When cops can't find house number 3171, they execute the warrant at 3170. Seems legit, right?
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- čas přidán 23. 04. 2024
- Officer Harold Cheirs and his partner, Officer Robinson, tried to serve an arrest warrant on Phyllis Brown at 3171 Hendricks Avenue in Memphis, Tennessee. When they got to Hendricks Avenue, they could not find a house with a 3171 address. They eventually found two houses on opposite sides of the street with a 3170 address, at which point, you might say, they were getting warmer. One of the houses presumably was mislabeled, and the officers had several options at their fingertips to figure out which house was 3171 Hendricks and which was not. They could have determined which side of the street contained odd-numbered addresses and served the warrant on the “3170” address on that side of the street. They could have checked city records or for that matter Google Maps to identify which house was the right one. Or they could have gone up to one of the houses and asked an occupant which house was 3171 Hendricks and which one was 3170 Hendricks.
The officers picked the last option-in part. Noticing that one of the two houses was occupied, they proceeded to that one. Now they were getting colder. Officer Cheirs knocked, a woman answered, and she promptly shut the door. While Officer Robinson went to the back of the house, Officer Cheirs knocked again. The occupant eventually opened the door, though not for seven or eight minutes. Instead of asking the woman what the address of the house was, whether Phyllis Brown lived there or whether this was the odd-numbered side of the street, Officer Cheirs represented to the woman that he had a warrant “for this address.” False. He had a warrant for 3171 Hendricks, and this was 3170 Hendricks.
Having no reason to know that this representation was false and opting not to insist on looking at the warrant, the woman let the officers into the house-the house of Phyllis Brown's hapless neighbor, Steven Shaw. The officers performed a protective sweep of the house. Instead of finding Brown, they found a lot of cocaine. They arrested Shaw, and a grand jury charged him with a battery of drug-dealing and drug-possession offenses. The district court denied Shaw's motion to suppress the drugs found at his house. He pled guilty to distributing cocaine, see21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1), all the while reserving the right to appeal the suppression ruling. The district court sentenced him to 126 months in prison.
The Fourth Amendment prohibits “unreasonable searches and seizures.” U.S. Const. amend. IV. That means, among treatises full of other requirements, that officers must “take steps to reasonably ensure” they are not entering the wrong home when they execute an arrest warrant. El Bey v. Roop,530 F.3d 407, 416 (6th Cir.2008); see Steagald v. United States,451 U.S. 204, 216, 101 S.Ct. 1642, 68 L.Ed.2d 38 (1981); Payton v. New York,445 U.S. 573, 603, 100 S.Ct. 1371, 63 L.Ed.2d 639 (1980); United States v. Pruitt,458 F.3d 477, 480 (6th Cir.2006).
An officer may not falsely tell a homeowner that he has an arrest warrant for a house, then use that falsity as the basis for obtaining entry into the house.
The Supreme Court has said as much. Forty-five years ago, it faced this question: whether “a search can be justified as lawful on the basis of consent when that ‘consent’ has been given only after the official conducting the search has asserted that he possesses a warrant” when he does not? The answer was no. Bumper v. North Carolina, 391 U.S. 543, 546-51, 88 S.Ct. 1788, 20 L.Ed.2d 797 (1968); see also United States v. Escobar, 389 F.3d 781, 786 (8th Cir.2004) (holding that officers may not obtain consent to search through a “false claim of legal authority”). The equivalent is true here.
Read full case here: United States v. Shaw, 707 F.3d 666 (6th Cir. 2013), casetext.com/case/united-stat...
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If a cop had sense enough to look at the streets and figure out which side is odd and which side is even numbers and do a countdown find the right house
Usually, but not always. Seen a lot of bizarre numbering delivering mail.
@@dirtfarmer7070Let me guess, those oddball addresses were all in gated communities?
After over 40 years of delivering goods to residential and commercial places, all across the Lower 48, those gated communities are the worst.
I’ve actually had to out-think that “oh so reliable” GPS and find places that had not been programmed yet, just by brute competence.
If a lowly, ignorant, good-for-nothing truck driver can find the right place, then why can’t cops with all of their fancy, state-of-the-art toys that are geared for the ultimate surveillance of innocent people work properly?
Their actions do not back up their claims, and the most decidedly love to abuse any claim to righteousness they cling to.
While I do agree with you, there are some odd numberings out there. I live on a cul-de-sac, and they skip numbers. My address ends with 13, but my neighbor, right next door, ends with 10.
That is an unreasonable expectation
That’s too simple for cops. They don’t have any sense to have worked that out.
Gives some deadly meaning to the phrase “close enough for government work.”
I drove pizza for ten years.
No moving violations for the entirety of that gig.
Addresses are 99.9% of the time even one side, odd in the other.
Similar in Michigan, except apartments can have odd and even within the complex.
I had that problem 30 years ago when I finally went to that apartment subdivision and made a map of the whole complex.
No drivers ever had a problem again!
They don't have to pay for settlements, so why would they even remotely care if they have the right address?
Besides, they brought out the MWRAP and were determined to terrorize someone, anyone, at that point - right?
Either you need a hug or straight jacket. I'm not sure which.
They’re supposed to do due diligence, not flip a coin. Quite the bountiful tree of the poisoned fruit. 10 minutes at the tax assessor’s office would have told them exactly which house was which.
@@tim2024-df5fu not always. The best way in this case is what the above stated. Simply go look at the parcels in the area and what their designations really are.
Yep, too much freedom, backing stupidity.
❤ you guys... So cute thinking they could figure any of this out..
Tell my wife the same thing when she thinks I'm paying attention.
❤ what about option 3.. attacking 3172 at the same time?
So you're telling me the cops don't know that one side of the street is odd numbers and the other side is even numbers??? You're telling me that they don't know that????
Man they hire ged holders and 6 weeks training gets them a job and many are hired and start classes later.
It's beyond stupid how low the bar is.
Easy…if both houses across from each other both are 3170 then look at the other houses on one side of the street will be odd numbers the other side will be even numbers…
Officers could have checked multiple ways. But working in the public sector relieves officers of any duty to do actual work. The bare minimum of speculation is enough, and the FOP police union for that city has MILLIONS of dollars to defend the officers' lazy behavior.
I HATE HATE HATE to say this, since I live in a "nice, safe" neighborhood, but I look through the window regardless of who it is. If it is my neighbor or Jehovah's Witnesses, no problem. But I won't open the door for police. They want me to come out so they can control the situation and tackle me. Even though I haven't done anything. They can talk to my lawyer or break the door down. Either way, I'm calling my lawyer.
Well, if the POST OFFICE can figure it out, ask them.
One would be on the side of the street with odd numbers, others would be on the street with even numbers. "High school graduate" cops cant comprehend this
So after the case was dismissed did they give the cocaine back or give compensation.
They should......the main problem is that drug deals are cash transactions...thus no receipt.
But did they take his money claiming Civil Asset Forfeiture?
Officers don’t “sometimes lie to the general public”. They always lie to the general public.
Cops with room temperature iq’s ? What could possibly go wrong?
Point 5 - your math is wrong. The odds of being correct were not 50-50. The odds were 75% wrong and 25% right. The street has 2 sides - even house numbers and odd house numbers. Since they were looking for 3171 they had a Zero percent possibility of being right on the even numbered side of the street, no matter how many doors they knock on. Over to the odd side of the street, there they have a 50% chance of being right, so they had a 1 in 4 chance of being right.
I was going to say this. In the city I live in, the east and south side of every street have odd numbers, the west and north the even numbers.
On this particular block and street there's a house in the middle on each side of the street. The houses on the four corners of the block face perpendicular to to Hendricks Ave and don't have a Hendricks addresses. Technically it's not even 50/50. There's only one choice and you explained why with left side of the street being odd or even.
Even if they had the right house, is a warrant even valid if it doesn’t have that address on it?
@@MikesDIYit sure shouldn't be
In many places there are more than one residence with the same house number - let's say 3171 - can be Unit A, Unit B, Unit C, etc... Depends on the history of the property.
3171 can have three units inside of one house 3171. A. B. C and not be considered an apartment complex
Very interesting Sir.. Thank You!
A search warrant should be a serious thing. They should have observed the suspect and not shown up in this state of ignorance.
cops earning the hate
This is a pretty old case. Doing a quick search on google maps makes me wonder how you get those two mixed up. Its blatantly obvious which house it is. The house on the south side of the street is the odd side.
They have an arrest warrant for a person who lives at 3171 Hendricks. They do not have a search warrant for 3171 Hendricks. That means they have no legal authority to enter 3171 even if the person named on the warrant is inside. If the woman was found to be inside and refused to come out, legally, the cops have to obtain a search warrant for that address to be able to go inside to make the arrest.
They always pull that shit and people fall for it.
So what if the residents of the wrongly searched house didn't have anything unlawful in their home? What do they get? Just a slap in the face with "qualified immunity"?
Looks like criminal negligence
They should consult a map of addresses as to which side is even or odd dufesses
I just checked the address on Google Maps. That section of the street only has the two houses facing the street. The east end of the street joins another street, and continues northbound while a different street name goes south.
Looking at the houses on Street View, the right house is a brick ranch style house that looks very respectable. While the wrong house has a front of painted brick combined with wood siding. It looks slightly less well kept. I'll bet that had something to do with the cops' selection.
All they had to do was look at other houses on the street to see which side has odd numbers!
Who leaves cocaine just sitting around?
6170, not 3171? Eh. Close enough for government work.
How about calling the post office and find out which house they delivered mail to the suspect?
Considering odd numbers are on 1 side of the street and even numbers are on the other. The one out of place is the correct one. Mabee telling people who never had to repeat a grade in elementary school are overqualified to be police isn't the best idea.
I have a hard time believing that any lawyer made those arguments in court in an attempt to justify this. They're unbelievably lame. This case should have been kicked at the trial court level yet it went to the 6th Circuit. Amazing. By the way, how'd the occupants at these houses get their mail or pizzas?
Sounds like a lovely neighborhood
Pay peanuts you get mo.........!🙄🤬
They are paid waaay too much for a bunch of high school dropouts
Odd numbers are always on one side of the street and even on the other!!! Due your home work police!!!
They will not be subjected to 1 second of time after work without receiving triple time and workers comp benefits.
It's just way too much to ask.
Sinse when are even numbers and odd numbers on the same side of the street. Wherever I've gone opposite numbers on one side and even on the other side.
I've seen numbering be screwy on cul-de-sacs, for example, all the house numbers on the cul-de-sac were odd. So you might have 3940 next door to 3947 at one side of the circle.
There is not a 50/50 chance. One side of a street is always even numbers and the other is odd numbers. I've known that for over 50 years. It is common knowledge. 3170 is next to 3172 . 3171 is next door to 3173.
Sadly,this is a common story all across the country. By the way
I have scales in my house as well; in the kitchen and another at a desk for postage and odds and ends.
This sounds like the Tony Balogna case.
Well it shouldn't be hard to find the odd vs the even side many other ways
This is a case of Jesus sayin wake up! N sin no more!😊
What was the outcome? Did Mr. Shaw get the conviction thrown out? Was his property returned (not the drugs)? Were the officers held accountable for their illegal actions? Just saying what they did was wrong without saying the outcome makes this video ineffective.
This is inconceivable one would think a conservative approach is best but no just drive in any old house close I suppose apologize to us randos after they wreck us and our homes I suppose.....
Why wasn’t the assumption that a mistake was made on the warrant the obvious problem for the cops. No house is marked with that address…seems like they were going to have issues with the warrant even if they guess right. But one thing about mistakes they tend to compound if you don’t fix them right away. Sure seems like the correct solution is to get an accurate warrant.
If it was an arrest warrant they couldn't enter without permission in the first place.
But she let him in.
I've not even watched the video yet, and just from the thumbnail, I'm wondering just how stupid are these cops? House number are always even on one side of the street, and odd on the other. It's not exactly rocket surgery to look at a couple of other houses.
The mustache wins all cases, hands down.
If police weren't completely dumb they would know one side of the road is odd numbers the other is even
What is really funny here is how dumb the cops are. Address number 3171 on the warrant they enter 3170 and say that the houses are across the street from each other, it was an opps. NO! Everyone knows one side of the street is even numbers and the other side is odd numbers. All they had to do is look and find another house with a number on it and the cops would have known which side of the street is the odd numbers side and then they would have entered the right house or at least the house the informant pointed too.
A lie is a false claim is it not?
Well anyone else would look at the house next door??? Lol
Or google maps? Google shows the right home.
bs IF THEY DONT KNOW WHERE TO GO - SOMEONE LIED ON THE WARRENT TOO
This might be the Dumbest thing I ever herd
Please turn that outfit on low-beam. Thanks!
As much as I don't like it, the evidence is tainted and should not be admissible.
They better be sure before putting lives at risk. It is their responsibility
Accountability is their kryptonite.
They can't handle it!!!!!!!!!!
Do you do civil law as well?
Canadian...