You’d think between the reactionary CenterPoint Energy subcontractor who smelled vinegar and got worried, the police officer who asked for a search warrant, and the new-to-the-bench judge who signed the warrant, someone would have stopped to say, “Wait, what exactly did you smell? Something vinegary, huh? Yeah, that’s not a meth lab.” (After all, we were able to find two decent descriptions of what a meth lab smells like in less than a minute.) Instead, a 54-year-old former nurse and her 49-year-old husband were handcuffed and told to sit in their living room and not speak to each other while the warrant was executed.
“Ohmigod,” Adams said as she recalled police breaking down her door and flashing the search warrant. “I just kept saying to them, ‘you’ve got the wrong house.’ “
Roehl said the drug task force was acting on a tip from a subcontractor for CenterPoint Energy, who had been in the home Friday to install a hot water heater.
“He got hit with a chemical smell that he said made him light headed, feel kind of nauseous,” Roehl said.
The smell was vinegar, and maybe pickling lime, which were clearly marked in a bathroom Mr. Adams uses to mix chemicals for his salt water fish tank.
“I said, ‘I call it his laboratory for his fish tanks,’ ” Mrs. Adams said, recalling her conversation with the CenterPoint technician. “I’m looking at the fish tank talking to this guy.”
Police say there was no extended investigation, just an interview with the subcontractor.
“Police raid suspected meth house, only find fish tank” [Kare 11] (Thanks to Kristopher!)
(Photo: seanmcgrath)
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@PrestonBerryworth: You’re what is wrong with this country. Eat that.
@snazz: I understand your point. However, the fact is that the contractor reported what he reported with full knowledge that the police may act on his tip. Both he and the police were reckless. Both should be made to pay. Lock ‘em up, I say. Same for the judge too.
This kind of stupidity can get people killed. Contractor, cops, judge, all brought up on charges. It’s a two way street. Better get it right before you strip away my rights. Oh wait, I’m in the USA…
Cops gone wild. Wasn’t there a drug raid case a while back where a SWAT cop killed a baby when he jumped on a couch that the baby was on? If I remember right, he thought there might be drugs hidden in the drop ceiling.
@PrestonBerryworth: Idiot. A verbal lashing? That’s all? The subcontractor was just informing the cops of what he witnessed….a vinegar smell. The police and judge messed up. They should be FIRED and brought up on charges for negligence.
Simple reprimand is NOT ENOUGH. The couple has every right to sue the city/township for being embarrased and having their rights violated (the warrant was not properly granted, hence it was illegal search and seizure)
It could have been worse. Maybe the contractor could have smelled guns. Then SWAT would’ve busted down the door with guns blazing.
@Eyebrows McGee: Easy there…I’m sure we all appreciate that you did something with your LLB besides chase ambulances.
But there’s lots of ways of standing up for civil liberties that don’t require a professional degree. Some of these include:
- Donating money to the civil liberties organization of your choice (a.k.a. paying your salary while you were doing all that fancy first amendment lawyer stuff)
- Getting involved in politics: local, state and federal.
- And yes, online advocacy (among other kinds). Winning hearts and minds and helping to create a political environment where infringements aren’t possible.
Let’s keep in mind that the police knew exactly how flimsy the evidence was in this case and decided to go all Judge Dredd anyway without doing any further investigation. Yes, the judge should have shot them down, but it speaks volumes that they expected to get get a warrant on the strength of a single witness who smelled something that doesn’t even fit the description of a meth lab.
if you have a big enough lighting system you can get cops who think you are growing “marijuana” too. Coincedentally they use similiar lights also.
They’ll probably get about $10k from the city on a 1983 case. Not bad for a few hours and a door.
They’ll make $10k on a 1983 action against the city (if the settle). Not a bad haul for a broken door and a few hours . . .
@PrestonBerryworth:
That is so backwards…
So anyone who abuses their authority gets a talking to???
What about accountability?
The cops made an error, the judge made an error. The contractor is the closest to innocent here, minus the homeowners that is…
Did the cops have prior information that the location was a meth lab? Was the judge given wrong information or trumped up information?
This will continue until there is a monetary award given to these people who had their home searched under false pretenses which is what this turned out to be.
There is such a thing as checks and balances, lots of checks here? nope, woefully imbalanced.
I would sue everyone in this case, the people who broke down the door should be glad there wasn’t an escalation of force against them.
@BStu: You don’t need a warrant to cuff, or take someone in. They normally have 24hrs to place charges or release you.
Their reason for cuffing was likely to prevent them from “running”.
Standard practice.
@blackmage439:
I suggest you look at the stastics on deaths from Extasy, asprin kills more people each year.
@ShortBus: Many? Links?
@redkamel:
Ya a friend of mine had that happen to him. They were excuting a search warrant on his neighbor who was growing pot. They saw a spike in his electricity, and the DEA and County sherrif also executed on his place the same day at 5am. All they found were tomato plants.
LAWSUIT. Centerpoint obviously doesn’t train their workers to recognize a REAL meth lab. Sue them.
True story.About 15 years ago me and my family were sitting down to a late dinner one evening,when we heard a loud pounding on our door.It was a policeman demanding that he enter the house and check for “suspicious smells”
uhh….we were eating PIZZA!
Turned out he drove past our house and smelled a “dead body” (his words,not mine) and stopped to investigate hehad no warrant,my mom was not about to let him in our house,He was acting rather strange and kept looking around like someone was gonna sneak up on him.He was talking about how “he was onto us” and “he caught us red-handed”
The “smell” came from our garbage can,which we had put out earlier that day.Upon looking inside,there was a dead squirrel rotting away which must have snuck in and died.The smell was pretty bad,but when we closed the lid,you could barely smell it.The cop left without saying another word.
My mom got his badge # and called the local PD.The police captain we talked to knew who he was and acted like it was no big deal.Said he was “protecting us from harm”…..
Nowadays,hearing stories like these just make me shake my head.
@Greasy Thumb Guzik:
Provided you noticed the tack while the J. Witness, LDS missionary, or whatever was still around … and he admitted to putting it there.
Green tack = believer
yellow tack = needs more convincing
red tack = bad attitude atheist
black tack = biker gang, or drug house, or heads in the fridge and a sink trap full of gonads
@Dakine:
(Ahem) Well at least you’re living, today, thanks to the Lord Jesus Christ and the intervention of the Police.
- That was a close one, hey?
@blackmage439
Do people like you blame all the faults of the US on Bush?
When something happens, do you always close your comments with “I hate this administration” ?
In this case, it would be more appropriate to say “I hate the war on drugs,” or “I hate how easy it is to get a search warrant,” or perhaps even “I hate how a search warrant can become a certificate of invasion.”
No, instead you take all the conspiracy theories and say that anything remotely Stalin-like is “this administrations” fault.