Indiana City Doesn't Have to Pay Innocent Mom $16,000 After Police Wrecked Home

Summary

An Indiana woman whose home sustained severe damage during a police raid set in motion by a faulty investigation is not legally entitled to compensation, a federal court ruled this week, in yet another case that asked what innocent people are owed when the government destroys their property in pursuit of public safety. In June 2022, a group of law enforcement officers arrived at Amy Hadley's South Bend home, where they launched 30 tear gas canisters, smashed windows, ransacked furniture, destroyed security cameras, ripped down a panel and a fan, and punched holes in the walls. They were searching for a suspect, John Parnell Thomas, who they believed, based on his IP address, had accessed the internet from Hadley house. They would not find him, however, because he had never been there. In addition to the structural damage, Hadley's personal possessions, like her clothing and beds, were ruined by the tear gas. She and her son slept in her car for several days after the raid. Yet her luck would continue to sour. After Hadley asked the government to compensate her for $16,000 in damages, it came back with a strange response: No. In that vein, she joined a growing list of innocent people whose property was damaged by law enforcement, only to be told they must shoulder the financial burden of that individually. (Many insurance policies explicitly refuse to reimburse damage caused by the government.) So, she sued. Such suits primarily hinge on one question: Does the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment—which promises that the government cannot take private property without providing "just compensation"—apply when the government is exercising its "police power"? Several federal courts have answered in the negative. That includes the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit, which heard Hadley's case. "The Fifth Amendment does not require the state to compensate for property damage resulting from police executing a lawful search warrant," wrote Judge Joshua Kolar for the u...