A little buildup...I'm up in Milwaukee this week doing some jobs around the area. I'm at the airport now f back home, but yesterday I finished up and headed back towards the airport to get a hotel for the night. I check in around 3:00 pm, do a little computer work, go get a bite to eat, watch a little TV and hit the pillows around 10:00 so I can get up at 5:00 to get to the airport. At 3:15 am BANG BANG BANG BANG...POLICE, OPEN THE DOOR!!!BANG BANG BANG!!!.....OPEN THE DOOR!!! I'm sound asleep, so at first I'm thinking, "what the fuck is that?" BANG BANG BANG!!! I yell "WHAT!!" they respond "POLICE, OPEN THE DOOR!!" I yell "WHAT THE FUCK, hang on" and start getting up to get my pants on. Their still yelling and yelling "OPEN THE DOOR, OPEN THE DOOR" My initial thought is that these dumb fuckers are at the wrong room, so I go and look through the peep while I'm trying to get my pants on and I see about 10 dudes in full paramilitary gear with pistols and rifles drawn. I open the door and it's fucking ON!! They start screaming "ON THE GROUND, ON THE GROUND!!!" I'm still half asleep, so I'm going "wtf are you guys doing?" They throw me down, stick a knee in my back and handcuff me. Meanwhile other guests are all coming out of their rooms to watch the show. Then they stand me up and walk me all the way down the hall around the corner away from my room and start asking me a bunch of questions about why I'm there, what I do for a living, on and on on. Then they start multiple questioning. They keep asking me the same questions and trying to trip me up. "You said you just got to town yesterday. Now you're saying you got into town on Monday, which is it Chief?" I said, " I didn't say that, stop fucking with me." So me standing in the hall being questioned goes on for almost a half hour while the main group was off raiding another room. As soon as one guy finishes, another comes and starts asking me the same fucking questions again. I know what they are trying to do, but FUCK!! Here I am wearing nothing but a pair of jeans, in handcuffs, standing in the hall watching all the guests who got waken up poking their heads out the door to see what's going on. After about a half hour, the take me back to outside my room and tell me that they are doing some big statewide investigation, blah blah blah and they'll let me loose as soon as everything checks out. They were running me for warrants. Then the team leader, who is in full military CAMO with an assault rifle, asks AGAIN if I have any guns or drugs in my room. I say no. They say, "would you mind if we do a cursory search of your room and belongings to verify that." Now, I assumed that since they had led me away from my room that they had already done that, but aparantly not. So...there I am...standing there faced with "the question". Do you mind if we search your room? Even though I have no smoke on me and have absolutely nothing illegal in the room, I thought about it for a second and gave a very resounding "NO, I do NOT give consent to search my room or property!!!" "Why not?" he replies. I said, "look, I don't know what the fuck is going on here. You guys drag me out in handcuffs at 3:00 in the morning for no reason, take me away from my room where I can't see it, giving you guys full access to my room and property. I have no idea what's going here, so I absolutely do NOT consent to a search. They took me back into my room and had me provide them with proof (travel receipts) that my story is true. While we were waiting for whatever, one guy says "You a Colorado Medical Marijuana patient?" (my card is in my wallet) "Yep" "Do you grow marijuana? "Nope" "How many plants can you have?" "If I grew, 6" "Why do you have a medical marijuana card?" "Medical reasons" Eventually they told me that there were some "bad people" that were there from Colorado doing "bad things" and that I had checked in very close to when they did, and because I'm also from CO, they assumed I was with the other dudes. I ended up getting my room comp'd by the cops but HOLY FUCK, that was a crazy experience. Gotta board plane now. Check you guys later.
FUCKIN' POLICE!!!!! Good for you not consenting to a search. BUt like you said they prob already went through your room while you were around the corner. Raiding your room just because your from CO.. Sounds like shitting police work to me. Glad your ok. Peace....
in a word SUE!! it is the only way to change them. they shred the constitution in front of me like that and it will cost them, BIG right where it hurts them the most their wallet.
O wow fking crazy man. They really need to do there research before knocking doors down. And being in full camo and rifles, they were ready for some crazy fker from COasssit:
Damn....welcome to the police state Joe. All I can say is....that's fucked up. I'm with Bogart....rip them a new asshole dude. And WAY TO GO for standing up for your rights! :thumbs-up: You were quick on your feet and figured out that they MAY have just planted shit in your room. Who the fuck knows? They pulled that crazy stunt in the dead of night (how convenient that you were at your most vulnerable) without ANY proof of wrongdoing so I wouldn't put it past them either. Dirty motherfuckers...now I'm pissed! Still don't miss our small town?
This is a textbook violation of the 4th amendment. Find out how a guest is classified in Wisconsin. "ant" or "Licensee" There is a difference in the weight given under the law in some states. Also find out if they have a "Forced Entry and Detainer Statute". These can sometimes cause 4th amendment civil lawsuit headaches regardless of what the general public thinks. Regardless of the labels state statutes give, you have what is called "Reasonable Expectation of Privacy". This has been recognized specifically in cases involving the invasion of hotel rooms by police officers. You were cuffed (detained) and removed from your room. At this point the room is considered searched once you left the area and could not longer observe it. "The Fourth Amendment generally requires police officers to obtain a warrant before searching or seizing persons, houses, papers, and effects. This constitutional protection also applies to hotel rooms. United States v. Allen, 106 F.3d 695, 698 (6th Cir.1997)". "A defendant meets this burden, sometimes referred to as standing, by establishing an expectation of privacy in the place searched and society's willingness to accept the reasonableness of this expectation. Minnesota v. Carter, 525 U.S. 83, 88 (1998)". “Legitimation of expectations of privacy by law must have a source outside of the Fourth Amendment, either by reference to concepts of real or personal property law or to understandings that are recognized and permitted by society.” Rakas, 439 U.S. at 143, n. 12. When determining the legitimacy of a defendant's subjective expectation of privacy, we consider all of the facts and circumstances of the case, and “no single factor invariably will be determinative” in deciding the reasonableness of asserted privacy expectations. United States v. Smith, 263 F.3d 571, 586 (6th Cir.2001). Any attorney worth his salt can get you ome paper over this one. More than likely it would be an out-of-court settlement. You need to get moving though. Contact someone now and tell them your story. It will need to be a good civil rights lawyer. 5k should be more than enough for a retainer. If you can not afford that, try contacting organizations that support your different causes or interests. The police must first explain what they were doing there. They then have to explain how they came to associate you with any other warranted activites at the hotel. If there were no warranted activites, this was an illegal police raid and nothing else. Ask a real professional though. I'm high right now too. I could be wrong as hell.
I'd like to get the info from you and I'll call and complain about this outright violation of your 4th Ammendment rights. I'd DEMAND a written apology from the Leader of that task force, explaining their LEGAL reasoning for the abuses you experienced. A simple, ", have a nice night.", just isn't acceptable. I WILL call and also tell them I am planning another trip to their area, but it WILL be cancelled due to their unlawful policing. I'm itching to make the call to the Milwalkee PD, I just need to know the hotel and the location . . . and I'm on `em! "Hello, I'm a small business owner that had an employee staying at the , name of hotel, on the morning of 19 November 2010. You raided the hotel and his room and scared the crap out of this guy and now he's refusing to return to finish the job. I demand an explanation about how/why this happened, and what legal right you had to detain my employee in handcuffs in the hotel hallway for all other guests to see? This is a SEVERE case of violation of my employees right and he is currently considering legal action against your department." Something to that effect . . . FUCKING BULLSHIT! Glad they didn't find your crack or crack pipe. :alienwink:
Joe you forgot the part where you had to change your pants because you shit your self. Glad everything worked out that is some crazy shit-Bud
Joe you should have just layed there and claimed they must have injured your back when they knocked you down. You know help I cant move my legs call me a ambulance. Teamster6
Fucking A Joe! Good on you for standing up to a gun wielding camo covered police thug when it comes to your rights, and no bones about it, your rights were violated. It takes some conviction and no small amount of balls to do that. Somebody OWES you an explanation, at the very least, and possible damages if you care to push it. If'n it were me I'd start with the hotel chain management and piss a fit that they didn't protect your privacy rights when staying in their facility. Then call a local (Milwaukee) ACLU attorney or even a 1-800-starving lawyer guy. If they think there's a few bucks to be picked up they'll do it for 30-50% of the settlement. Since there was more than one guest involved my guess is some hungry young attorney could figure out a small class action against the chain and police. It's not the $$, it's standing up to illegal forceful police tactics against citizens. UW Milwaukee Law School might be worth a call. A very liberal group that could farm this out to students looking for another project. Thugs in uniform need to be corralled and pressure brought to bear in cases like this otherwise they're allowed to be nothing more than gangs with badges.
Fucking Police State!, Just because you arrived in town approx. the same time as some other people under investigation and happen to be from CO, they don't have the right to suspect you of anything! Such B.S.! That pisses me off. The cops are supposed to be here to protect and serve not to cuff, and detain innocent citizens. IMO you should definitely pursue a complaint against the officers involved and their police dept. Just because they didn't arrest you, and they comped your room, they expect that you'll just say thanks mr popo for fucking up my last night here and giving me a shitty memory of your city!
Yup, seems pretty clear that they violated your rights. I would follow RR's advice,a nd see where it goes.
Good fucking job on your part Joe. You kept your wits about you.:thumbs-up::thumbs-up::thumbs-up: That is still a fucked up situation. Nothing like having the living shit scared out of you in the middle of the night. Budz:anibong::anibong::anibong:
Thanks everybody. I'm still shook up a bit. I've been sweating like crazy all day and I'm jittery. So I called an attorney. He says that basically the cops can almost do whatever the fuck they want and pretty much have immunity for this kind of thing...unless I was hurt. He's saying that in order to file a civil suit against any, what he called, "Force Agency", from the fed all the way down to the local Barney Fife, that if I'm uninjured, it's really hard to make a case that's going to amount to any kind of financial settlement that's worth mine or their time. He said, as terrible a situation as it was, because I wasn't hurt, ultimately, to the courts, it was only a really shitty hour of my life. And how much is that worth? He was very understanding and sympathetic to what happened and told me that things like this is why he became a lawyer specializing in police misconduct, and to give it a few days/weeks to see if any physical or mental conditions come on and then see a doctor, if not anyway. He also advised that the best course right now would be to write the Chief, call the News, blah blah blah. I wasn't given ANY information by these cocksuckers on who they even were, and I forgot to ask, but I called the hotel and talked to Manager on duty and he gave me their info. It was the fucking Wisconsin Dept of Justice this is the douchebag that left his card. this is the only thing of use I can find on the guy. The hotel manager I talked to wasn't on duty at the time, but he knew what happened and certainly was a dick. He didn't even apologize for any of it. He wouldn't give me any info, but told me that unfortunately I got mixed up in a bad situation and that when their is illegal activity going on in their hotel, they have to cooperate with the police. I went fucking berzerk on that dude. He stayed calm/silent and just kept referring me to the General Manager like a good lackey. Of course he's on f'in vacation. Nothings gonna end up coming of this. Just bend over and take it from the fucking man :dog-nana: issing: :car8:
DAMN man sue the fuck outta them... a comped room doesnt even come close to the injustice you endured...
Joe I kind of figured that is the way this would pan out. Unless they were doing a rodney king on you!! I know one thing they hate publicity I would put his fucking name and story in their local newspaper and show the fuckin hotel that let you privacy get invaded. I would scream like a bastard. COCKSUCKERS tEAMSTER6
Seems Officer Kastelic makes extra $$ speaking as an expert in street drugs. Wonder how detaining people not involved with the arrests would look to those hiring him to speak at their schools and association events?
