Police Damage Truck During Warrantless Search for Drugs

[Megamel29]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...E-explain.html

Police ransacked the truck of an innocent small business owner in search of drugs, damaging it in the process...then left a NOTE to explain
Matthew Heller attended a concert in Tampa Florida in February and left his truck parked in the venue's parking lot
When he returned, Heller found that his truck had been ransacked and damage had been done in the process
In addition to the damage, Heller found a note from the Tampa Police Department explaining that they searched his car for marijuana while he was in the concert
No marijuana was found in his vehicle


A Florida business owner left his vehicle in an amphitheater parking lot as he attended a hip-hop concert earlier this year. When he returned to the vehicle after the show, he found that his truck had been broken into and vandalized.
It wasn't until Matthew Heller found a note in his trashed vehicle outside the Ybor Amphitheater in Tampa that he discovered that it wasn't your typical thief who'd broken into and damaged his truck - it was the police.
'Sir, your car was checked by TPD K-9,' the note left by police states. 'The vehicle was searched for marijuana due to a strong odor coming from the passenger side of the vehicle. Any questions call Cpl Fanning.'

After tearing through the vehicle and damaging much of the electrical wiring and cosmetics, the officers found precisely zero marijuana - or any other drugs, for that matter.
As would be expected, Heller is not happy.
'You think if anyone is going to break into your vehicle in Ybor, the last person you think, it’s going to be the cops,' Heller tells WFLA.com.
The officers who trashed the vehicle didn't even leave a business card or an apology - just a handwritten note on a 2x3 piece of scrap paper with a phone number written on it.
Heller's vehicle is an over-sized truck with graphics on the side advertising his business, HornBlasters, which sells automotive air-horns.

'Disgusted, I’ve got my whole life savings in this truck. It’s like a marketing tool for my business to promote the air horns and everything. The horns weren’t working, all the electronics were ripped out,' said Heller.
Heller is questioning the officers' claims that his car smelled like marijuana - as he notes, the truck is lifted very high off the ground, where a K-9 unit would have a hard time smelling.
Additionally, it was in the parking lot at a concert, where the smell of marijuana is often not an uncommon scent.

'It was all sealed up, a parked vehicle in a private parking lot for a hip hop concert in Ybor. There were all kinds of smells, everywhere around here,' said Heller.
Heller says he would have happily allowed the officers to search his vehicle, but says he's upset that they trashed his truck, and didn't even ask for his permission, which - depending on who you ask - is potentially against the law.

'It’s an illegal search,' Florida attorney Bryant Camareno told the website. 'Usually if it’s some kind of unoccupied vehicle there has to be some level of exigent circumstance to justify searching a vehicle without a search warrant. Exigent could mean if there is a dead body inside, if there is a screaming child locked in the car, a dog but if the car is unoccupied there is no exigency to justify the search.'
The Tampa Police Department, however, defends its search of Heller's truck and says it was perfectly legal.
'While the search is legal, it is not typical,' the TPD said in an email to WFLA. 'The Tampa Police Department is now reviewing the specifics of this investigation.'
In the meantime, Heller is still baffled about how something like this could even happen.
'I am out for the damages and my time but mostly I’m scratching my head and kind of confused with everything. I had no clue this was something that could happen,' Heller said.

[K9Grip]

What a professional note they left, too. I'd be pissed.

[OhJstFkOffAlrdy]

The moral of the story: whitey got no business listening to hip-hop.

[Oswald2001]

Don't be smoking in your vehicle in public, yo.

[TheVrist]

Is he one of those f550 driving douches

[Shakey]

That's Tampa Police for you.

[K9Grip]

Originally Posted by TheVrist

Is he one of those f550 driving douches

At first I thought it looked like a Tundra, but I can't tell for sure. I laugh at those DB's, too. Ashton Kutcher et all.

[30564U]

This goes back to the probable cause/reasonable suspecision discussion. It's just a matter of time before the courts no longer allow K-9's to determine cause for a warrantless and in this case groundless search. Currently there is nothing wrong with this search...absolutely nothing! Let that sink in for all of you guys that smoke marijuana and aren't really careful. If that dog hits on your car...and if you're smoking or in possession while inside the car, you're gonna get caught...because marijuana stinks and any idiot can smell it. This asshat probably smoked in the vehicle or stored marijuana in it...and what happens when it's hot inside the vehicle...that's right it really smells. I hate to say it, but Hip Hop and smoking dope go hand in hand. If you don't want this to happen to you be smarter that this idiot. Why the police didn't use the dog at the entrance to stop pedestrians is beyond me, they would have had more arrests and citations than they could write. This was bad policing, but it isn't illegal or against common policy. Let this be a lesson.

[Xfactor]

Bullshit. The search not reasonable because the police must generally show that it is more likely than not that a crime has occurred. Suspect was never questioned. People in the United States are entitled to privacy and freedom from government intrusion.

Cpl. Fanning: (813) 431-3577

[rapeWhistle]

Originally Posted by TheVrist

Is he one of those f550 driving douches

It's a 650, the 550 has the Super Duty(light duty) body,
not a Medium Duty body and chassis.




..but, yeah, fuck him!

Normally these 4th Amendment issues make me foam at the mouth,
but then i noticed the 'HornBlasters' body wrap kit.

Fuck that guy.