“The suspect was captured alive, but the home was utterly destroyed, eventually condemned by the City of Greenwood Village.
That left Leo Lech’s son, John Lech — who lived there with his girlfriend and her 9-year-old son — without a home. The city refused to compensate the Lech family for their losses but offered $5,000 in temporary rental assistance and for the insurance deductible.
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.”
In the United States, the police can do anything they want and are not responsible for their actions. They can kill people, they can take your possessions, or they can destroy your property without consequence. The situation described in this article is a classic example. The police completely destroyed a family’s home through no fault of the family and yet the “justice” system has proclaimed that the police who destroyed the home are in no way responsible for their actions. This is sickening. Fuck the people who enable this behavior.
“Protect and serve”??? Yeah, that’s a fucking lie.
Police blew up an innocent man’s house in search of an armed shoplifter. Too bad, court rules. [Washington Post]