good, either. Idiots on both sides, and the man should just be thankful the deputies were greater idiots.
March 20th, 2007 at 10:32 am
The real question is why they thought she couldn’t close her door and tell them to piss off. Typical cop arrogance, and a perfect example of why people don’t like cops.
Yay for the castle doctrine.
March 20th, 2007 at 10:51 am
[…] enter; all his force dares not cross the threshold of the ruined tenement.”(Pitt The Elder) (link: Say Uncle) Mar 20, 07 | 10:46 am AxeBitesVarious guitars I see floating by, mostly Gibson and mostly Ebay. […]
March 20th, 2007 at 1:35 pm
The LEO’s committed unlawful acts and admitted such in court–when does their prosecution start?
March 20th, 2007 at 9:45 pm
I’d be more impressed if they charged the police though I certainly understand that a VERY small fraction of local, state, or Fed LEOs would NOT think that they could do anything they wanted to in that exact situation and have the courts back them 100%.
Shame on the prosecutor for not believing in the US Constitution and Bill of Rights.
March 20th, 2007 at 11:01 pm
that f’in’ rocks. I would have bet money he was going away for a while.
Nice touch that the paper did not metion what the civil papers were for, doesn’t matter anyway.
kudos to the judge,…… now there’s something you don’t hear everyday.
has anyone else noticed the sudden wave of pro-personel freedom rulings?
March 21st, 2007 at 10:59 am
The homeowner didn’t chose to fight the police on whim, they forced him to defend his wife and himself by committing an illegal act against his wife. Nobody made them attack, which is what they did, his wife. He defended her and himself, as is his legal right. The fact that he used an object in his defense is trivial, especially considering there was a disparity of force involved. 2 v. 1 and they were armed with at least 1 taser and probably sidearms.