What is the name of your state? PA
Ok so the other night, a few people in my apartment building got a little rowdy and starting throwing beer bottles out the windows into the parking lot (This is near a college campus). Obviously, the police eventually showed up. Two officers came to my apartment door and starting asking my room mate who was throwing bottles from our apartment. Note that there were about 10 people in my apartment, but we were drinking mixed drinks in red plastic cups not beer from glass bottles. After a few minutes of denying it was us, the cop said the he "clearly saw someone in a white tank top throw a bottle from my apartment". Well nobody in the living room was wearing a white tank top so the cop said that he was going to come in and search our apartment for this person. My room mate and I refused citing the fact that the police did not have a search warrant. Hearing this the officer said that it was suspicious that we wouldn't let them come in and that they would arrest us if we didn't let them search. My room mate then said "arrest us for what?" and the cop responded with "harboring a fugitive". At this point the officers proceeded to push past us into the apartment. My friend who was sitting on the couch said "hey you need a warrant" and the officer responded with "shut up, if you want to be a jail house attorney, you can do that from jail". They then proceeded to search our apartment, going through the closets and and looking under beds for this mystery individual. They found no one in a white tank top there and threatened to give my room mate a citation if he didn't say who threw the bottle. Well none of us knew who threw the bottle because none of them came from our apartment. The officer told my room mate that he would be getting a citation in the mail. My room mate responded with "for what?" and the two officers just walked down the hallway and left without saying a word. Today, my room mate got a citation in the mail for about $450 for vandalism. We are going to plead not guilty for this, but somehow I don't think the judge will take the word of 10 college students over that of the police officer. How should we go about doing defending ourselves? Also, is a formal complaint against the officers justified in this situation? Should we do that before or after the hearing? We feel that they did not have the right to enter our apartment and also acted very unprofessionally by not saying what we were being cited with and also insulting my friend.
Thank you,
Greg
Ok so the other night, a few people in my apartment building got a little rowdy and starting throwing beer bottles out the windows into the parking lot (This is near a college campus). Obviously, the police eventually showed up. Two officers came to my apartment door and starting asking my room mate who was throwing bottles from our apartment. Note that there were about 10 people in my apartment, but we were drinking mixed drinks in red plastic cups not beer from glass bottles. After a few minutes of denying it was us, the cop said the he "clearly saw someone in a white tank top throw a bottle from my apartment". Well nobody in the living room was wearing a white tank top so the cop said that he was going to come in and search our apartment for this person. My room mate and I refused citing the fact that the police did not have a search warrant. Hearing this the officer said that it was suspicious that we wouldn't let them come in and that they would arrest us if we didn't let them search. My room mate then said "arrest us for what?" and the cop responded with "harboring a fugitive". At this point the officers proceeded to push past us into the apartment. My friend who was sitting on the couch said "hey you need a warrant" and the officer responded with "shut up, if you want to be a jail house attorney, you can do that from jail". They then proceeded to search our apartment, going through the closets and and looking under beds for this mystery individual. They found no one in a white tank top there and threatened to give my room mate a citation if he didn't say who threw the bottle. Well none of us knew who threw the bottle because none of them came from our apartment. The officer told my room mate that he would be getting a citation in the mail. My room mate responded with "for what?" and the two officers just walked down the hallway and left without saying a word. Today, my room mate got a citation in the mail for about $450 for vandalism. We are going to plead not guilty for this, but somehow I don't think the judge will take the word of 10 college students over that of the police officer. How should we go about doing defending ourselves? Also, is a formal complaint against the officers justified in this situation? Should we do that before or after the hearing? We feel that they did not have the right to enter our apartment and also acted very unprofessionally by not saying what we were being cited with and also insulting my friend.
Thank you,
Greg