| FreeTalkLive said: That's not only illegal, but it is abusive. Also, the war on drugs has gotten out of hand, clearly. Those cops should repay the suspect for the wear and tear on the TV, Wii and the Wiimote. They should also pay part of the suspects electric bill, out of their own pockets. If they refuse, the suspect should press charges. |
I know you don't like cops (you have said as much in other threads), and the incident should have never occured-- but really? How much wear and tear did they really cause?
What charges should this drug dealer bring against the police? Assuming there is indeed a crime that can be prosecuted, I doubt any DA would prosecute over this (waste of time considering how much work a typical DA has to do), and if a DA did prosecute I imagine most, if not all, judges would throw this out of court as a waste of time.
Perhaps a civil case? The one dollar worth of wear and tear and electricity would not justify it and I imagine any judge would throw it out as a waste of time (plus the filing fee is most likely several times the amount in question).
You also don't know for sure that their actions were illegal-- if the warrent did not include the Wii, then you are correct that it is illegal (or at least a good lawyer could convince a judge it was illegal). But if the warrent included the Wii and TV (the warrent could have included the house and all of its contents), then playing the Wii was not illegal. unethical-- yes, abusive-- possibly (your definition of abusive has to be pretty lax to include this incident), but not illegal.
Also, I don't think the suspect in question will be very concerned about the police playing his Wii (unless he can use it to get the search declared illegal), he is probably more concerned with his own court case.
I think a little unpaid leave of absence for a week or two for one or two of the officers and a memo spelling out what behavior is expected is really all that is required.
