Buffalo couple sues after armed bounty hunters raid the wrong home: reports

[Reptile]

Police officers stood by as bounty hunters searched home without a warrant, lawsuit says​

A couple in upstate New York has filed a lawsuit against the city of Buffalo, its police commissioner and others after armed bounty hunters raided their home last month, according to reports.

Jake Reinhardt was woken up suddenly after two Pennsylvania bounty hunters armed with a shotgun and AR-15 semi-automatic rifle pounded on his front door late at night, the Buffalo News reported. Seven police officers from the Buffalo department were seen standing by at the scene.

Reinhardt, shirtless and barefoot, was forced outside at gunpoint by the bounty hunters while his eight months pregnant fiancé clutched their 3-year-old daughter inside the residence, the report said.

The bounty hunters told Reinhardt they were looking for his brother, Luke Reinhardt, a fugitive, according to the lawsuit. He had his bond revoked for failure to appear in court in Lebanon, Pa., where he was charged with several misdemeanors.

Reinhardt can be heard on home surveillance video that Luke does not live at the residence and was not in the home at the time, local media reported.

As the two men go to enter the home to conduct a search, Reinhardt can be heard asking if they have a warrant, WKBW-TV reported. The bounty hunters do not produce any paperwork and ask Reinhardt to step aside before entering the home with their guns drawn.

Buffalo couple sues after armed bounty hunters raid the wrong home: reports

A couple in upstate New York has filed a lawsuit against the city of Buffalo, its police commissioner and others after armed bounty hunters raided their home last month, according to reports.

www.foxnews.com

 

[Palladin]

https://www.hg.org/legal-articles/what-are-the-laws-about-bounty-hunters-31439

Bounty Hunters are not the police.

 

[Reptile]

https://www.hg.org/legal-articles/what-are-the-laws-about-bounty-hunters-31439

Bounty Hunters are not the police.

Are you inferring that the family had the right to resist the home invasion?

If they did resist, it would not have ended well.

The bounty hunters were backed up by 7 armed police officers who were also there.

 

[paul73]

https://www.hg.org/legal-articles/what-are-the-laws-about-bounty-hunters-31439

Bounty Hunters are not the police.

there is an old joke about it - 'they will hit you in your face, not in your passport'.

 

[BTSDOG]

Dont bounty hunters also need warrants ? Or with police standing by, is this just their way to circumvent due process...

 

[eboos]

Looks as though the bounty hunters were acting as agents of the police department and thus the department should be liable as well. I hope the couple wins big.

 

[kalash]

No badge, no warrant? I wouldn't open the door and if they broke it down I'd shoot until the actual cops got off their asses and got involved.

 

[GenderBender]

If they would have breeched my door they would have felt the hot lead of my breech.

Or I might do something like this just to scare them away.

 

[In God We Trust]

Dont bounty hunters also need warrants ? Or with police standing by, is this just their way to circumvent due process...

If the brother listed this house as his address, then no they probably didn’t need a warrant. There are some legal loopholes concerning bail enforcement and they may have unknowingly signed a contract allowing them to enter.

when a guy is on parole for instance, his P/O can search his house at any reasonable time and police can search him on the street without probable cause of a crime. These may differ from state to state.

 

[Rob Boudrie]

"Officer, I would like to file a complaint against this non-sworn individual who is in possession of an AR15 not registered before the ban as required by the NY SAFE act. If you do not make that arrest, can you explain the procedure by which I may file an official complaint against the department for overlooking such a serious offense?".

 

[StevieP]

This linked story (from the FoxNews article above) has MUCH more detail.

Lawsuit: Police aided bounty hunters who held pregnant woman, toddler at gunpoint

A lawsuit alleges that without showing a warrant and without consent, two bail recovery agents searched a home aided by Buffalo police officers.

buffalonews.com

As fugitives go, Luke Reinhardt wasn't likely to make a most-wanted list. He had his bond revoked for failure to appear in court in Lebanon, Pa., where he was charged with misdemeanors for simple assault, retail theft and driving while operating privileges were suspended or revoked, according to the lawsuit. He had already indicated to the bounty hunters that he planned to turn himself in, but only after keeping a doctor's appointment in Buffalo in coming days.


The bail amount totaled just $5,000.

No police department should stand guard over any "bail bondsmen" operation over such piddling charges and bail amounts. Nobody should have their lives threatened over such bullshit.

 

[wilson911]

 

[Matt_SERE]

Someone is going to write a large check over this. More detail in this update linked below.

Another bounty hunter busted into the upstairs apartment that Reinhardt rents to another family with young children.

Buffalo Council President Wants Answers on Policies, Laws Guiding Bounty Hunters

Buffalo Common Council President Darius Pridgen can think of a lot of things that could go wrong if armed bounty hunters are not regulated by any common-sense laws that protect an individual’s cons…

www.wivb.com

Buffalo Council President Wants Answers on Policies, Laws Guiding Bounty Hunters​

NEWS
Darius Pridgen will file resolution Wednesday after he saw News 4 Investigates story on the armed bounty hunters entering occupied home without consent as Buffalo police officers stood watching.
by: Daniel Telvock

 

[teamRR]

No badge, no warrant? I wouldn't open the door and if they broke it down I'd shoot until the actual cops got off their asses and got involved.

Yep that would be how I'd handle it. "Need to see real police and a real warrant front and center, not you a**h***s".

 

[AHM]

Reinhardt, shirtless and barefoot, was forced outside at gunpoint by the bounty hunters while his eight months pregnant fiancé clutched their 3-year-old daughter inside the residence, the report said.

Fail: He opened the door.

As the two men go to enter the home to conduct a search,

Fail: He didn't lock the door.


Watertown Rules:
Don't turn the lights on.
Don't be seen from outside.
Don't make any noise.
Don't answer the door.
There is no one home.

 

[teamRR]

Fail: He opened the door.

Fail: He didn't lock the door.


Watertown Rules:
Don't turn the lights on.
Don't be seen from outside.
Don't make any noise.
Don't answer the door.
There is no one home.

Haha well the other odd thing is that crew rolling into your driveway without waking you up.

I could see the wanna be swat team sneaking down the street but my guess is, especially during the winter, the local PD did nothing short of pulling up as close to the house as they could get with their blue lights on, probably taking their sweet time.

 

[AHM]

Haha well the other odd thing is that crew rolling into your driveway without waking you up.

I could see the wanna be swat team sneaking down the street but my guess is, especially during the winter, the local PD did nothing short of pulling up as close to the house as they could get with their blue lights on, probably taking their sweet time.

Eh, if they seriously thought a fugitive was in the house,
they had to sneak up to position guys at the back door, etc.

So I wouldn't expect a CE3K light show before they pound on the door.

 

[LoginName]

'Bounty hunters' = alpha male a**h***s, former military or disgraced cops with no other marketable job skills other than
being alpha male a**h***s.

 

[Peicemaker]

If bounty hunters are still a thing then maybe we should just go back to civilian militias doing the police work. Since that will never happen, I'm pretty sure that catching fugitives is the job of actual law enforcement people with actual powers of arrest. What a retarded situation.

 

[CATI]

If bounty hunters are still a thing then maybe we should just go back to civilian militias doing the police work. Since that will never happen, I'm pretty sure that catching fugitives is the job of actual law enforcement people with actual powers of arrest. What a retarded situation.

If you are accused of a "normal" crime, a bounty hunter is only a thing if you are poor/broke/have minimal financially to lose
10k bond
1k your mommy pays to get you out
Bondsman on hook for 10k 1k his profit.
Of course most people do not have 1 million for a more serious crime.

I guess the solution for no bounty hunters is either no money as collateral and just let them out and wait or broke people stay in prison and wait

I have never read of police helping out like this though. Mostly read about them stopping bounty hunters or bounty hunters needed to call before they operate in town.
The police get nothing out of this case only risk. Plus they are using tax payer money/labor hours to help out this bounty hunters protect private money
I am sure it will come out a connection between the police and the bond company/hunters

The couple are lucky the police were involved, I bet the pockets are not so deep with the bounty hunters and the city has "unlimited" money
"Bail Shop LLC has 1 total employees across all of its locations and generates $32,709 in sales (USD). "

 

[namedpipes]

If the brother listed this house as his address, then no they probably didn’t need a warrant. There are some legal loopholes concerning bail enforcement and they may have unknowingly signed a contract allowing them to enter.

when a guy is on parole for instance, his P/O can search his house at any reasonable time and police can search him on the street without probable cause of a crime. These may differ from state to state.

Then I'm listing 1600 Penn as my home address, should I ever be arrested.

 

[teamRR]

If you are accused of a "normal" crime, a bounty hunter is only a thing if you are poor/broke/have minimal financially to lose
10k bond
1k your mommy pays to get you out
Bondsman on hook for 10k 1k his profit.
Of course most people do not have 1 million for a more serious crime.

I guess the solution for no bounty hunters is either no money as collateral and just let them out and wait or broke people stay in prison and wait

I have never read of police helping out like this though. Mostly read about them stopping bounty hunters or bounty hunters needed to call before they operate in town.
The police get nothing out of this case only risk. Plus they are using tax payer money/labor hours to help out this bounty hunters protect private money
I am sure it will come out a connection between the police and the bond company/hunters

The couple are lucky the police were involved, I bet the pockets are not so deep with the bounty hunters and the city has "unlimited" money
"Bail Shop LLC has 1 total employees across all of its locations and generates $32,709 in sales (USD). "

Along those lines, on face value this was not a dangerous fugitive they were looking for either:

"where he was charged with misdemeanors for simple assault, retail theft and driving while operating privileges were suspended or revoked"

Generally most people out on bail to begin with aren't ever going to be America's Most Wanted rather they are run of the mill petty criminals with drug habits.

Not to mention:

"The bail amount totaled just $5,000"

Basically this is a total WTF on all accounts. If you go banging on my door like that and you are not obviously the police, tell you what, I might not be wearing pants but I'm not going coming down empty handed either. What a dangerous situation these people caused over petty crime and $5000 - should really be illegal.

I kinda wonder how it would've played out if he basically said that if they tried to breach the door he was going to start shooting. Maybe they had a cause to be there based on incorrect information but similarly he was harboring no fugitive and they were not the police. Even the police start negotiating during those stand offs, can't imagine they would sanction escalating it.

 

[granitestater]

What is puzzling to me is that new York has some very strict gun laws. It says the bounty hunters were from Pennsylvania and the police just allowed this? As was said above they are not police. in many states they can arrest a bail jumper but they are not exempt from the gun laws. If the victims had non ny approved guns I wonder what would have happened?

 

[BOOTKNIFEFAN]

Someone is going to write a large check over this. More detail in this update linked below.

Another bounty hunter busted into the upstairs apartment that Reinhardt rents to another family with young children.

Buffalo Council President Wants Answers on Policies, Laws Guiding Bounty Hunters

Buffalo Common Council President Darius Pridgen can think of a lot of things that could go wrong if armed bounty hunters are not regulated by any common-sense laws that protect an individual’s cons…

www.wivb.com

Buffalo Council President Wants Answers on Policies, Laws Guiding Bounty Hunters​

NEWS
Darius Pridgen will file resolution Wednesday after he saw News 4 Investigates story on the armed bounty hunters entering occupied home without consent as Buffalo police officers stood watching.
by: Daniel Telvock

What is puzzling to me is that new York has some very strict gun laws. It says the bounty hunters were from Pennsylvania and the police just allowed this? As was said above they are not police. in many states they can arrest a bail jumper but they are not exempt from the gun laws. If the victims had non ny approved guns I wonder what would have happened?

NY law does not require an FOID or an FID for long guns, unlike MA, NJ and IL. NY requires a license and registration for handguns only. The AR may have been modified to comply with the NY SAFE act. No handguns were mentioned. I cannot imagine any LEO passing up an opportunity to make a felony arrest, especially when it involves a weapon.

 

[greencobra]

Dont bounty hunters also need warrants ?

dunno, but i seem to remember dog always asking rather politely if they could enter a home for a search, didn't i?

 

[teamRR]

What is puzzling to me is that new York has some very strict gun laws. It says the bounty hunters were from Pennsylvania and the police just allowed this? As was said above they are not police. in many states they can arrest a bail jumper but they are not exempt from the gun laws. If the victims had non ny approved guns I wonder what would have happened?

A lot of the strict gun laws don't seem to apply to anyone in LE, retired LE, military, possibly vets, and even security personnel. Likely they always fall under some exemption but maybe the guys with the shotguns didn't but the AR guy was disgraced but retired LE or something.

 

[FrugalFannie]

If you are accused of a "normal" crime, a bounty hunter is only a thing if you are poor/broke/have minimal financially to lose
10k bond
1k your mommy pays to get you out
Bondsman on hook for 10k 1k his profit.
Of course most people do not have 1 million for a more serious crime.

I guess the solution for no bounty hunters is either no money as collateral and just let them out and wait or broke people stay in prison and wait

I have never read of police helping out like this though. Mostly read about them stopping bounty hunters or bounty hunters needed to call before they operate in town.
The police get nothing out of this case only risk. Plus they are using tax payer money/labor hours to help out this bounty hunters protect private money
I am sure it will come out a connection between the police and the bond company/hunters

The couple are lucky the police were involved, I bet the pockets are not so deep with the bounty hunters and the city has "unlimited" money
"Bail Shop LLC has 1 total employees across all of its locations and generates $32,709 in sales (USD). "

I'm guessing the bail company has liability insurance though it may not pay out this type of claim. would have to see the policy. But yeah, bounty hunters are bonded, are they not?

 

[Rob Boudrie]

NY law does not require an FOID or an FID for long guns, unlike MA, NJ and IL. NY requires a license and registration for handguns only. The AR may have been modified to comply with the NY SAFE act. No handguns were mentioned. I cannot imagine any LEO passing up an opportunity to make a felony arrest, especially when it involves a weapon.

Police do not always check the legality of armed civilians depending on the circumstances.

I was assisting on a consulting job at a CT police department, as the primary consultant wanted an armed assistant (he was consulting on their shooting range) and I had a CT carry permit. So, I actually was paid as a "designated shooter".

I was visibly armed but nobody asked about the legality of the gun or if I had a CT permit. I was just assumed legitimated based on the totality of the circumstances. The same could happen in the bounty situation.

 

[BOOTKNIFEFAN]

Police do not always check the legality of armed civilians depending on the circumstances.

I was assisting on a consulting job at a CT police department, as the primary consultant wanted an armed assistant (he was consulting on their shooting range) and I had a CT carry permit. So, I actually was paid as a "designated shooter".

I was visibly armed but nobody asked about the legality of the gun or if I had a CT permit. I was just assumed legitimated based on the totality of the circumstances. The same could happen in the bounty situation.

Glad, for your sake, that you weren't hassled and were shown every courtesy. Whenever I encountered an Illinois Conservation Officer while hunting, I was also treated courteously after I forked over my valid IL hunting license and my valid IL FOID card for the rifle or shotgun that I was in possession of. They will ask you to produce these documents every time. Failure to do so means that the hunting trip immediately ends with a trip to jail.

 

[AHM]

If bounty hunters are still a thing then maybe we should just go back to civilian militias doing the police work.

Letters of marque and reprisal, FTW.

I have never read of police helping out like this though. Mostly read about them stopping bounty hunters or bounty hunters needed to call before they operate in town.
The police get nothing out of this case only risk. ...

The police get to do their job: keeping the peace.

I'm listing 1600 Penn as my home address, should I ever be arrested.

Basically this is a total WTF on all accounts. If you go banging on my door like that and you are not obviously the police, tell you what, I might not be wearing pants but I'm not going coming down empty handed either.

"Coming down"?
Who's "coming down"?

Police do not always check the legality of armed civilians depending on the circumstances.

Yeah, I think that's pretty firmly established.