Couple Assaulted, Home Ransacked, Arrested For Accidentally Dialing 911
 

Couple Assaulted, Home Ransacked, Arrested For Accidentally Dialing 911

North Shore News | November 23, 2006
Joanna Habdank

NORTH VANCOUVER - A North Vancouver couple has complained to District of North Vancouver council and said they will sue the North Vancouver RCMP after officers responded to their hang-up 911 call by breaking down their door, making a forceful arrest and jailing them overnight when the couple refused to allow a house-search.

The RCMP said, however, that in this case, federal policy commands a home-check, designed to ensure public safety.

North Vancouver resident Marget Lieder said that in the early evening of Oct. 25 she was having wine with her partner and a guest when she misdialed the emergency number, meaning to call 411 instead. After promptly hanging up, the police contacted her, saying two officers were dispatched and warned her her home would be searched to confirm she wasn't in danger.

"I don't want my privacy to be invaded just because I misdial a number," she said. Once the officers arrived, she only spoke to them on her porch, refusing entrance. "They didn't have a search warrant and they didn't have anything to do in my house."

She insisted she had nothing to hide and there was no cause for distress. Three more officers arrived shortly after, broke down the door and arrested Lieder and her partner, Larry Pierce, for obstruction of justice, she said.

"I was sitting on the couch. They stuck a Taser in my face, threatening me with 50,000 volts," said Pierce, a well-known lawyer. "They threw me on the floor, twisted my left arm. A police officer stuck his knee into my ribs and jumped on me." Later he found out that his two ribs were cracked, recalled Pierce. The couple said the officers began taping them right away even though their rights weren't read until they were in the car. Once in jail, Pierce remembered he was interrogated for over an hour.

North Vancouver RCMP Const. John MacAdam said police are obliged to search the premises after a hang-up 911 call. Pierce maintained his rights were violated and he will go ahead with a lawsuit.

:Oh crap

Hm, the policy makes sense in case someone is kidnapped and the criminals stopped them making the 911 call but I think the mounties might've gone overboard here

my thoughts exactly

probably not , the lady that opened the door her husband appearantly a well known lawyer , she probably had that typical know it all bad attitude


they should have known better than to refuse those officers to take a look around the house

fuck that.

Criminals don't all wear black masks now, and aren't rugged looking. The person whomever called 911 could have been calling because of the person who answered the door, and the other man that the police saw there.

The problem is possible how the police handled the woman and the lawyer. I didn't see tape though. :)

Matt

True ... just shove in the garbage your rights and cave in to the police state...

They should have offered them donuts, coffee and a joint ... :thumbsup

Only in America. Oh wait :)

Well that sucks. I can see the need for what they'd wanted to do, it makes sense because it may have been a kidnapped child or something you know.. I would probably NOT have hung up and just said "oh shit I dialed 911? I meant to dial 411.." thereby helping to calm the situation long before it got out of hand. I would hope that this would have caused a calm quick "search".

Land of the free eh? :1orglaugh :1orglaugh

I heard that before....

hmm unfortunate...but it is policy for a reason

if you arent stupid you dont hang up whne you misdial 911...when you hang up they have to respond, thus you are fucked...

Yes, becuase Canada is one giant Police state :2 cents: Just look at the laws, it's a total police state. People think its not just becuase you can smoke weed in certain places. what a joke.

our south neighboor is rubbing off, mainly west of Ontario .... :)

what the fuck

I think they went overboard. It really doesn't matter whether the woman gave the cops attitude or not, once they found out she was not in danger, they should have left, instead they went overboard to prove a point..

So what's 411? Directory assistance?

Yes, exactly. police state in effect. :2 cents:

ouch they could get away wih that on most but a lawyer wont let that go away easily.

just like what we saw on movies :1orglaugh

This only made the news cuz shit like this ain't supposed to happen to white people.

Let's hope he hands those cops a major ass whopping in court. :2 cents:

I'm not so sure because all they got was a hang up. They couldnt take her word for it that it was her and it was a mis-dial (since she hung up).
Maybe a hooker was taped up in a closet somewhere? hehe

I've dilaed 911 plenty of times and they have never responded, even in emergency's at times. What bullocks! :2 cents:

when you accidentaly dial 911, you either say "oops, wrong number" or let police in for a quick check.
I think it's good they come check things out when such hangup happened.
I can see how such hangup can be the only thing a person in trouble can do.
It's quick and silent.

Ofcourse the police doesn't need to get all physical :)
Most of them are just frustrated people who think they can just go ahead and hurt people if they call them some nasty names or don't do exactly what they want.

yeah every call must be taken seriously

Most would have made great Nazi Gustapo, and would enforce those same laws today without even thinking.. :2 cents:

My sig, your thread, it is like a match made in heaven!

that sucks, but through experience, i find its best to just let the cops do whatever they ask. so long as it is reasonable. which in this case it seemed to be to me.

just be polite, let them get their business out of the way. arguing anything with a cop is pointless, no matter how badly you'd like to see them burn, especially when you have nothing to hide. all she would have had to do was let them in, they would have talked for a seocnd with her husband, politely taken off their shoes took a quick peak in a few rooms, said goodnight, apologized and fucked off. this is a policy for a reason, so i don't see what the issue was. for what would have taken maybe 3 or 4 minutes of her busy afternoon, they would have saved themselves a pile of hassle in the end. most cops are reasonable people like you and me if you just let them do their job...

Boy, I didn't think Canada had the same problems with law enforcement going wild.

A lot of Jews during the 30's and 40's in Germany thought the same thing..... that seemed to work out really well for them. :2 cents:

Would the cops charge this guy in the States

http://www.torontosun.com/News/Toron...46199-sun.html

Family guy gets no sympathy

By IAN ROBERTSON, TORONTO SUN

Burlington dad Don Shaxon is taking a public beating for battering a teen who "jumped out of the shadows" in the basement of his home.

Frustrated that Halton Regional Police said the 16-year-old faces only an underage drinking charge, the venture capitalist went public.

Police said the case is being reviewed, but Shaxon, 30, plans to file a complaint against police today.

Since a local paper's report and a radio station open-line host invited comments, "people are giving me a hard time for beating him up," he said.

"They say I'm the one who should be charged."

Shaxon said he got more sympathy from radio listeners yesterday, after CFRB interviewed him.

"You've got to understand, it was pitch black when this guy jumped out of the shadows," he told the Sun. "I didn't know who he was or why he was in my house. I started fighting him and yelled for my wife to call police."

Although he took boxing in school, "I'm only 5-and-a-dime and 180," the 5-foot-10, 180-pounder said. "And no, I don't work out.

"When he got up, I punched him again" and grabbed his throat, Shaxon said. "I was hitting him on the head and I guess his head was hitting the concrete floor."

"My wife was three feet away, on the phone and I told him 'If you move again, I'm going to kill you'."

When police arrived, the subdued youth "pretty much the same size as me ... had blood coming out of his ear," Shaxon said.

Earlier, he set up a home theatre in the basement of the home he and Melissa, 27, moved into five months ago with their daughters Summer, five months, and Britney, 10. The two girls were asleep upstairs.

I probably would not have taken any chances and killed the fuck. :2 cents:

A stranger in your house endangers not only you but your loved ones.. I would have no mercy on someone like this.

Although it doesn't say it in the article the police are considering charging this homeowner with assault. Now is that fucked up or what.

I figure in the U.S. you could have shot the kid without any repercussions.

people are really fucking dumb, and I thought Canadians were smart. The police are there to to make sure nothing is wrong, they are responding for her own safety because she DIALED them. How hard would it have been to let them in for 10 seconds to make sure no one is in the house with them. Unless she had something to hide, and that's why the Cops probably grew a bit suspicious as well. What a bunch of fucking retards we have here in North America.

Not entirely true , they had that kid recently who called 911 when his mom passed out and the 911 operator told the kid to stop playing around and hang up the phone. then the mom died.

simple: leave ... nobody will miss you ....

Sound to me like they might have set the police up to sue them.:disgust