How badly were my rights violated and what can I do?

Hi. I'm a musician in NY. I played a party Labor Day weekend and ran into some trouble. Here's the story.

I play the gig, everyone has a blast, the gig ends, I pack up, everyone helps carry my gear back to the truck. The homeowner comes out of the house, tells me to wait 30 seconds and he'll settle up with me. 10 minutes later, he comes out of the house, pulls
his dad off to the side (he's a cop, dad's a retired cop, both Suffolk County) and they're talking pretty intently. Slowly but
surely over the next 30 minutes, people enter the house but don't come
back out. I'm left on the deck by myself with one other couple talking
to each other on the other side of the pool. The owner finally comes out and
says there's been a 'serious felony' committed inside the house and that
I can't leave yet. He tells me he's a cop, that he's serious, and that
he hopes I didn't have other plans because I can't leave. I say OK. I
ask if everything's OK and he says no. I turn around to call my
girlfriend on my cell phone to tell her I'll be at her house later than
expected, and the owner asks what I'm doing. I tell him. He says OK.

After a few more minutes, I look over to the driveway and see a bunch of
the owner's friends and his dad peering into the open windows of my truck. I
move in a little closer to see what's happening and the dad asks if the
alarm is off. I looked around and realized he was talking to me, I said
the alarm was on. He asked if I could turn it off. I did so, and they
start opening the doors and looking through my stuff. The dad comes out and
tells me that $180,000 (yes, one hundred-eighty thousand US dollars) in
cash and his police shield are missing, and that people saw me walking
around the house by myself. He says if the $ is in my truck and I tell
him now, he'll pay me what he owes me and let me go. If I deny it and he
finds it in my car, I'm not going anywhere. He's about 5'6", but VERY
well built, and was in full interrogation mode. Just like on TV. I tell
him I did nothing, and that nothing was in the truck but my stuff. He
goes on to tell me that he will kill whoever did this, and used the word
kill several more times. I stood around feeling helpless while everyone
went through my stuff.

After a while it was clear that I didn't have the $, and he took me in
the house and weakly apologized. I said I understood he did what he had
to do (I was scared out of my mind at this point and just wanted to
leave!!). He said he had no $ to pay me and that he'd write me a check.
I told him no - deal with this now and mail me a check. (Again, I just
wanted to GET OUT OF THERE!) I said some awkward goodbyes and left,
shaking. I was upset all night and most of today.

The owner's girlfriend called today to tell me that the money and the shield turned up in another part of the house about an hour after I left, once the dad
instsed that they turn the whole house inside out. She couldn't stop
apologizing for them searching my car, told me I wasn't the only one
they suspected because so many people were in and out of the house all
day, blah, blah, blah. I told her the search was one thing, but that
her boyfriend scared the **** out of me when he threatened my life and got in my face and that I was all messed up about it until she called.

I'm torn up about what, if anything, to do since this is a police family. I feel that my rights were trampled over, but don't know what or if to do anything about it.

Thanks.

[Son of Slam]

What's the address?

If you were on his property and people suspected you, he sure can search your car.

[enjay]

He can't search your car without reasonable cause, and it certainly appears that he had none. People were in and out of the house all day and he used the fact that he's a cop to intimidate you. Call the internal affairs office of his department and file a complaint.

Now if the whole story is true this is a good one!!!

He cannot search your car even if it’s on his property he has no right within the law it’s your property and you said no. Once you told him no then he should have called the police and let them follow the proper procedures. He does not have the legal right to search and seize just because it’s his property. Also I would like to add that nobody can hold you against your will. If you have really broken the law that’s a different story but under the circumstances described you were well within your right to leave at anytime. Talk to an attorney I think you have a good case here.


MY MD JD

Yes, it's all true. I never actually said "no" (or "yes") to searching my car. The whole time, I felt like I had to do whatever they said because they were cops. I was scared out of my mind.

Due to proximity (we live on an island that's not all that big) I'm probably not going to call a lawyer. We'll see.

Originally posted by MY MD JD
Now if the whole story is true this is a good one!!!

He cannot search your car even if it’s on his property he has no right within the law it’s your property and you said no. Once you told him no then he should have called the police and let them follow the proper procedures. He does not have the legal right to search and seize just because it’s his property. Also I would like to add that nobody can hold you against your will. If you have really broken the law that’s a different story but under the circumstances described you were well within your right to leave at anytime. Talk to an attorney I think you have a good case here.


MY MD JD