Sued because I thought a burglar was in my house?

[liveupstairs]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? CA

ok here is what happened...
I left to go to the post office around 12:00pm to mail some stuff.
when i came home at around 1:00pm, i noticed a white car parked in my driveway.
this white car, was dirty and damaged... I have never seen it before, and i thought it might belong to a latino or black person. You can say whatever you want, but Im sorry, I just couldnt think of it belonging to anyone else...
so....
I thought first of all, this is strange, so i walked over to my garage door. I heard voices inside, and heard a door being shut.
I thought who could it be?
So, I called my mom, my dad to find out if this weird car belonged to their friend or something...
My mom was out, and my dad was in his shop.
It was 1:00pm so I was sure my younger brother wasn't home because school doesnt end until 2:30pm and besides, he never comes home at 2:30pm, he always stays out til like 4:00pm.

So i did what anyone would do if they saw a strange car in your driveway with voices inside. I first checked to see if anyone that I know could've been there, then i called the cops.

the cops arrived and pulled out their guns and found my younger brother and his friend inside.
first of all, my brother never told me that he was coming home early.
The cops made them do the whole "get on the floor, put your hands up... etc"
well after the misunderstanding got cleared up****************************
My brother's friend's dad called us and started overreacting, stating his son was doing a good deed, he didnt need guns pointed at him, and that he was going to get legal action against me and my family.
He also said that I should've looked inside to see who was inside my house...
(I think this idea is pretty stupid... if there WERE burglars in my house, and IF they had GUNS... and they saw me... I COULDVE BEEN KILLED!)

I want to know if he has a valid claim or anything that he can pin my family down for.

In my opinion, he can "try" to sue for emotional distress... but that pretty much NEVER works, and i personally didnt cause this "emotional distress" the cops did. and they were just doing their job.

[cyjeff]

While I imagine your brother and his friends got a decent shock, I don't see that you did anything wrong.

In fact, you did everything right.

Offer to pay for the friend's dry cleaning and move on.

[racer72]

Tell the idiot the next time you find someone in your house when no one is suppose to be there, you will shoot them first then call the cops.

[Zigner]

Originally Posted by racer72

Tell the idiot the next time you find someone in your house when no one is suppose to be there, you will shoot them first then call the cops.

Unfortunately this friend was an invited guest of a resident.

Not that I think he has any basis to make any sort of claim or anything...