OPINION:
A business owner in California who sought compensation from SWAT members after they raided and destroyed his printing shop while trying to apprehend a criminal suspect was just told by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to suck it. The panel’s majority basically said that the Fifth Amendment takes back seat when police are engaged in a “public necessity,” like arresting a criminal, the Institute for Justice reported.
That’s about as absurd a court ruling as it gets.
Even little kids are taught the basic rule of civil society, the one that goes, ‘if you break it, you buy it.’
More than that, though, the Fifth Amendment makes it pretty clear that nobody will be “deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law” — and that applies to suspects as well as to innocent bystanders who happen to own printing shops that suspects duck into as a means of evading police, where said police then bust into the business and cause thousands and thousands of dollars in property destruction. Yes, the Fifth Amendment says nothing about “public necessity” as an exemption clause, nope, not for either of those scenarios.
It was this second scenario that impacted Los Angeles NoHo Printing and Graphics owner Carlos Pena.
According to the Institute for Justice, Pena was at his place of business in August of 2022, when a fugitive ran in and ousted him from the premises. The suspect then barricaded himself inside, while police and SWAT surrounded the building. When the suspect refused to come out, the police rushed into the building, causing massive damage in the amounts of tens of thousands of dollars. Pena claimed he also lost thousands of dollars more from business he had to turn away during the temporary closure of his shop.
Pena tried to recover his losses from the city.
He tried to recover his losses from his insurance company.
Both refused and in July of 2023, the Institute for Justice sued on his behalf. A lower court ruled against Pena in 2024; on later appeal, the 9th Circuit then ruled similarly.
Come on, courts. Give the guy his due.
“I know the police had to get the criminal off the streets,” Pena said, in an IJ post, “but it’s unfair that I’m forced to pay for the damage they caused.”
He’s right. This should be a simple fix.
If police break — they should fix. If police destroy — they should pay.
The Fifth Amendment is a basic human right to be safe and secure in one’s own possessions and home — and body. When law enforcement treat this right cavalierly, it’s not just property damage that results. Death and injury can occur, too.
For instance: In 2020, health care worker Breonna Taylor was killed when her boyfriend thought the police who forced their way into her home during an execution of a no-knock warrant were actually criminal intruders, and as such, fired a gun at them. Police returned fire and killed Taylor in the process. For example: In 2014, a badly burned Georgia toddler was put in a medically induced coma after police rushed into a home of the relatives where the baby and his family were temporarily staying and in the dead of night, dropped a flash bang grenade by mistake in the crib. In both those incidents, following fights in the court, restitution was made to the survivors and family members.
But those were at least warranted searches.
Pena was an innocent bystander whose business just happened to be handy to the fugitive.
His restitution — and apology — should be a no-brainer,
The fact he has to continue to fight in yet another court to receive what should have been offered by policy in the first place is an ugly side of policing that is too frequently pushed to the side. Democrats try to turn police mistakes into tools for political wins. Republicans try to turn police mistakes into unjust persecutions of the politically savvy. But sometimes mistakes are simply mistakes, minus any politics or racism or agenda. And when mistakes are made, as everybody knows, the mistake-makers ought to do what it takes to make restitution to the wronged parties.
Pena deserves his money. That’s just common sense and common decency.
And Americans deserve a strong Fifth Amendment. That’s just constitutional.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley. Listen to her podcast “Bold and Blunt” by clicking HERE. And never miss her column; subscribe to her newsletter and podcast by clicking HERE. Her latest book, “God-Given Or Bust: Defeating Marxism and Saving America With Biblical Truths,” is available by clicking HERE.
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