Sunday after church I was sitting in my car listening to a local radio host (and apparently some kind of legal advisor) talking to a caller about a local constable who had entered teh man's house at night and awoke the man as he lay practically naked in bed. The constable came in (without a warrant), awoke the man and told him to keep his hands where he could see them aond forced him out of bed and the man could barely get a towel to put over himself to proceed with the constable. From the man's perspective, a man had broken into his house, that's all he knew, I think he thought he was being robbed, after a moment in the dark (maybe also with a flashlight in his face) he could see that the man in his house had stripes running down his pants and could make out a gunbelt thus finally seeing it was a policeman of some kind. He told the constable later that it was fortunate that he had put his pistol up in the front of the house away from his bedroom a week ago due to Hurricane Rita otherwise, this could have been a lot uglier situation. From the constable's perspective, he had found a stolen car in front of the man's house and saw keys in a door of the house (think the man said it was some patio door or something...didn't quite understand that part of the story) and shined the flashlight in the living room window to see the room practically empty (the man had in fact been doing some renovations or something and had moved the funiture from the room). He policeman entered the house without a warrant I supposed thinking himself to have probable cause.
NOW, to me I don't see how the constable would think that a carthief would stop and rob a living room of all articles, truck them off, walk back and take a nap in somebody's house. Should the officer have handled this differently...like maybe call for a little backup to cover the back of the house and him and knock on the door and talk to the guy saying he found a stolen car? (of course over the radio, I just heard it all from the home owner not the constable. The man felt his rights under the 4th amendment had been violated since the constable didn't have a warrant and wanted to know what he could do)
ALSO, what if the guy did have the gun in his bedroom and had shot the unknown guy holding a flashlight in his face in his bedroom at night (who turned out to be a constable acting as he understood it carrying out his duty) Would the home owner be in trouble?
What this boils down to is, what if my door gets kicked open one night or wake up and hear someone shuffling through my house at night and I pull my gun from the holster and shoot them. It turns out to be the police (whether they have a warrant or not). Am I in trouble? or are they in trouble? I am defending my home. I don't know who this is shuffling around in the dark or of there are more than one of them. Seems to me, the police (even with a warrant) have to serve it to me in person before they can just come in.
NOW, to me I don't see how the constable would think that a carthief would stop and rob a living room of all articles, truck them off, walk back and take a nap in somebody's house. Should the officer have handled this differently...like maybe call for a little backup to cover the back of the house and him and knock on the door and talk to the guy saying he found a stolen car? (of course over the radio, I just heard it all from the home owner not the constable. The man felt his rights under the 4th amendment had been violated since the constable didn't have a warrant and wanted to know what he could do)
ALSO, what if the guy did have the gun in his bedroom and had shot the unknown guy holding a flashlight in his face in his bedroom at night (who turned out to be a constable acting as he understood it carrying out his duty) Would the home owner be in trouble?
What this boils down to is, what if my door gets kicked open one night or wake up and hear someone shuffling through my house at night and I pull my gun from the holster and shoot them. It turns out to be the police (whether they have a warrant or not). Am I in trouble? or are they in trouble? I am defending my home. I don't know who this is shuffling around in the dark or of there are more than one of them. Seems to me, the police (even with a warrant) have to serve it to me in person before they can just come in.