Undercover Police Investigation

[Taxing Matters]

Would it be worthwhile to try and sue the police for violating my 4th Amendment rights and for the damages they caused during their undercover investigation of me that started 3 months after the death of my husband?

What fourth amendment rights of yours do you believe were violated during that undercover investigation 3 months later and how is that related to the search/seizure that was done the day your husband died?

If you have been charged with a crime and the search was done illegally then you certainly could move to suppress the evidence taken from the search so that it could not be used against you at trial. If you have not been charged with a crime and the investigation is closed you may sue to get the seized items returned to you (or your late husbands estate, if it's his stuff).

But you've not mentioned anything done during the undercover investigation that violated your rights or what damages that caused you, so I cannot comment on what remedies you may have for that.

If a criminal action is still pending or may be initiated you probably want to wait until that is resolved before filing a lawsuit. Discovery in a civil lawsuit is probably not something you want to be subject to while criminal charges are pending or a possibility. Consult a Colorado civil attorney about the possibility of pursuing a civil suit and the timing of any such suit.

 

[Taxing Matters]

Hmm. CdwJava, your response to the questions asked by StinkingBadges is starting to make this thread seem familiar to me now. Perhaps StinkingBadges has posted here before under a different user name ....

It'd have to be one that existed before I joined because I definitely do not remember this fact pattern it would be one that would have stuck out to me.

 

[Mass_Shyster]

Maybe this thread:

https://forum.freeadvice.com/threads/can-i-sue-the-police.648159/

What is the name of your state? Colorado

I live in Colorado and was home on September 7th, 2017 when I had to call 911 because my husband wasn't breathing. The ambulance arrived and the EMS staff started life-saving procedures on my husband and eventually called the hospital for permission to pronounce him dead.

Two Sherriff Deputies watched this happen while snooping around my house. After they pronounced my husband the two deputies asked if they could do a search of my home stating it was to make sure my husband hadn’t hit his head on something. It was very apparent that he hadn’t died because of an injury. I told them no. They said I had to go outside while they got a search warrant. One of the deputies stood guard over me outside while my husband's dead body was still inside my home.

They ended up searching my home while my husband lay on my living room floor and I was outside being guarded. I was on my front porch when one of their people who was guarding me said to get prepared because they were bringing him out in a body bag and that it was going to sound funny but that it was normal to sound that way. It sounded as if they had a whole host of items inside that bag beside just a body. I am still not sure of what all they took out of my home via that body bag, it was just very noisy, you could hear there were a lot of things rolling around in it making clashing sounds. It sounded like that had packed half of my house and put it in with my husband's dead body.

Can I sue the police?

 

[quincy]

Thanks, Shyster. That certainly
sounds the same.

The investigation sure is taking a long time.

 

[Taxing Matters]

Maybe this thread:

https://forum.freeadvice.com/threads/can-i-sue-the-police.648159/

That's likely it, and I stand corrected -- it was after I joined but was one I somehow never saw because if I had I would have commented in it. As the thread occurred while I was in the middle of a move last year, I probably wasn't checking the boards regularly. It was a pretty hectic time.

 

[Zigner]

Great find, Mass_Shyster. I KNEW it sounded familiar.

 

[Mass_Shyster]

Great find, Mass_Shyster. I KNEW it sounded familiar.

I found it by searching site:forum.freeadvice.com "body bag" in google. When I found it I couldn't figure why you recognized it, but weren't sure when it was only two weeks old. Then I remembered that we're in 2019.

 

[Zigner]

I found it by searching site:forum.freeadvice.com "body bag" in google. When I found it I couldn't figure why you recognized it, but weren't sure when it was only two weeks old. Then I remembered that we're in 2019.

I used the site's search function and had no luck with the same term...go figure.

 

[Zigner]

To be honest, I'm surprised that it was a 2018 post...I figured a few months tops.

 

[quincy]

I found it by searching site:forum.freeadvice.com "body bag" in google. When I found it I couldn't figure why you recognized it, but weren't sure when it was only two weeks old. Then I remembered that we're in 2019.

Like Zigner, I searched using the FA search feature and various search terms (including "body bag") and couldn't find it.

I wonder what investigators have found that leads to concerns now.

 

[PayrollHRGuy]

Very good catch Mass.

That July of 2018. I wonder if this is going to be an annual post?

 

[Just Blue]

What is the name of your state? Colorado. I called 911 when I found my husband unresponsive, on the floor at home, police, and paramedics responded to my home and after working on him a bit they went ahead and pronounced him dead. Afterward, the police asked me for consent to search my home, I told them no, they made me wait outside while they searched anyway all while my dead husband is still lying on the floor. They later lied and said they had gotten a search warrant and then while I was still outside being guarded by one of the police officers they brought my husband out in a body bag with what sounded like half of my household items in the bag with him. Would it be worthwhile to try and sue the police for violating my 4th Amendment rights and for the damages they caused during their undercover investigation of me that started 3 months after the death of my husband?

So it turns out, StinkingBadges, that almost all of your questions you asked today were answered last year when you posted under a different user name.

https://forum.freeadvice.com/threads/can-i-sue-the-police.648159/

 

[quincy]

So it turns out, StinkingBadges, that almost all of your questions you asked today were answered last year when you posted under a different user name.

https://forum.freeadvice.com/threads/can-i-sue-the-police.648159/

That is why I am wondering what came of the investigation that was started 3 months after the death of her husband.

 

[Just Blue]

That is why I am wondering what came of the investigation that was started 3 months after the death of her husband.

Me too.

 

[PayrollHRGuy]

And how such an investigation would be "undercover."

But the death was in September of 2017 so the investigation had already been running up to 9 months when the post was made.