Late last week, a federal judge denied the motion to dismiss filed by Putnam County, who had asked the Court to dismiss the first of several lawsuits filed against Putnam County for a pattern and practice of illegal searches by their “Special Enforcement Unit,” who were caught on video searching the inside of my client Dustin Elswick’s home, which you may have seen on Youtube.
Usually in federal civil rights lawsuit, you are required to sue the individual government employee or officer who engaged in the violation. However, under the Supreme Court’s ruling in Monell v. Dep’t of Soc. Servs., 436 U.S. 658 (1978), counties and cities (i.e., political subdivisions) may be sued directly when they have adopted some policy or practice which authorizes a constitutional violation against citizens by police officers. These are known as “Monell Claims” and they are very difficult to prove, generally. So they are pretty routinely dismissed. I’m happy this one wasn’t. Presumably the other two cases just like it will also be allowed to proceed…..
Freedom is Scary, Episode No. 79.
You can read the memorandum opinion and order here:
Federal Court Allows Lawsuit Against Putnam County for Illegal Task Force Searches to Proceed
You can learn more about the underlying case and watch the original youtube videos here:
Only one way to stop this crap. Time to start holding these officers personally responsible for their actions and their supervisor. Cops like this are idiots, all cops personal information including home addresses, relatives and neighbors are public information. Time as citizens to take a stand against these corrupt cops as we know the supervisor will cover for them
I hope going forward we see a lot more civil cases in our courts. Protecting the rights of our people is a necessity if we survive as a free nation.
The Manson Family used to do this to people to freak them out. They called them “creepy crawls”.
I find that the biggest argument against following precedent and/or a similar case to disqualify QI is that at SOME point in legal history, the precedent had to be made FOR THE FIRST TIME. In other words, when the precedent was set, it HAD to come up as a court decision that never dealt with it before. This makes QI void to both, a new case not being part of a precedent and SIMILAR cases whereby a precedent had to be ruled for the first time because the US Constitution's Bill of Rights covers the ENTIRE country and regardless of which circuit court hears a case, the Constitution applies nationally REGARDLESS of cases in that district.
Has a follow up been made yet? I’m interested to see what will happen next.
I thought I had an audio problem. Co-incidence ?
Good to see it is not our present problem.
What does communism have to do with anything you were talking about
Hire you a young sectary or a family member to help you out with all of your files, Facebook, and YouTube my niece helps me with the things I need help with
Time shows your are 100% right about the self defense info. He was found Innocent of all charges and Justified in self defense.
It seems funny that you can't file a lawsuit if there is no former cases like yours.. how the hell do you get that first case processed?
No tall heroes wear capes, you are a Hero of the People!
No Police Unit should be allowed to work without a paper trail.
When cops act like criminals, they should be treated just like they act. Thugs with Badges.
Years of not asking for warrants makes it easier to get Monell claim.
Violate all those involved. Put them behind bars in general population. Let them get what they deserve. 🌶🦴💄🍌🍼
Are these cops in jail for breaking and entering and since it’s a felony are they still licensed to carry?
I LOVE WHEN THEY BUST COPS! I ALWAYS TEACH MY KIDS, GRAND KIDS AND ANY OTHER KIDS, PEOPLE YOU NAME IT, THAT COPS ARE THE BIGGEST CRIMINALS BUT WITH BADGES! THEY CAN LIE TO YOU, MAKE UP REASONS TO PULL YOU OVER, HAVE NO PROBLEMS WITH COMMITTING CRIMES AGAINST YOUR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS BECAUSE THEY HAVE IMMUNITY, YOU CAN NOT CHARGE A COP OR HAVE THEM CHARGED ONLY OTHER POLICE CAN DO THAT! TRUST ME AND IM A WHITE REPUBLICAN, THE WAY THEY JUST TREAT YOU BECAUSE THE WAY YOU LOOK AND IF THEY FIND OUT YOU HAVE A RECORD!? ITS ALL OVER FOR YOU! THEY DO EVERYTHING IN THEIR POWER TO KEEP YOU IN THE SYSTEM! Please help de funding the police, we need less of these tyrannical criminals with badges on the streets, not more!!! They think they can do whatever they want cause they wear a badge! Just watch how they question you when you get pulled over, first thing is have you been drinking? Do you have any weapons in the car like your civil rights prohibited you or something!? Anyways, so they pulled my friend over in Racine Wisconsin and he had a record from over 16 years ago for a drunk driving, he did his time and never drank again, so after running his plate which they do all day long without your permission or having a reason, well they will make one up lol and that's what they did to my friend. First thing they asked cause they seen he got busted for drunk driving is, have you been drinking? Or because you swerved back there and I suspect your drinking. Well he wasn't and this young rookie by the time he pulled over and started talking, 6 other cop cars pulled up. They searched his car found nothing, so they swabbed his money, his 26 bucks and found methamphetamine on only 1 of them, not that it would rub on other bills, anyways and charged him with OWI, POSSESSION OF METHAMPHETAMINE THAT WAS CHEMICALLY PULLED FROM THE BILL AND paraphernalia THE SAME BILL!! RUINED HIS LIFE! LOST HIS 28 A HOUR JOB! AMD IF IT WASNT FOR MY BOSS BAILING HIM OUT FOR $10000 YES THAT IS CORRECT $10000 THEN HE WOULD OF LOST HIS HOME, TRUCK, ALL HIS TOOLS IN STORAGE ALONG WITH HIS $20000 HARLEY! SO screw YOU COPS AND I HOPE WE DEFUND YOU ALL!! WASH ALL YOUR CASH!
It seems in WV the police don’t think they have to follow the law. I’ve seen this type of behavior in multiple counties in WV and it’s a real shame. It’s time to start filling the prisons with rogue cops and anyone who approves of all these illegal acts. Maybe the rest will start getting the message. Otherwise the courts will need to be reformed so they start taking crimes by cops seriously enough to start putting them in jail. Jails are non discriminatory. They hold criminals no matter what they did for a living.
I wish more people would become civil rights lawyers! They are really the only thing standing between us and tyranny! Keep up the good work
Thanks John, see the key board lawyers are at it below. Love to see these cop have to say. I said at the time he acted in self defence….USA education system is so poor the population doesn't have any idea what Fascism or socialism or Communist means.
He's not one of my mob I'm hard Left but no Communist.lol but he does deserve a fair trial….Cops have found going after Lawyers is bad idea as they know the law have money and do sue hard! I may not like or support Fascist but I will die defending their right because if it allowed to become political then it effects me to.
How can I get in touch with you. I’d love your recommendations for a good civil rights lawyer in Maryland.
I was under the impression QI was for a mistake made in “ good faith “
What you're saying it depends on the honor and integrity of the judge .
First of all, it could be argued that these 'cops' wanted to give the appearance that the illegal search was carried out by a burglar… (which legally it was!) But they got caught!
"they have adopted some policy or practice which authorizes a constitutional violation against citizens by police officers"
That alone should be alarming! When govt puts their wants above our rights, then we can see that govt is headed in the direction of why the US was established! TYRANNY! It would seem clear that they want to normalize a police state!
Can't believe those fat fu€ks got though that window.
It’s so good to see a lawyer trying to right the wrongs of our court system.
It looked to me that the officers had forged Brent Payne‘s name.
Is this true?
The Putnam County SD has always operated in that fashion.
I left years ago but the drug unit there has always bent the law and did what they needed to get evidence. They do what they want.
Tell me something how utterly horrible is that they will utilize fluctuations in the law for benefit yet hold your client up to the highest legal & moral standard enough to put them in prison while giving themselves legal leeway you could drive a truck through…
Too bad the man wasn't home! Forceful breaking an entering will get you shot in most homes! People need to remember cops are not above the law, no matter the gang colors they wear!
The cops were running down people with their cars, horses, bikes.
As a former FBI agent you can by court order force state police and FBI to hand over the list of supervisors for those cops that robbed your client
Your client was careful to place hidden video surveillance and cops incriminate them selves on video which helped had cops known client had video surveillance the cops would have looked elsewhere
What paperwork does a cop need to present during a search. My understanding is it must contain what they are looking for and places they may look.
man those are some ROGUE cops who knows what the heck they're capable of doing……
Don't forget that those things cannot be trusted for use any longer because they've been in custody of unknown persons with unknown motives who are apparently against you.
You sir, need to watch your back and surroundings. You need to become very vigilant because you have called out certain LEO and the FBI. As a former state intensive probation/parole officer, I know firsthand how LEO react to being called out. Because of hurt feelings and ego, they will definitely retaliate against you and or your family. Just saying, watch your back! There are a lot of LEO out there that have no right being in a position of authority because of their mental health and stability.
This is a blatant violation of that citizens constitutional rights by rogue and out of control LEO. I don’t really care why they broke into that person’s house and rummaged through his personal items, LEO had no authority or a warrant. If you or me broke into someone’s property, we would have been immediately arrested and facing criminal charges. Why is LEO allowed to get away with this kind of behavior, and who does a citizen complain to – definitely not the elite crooked and above the law, FBI. America is definitely in trouble, always has been, but more and more people are trying to make LEO accountable for their actions. This is not North Korea or a communist regime! As a retired US Marine, who served and fought to protect our rights and freedoms, this kind of behavior by LEO totally sickens me and makes me angry at our government and politicians.
In Texas, these smaller towns have created "drug task forces" and have started a massive fishing campaign on the interstates near them. Using any excuse to pull you over and search your vehicle. Having you get out the car to get a warning for something extremely petty like, not signaling long enough, just to work into asking to search your vehicle. If you don't consent, they will make you wait until a dog can get there, which always signals you have something…..because they want to search your vehicle. It's happened to me three times in two months. Same exact tactic every time.
At night, they park in the center, and blast their high beams and spotlights across the roads, so they can see who's in the vehicles. To no surprise, the large majority of those pulled over aren black.