Help. I am 18 and had an alcohol party. Cops came, we hid upstairs, they broke in through the window.

Question

I am 18, my parents went out of town, I had a small party. There was about 20 people at my house, and more coming. And a little bit of alcohol; I wasn't drinking. My friend showed up saying that there was a cop that drove by and walked up to the house. Everyone went to a back room and stayed quiet. Ten minutes later a cop pulls into my drive way, everyone runs up stairs, and hides in my room. They had no proof that we were drinking. Just that there were cars WAY DOWN THE STREET (everyone parked 200 yards away), and my neighbors probably called them saying something was going on at my place. (My neighbors saw people walking in and knew my parents were gone.) We are all in my room silent, no person to be seen. All doors locked. They pound on the door, ring the door bell a bunch of times. Yell my name asking me to come down. Shine lights in all the windows, we continue to keep quite for ten minutes or so when it starts to get really loud. It sounded like they were in the house. I finally went down stairs and they had popped out my screen, and opened a window. I tried to play it off but the cop claimed he knew we were drinking. He cursed at me, and yelled to open the door. I said ok, but he was to pissed, and litterally climed through the window, and violently hand cuffed me. He ran throughout the house and searched EVERYWHERE for other people. All of my friends came down with the 2 officers. I asked if they had a warent, and they replied something along the lines of "you still have the right to remain silent, and I advise that you do so." They harrased my friends asking if they have had anything to drink. Most said no and told them to breathalise them. It never got that far, and to end it quickly, they basically just gave us a lecture on why we shouldn't drink. A few had confessed to drinking, but I don't even think they felt anything. No body had drinken very much. They saw no open alcohol, everything was thrown away, except an empty fifth of smirnoff vodka. I don't know who's that was, but that is the only proof they have of drinking other then confessions. The next mourning, my garage door was broken from them trying to open it. I feel like this is not ok for police to handle a situation like this. Please tell me what you think I should do about this. What can I get out of this. No one was charged with anything, but I feel like the police are at major fault in braking in with out a warrent. Let me know what you think.

Thank you for your time, and for reading this!

Answer 1

Wow... I've been to a few underage drinking parties in my day, but nothing like that has ever happened!

I do believe they do not need a warrant to come inside if someone called 911.  Then they had probable cause to enter.  I guess they could have argued that the caller said unknown persons were entering your home and they were just making sure you weren't being kidnapped, robbed, killed or raped.  

The reason no one got arrested was because they had no proof of the drinking, as you said.  

Answer 2

well d**n u shouldn't have had the party in the first place!

Answer 3

if i were you i wouldn't do anything they could have arrested you and if you turn the officers in you will probaly get booked for underage drinking ....... i would tell your parents that accidently ran into the garage door with your car

Answer 4

well first of all **** cops sencond ****'em again and when your parents ask just tell them what happen and you guys can actually sue the police departament, have those fuckers pay for it, i personaly know cops can be very harrasing, since i am mexican i alway get pulled over cause i supposely look suspesious and always ask whom am i afiliated with if i'm a 13 or whatver the h**l gangs there is so i say sue their asses !!!

Answer 5

They had just cause.

You were lucky.

Keep in mind,  they're watching you.

Answer 6

If I was you, I would call the police department from where these police were from and ask to speak to their chief. You could tell him the exact situation and how they broke the garage door and popped out the screen and entered your home without probable cause or permission. These cops can get in trouble and I suggest you teach them a lesson!

Answer 7

Hopefully you learned a lesson and now your gonna be grounded right?

Answer 8

I personally dont think they had the right to do that,

especially if they werent going to take anybody in custody.

Answer 9

well IF ur telling the complete truth then, get a lawyer or something. I think u can get a suit going or something

Answer 10

File a claim and sue.. They have no probable cause that you were drinking and if they did why terrorize your house?

Answer 11

Wow, I can't believe you tried to hide? That's rediculous. I don't see nothing wrong with it. If you can be an adult and face when you've done something wrong, then you deserve the consequences.

(The cops probably didn't break the door, it was probably one of your drunk friends.)

Answer 12

youre very lucky you werent charged for underage drinking, so get over it

Answer 13

if you dont care that your parents find out i would definitely tell them and see what you can do in terms of talking to a lawyer. i wouldve been pissed if that happened. but ive talked to cops before about this and they say that it only take a phone call to get a warrant and that they can have one officer stand in the front of your house and another in the back and just wait until they have authorization to come in.. i dont know about the garage and everything though that sounds a bit ridic. id be pissed!!! id definitely fight that!!!!

Answer 14

dont fight them..they will always win.

technically, the house is not yours it's your parents... they would've never broken in if you would've calmly answered the door, stepped outside and closed the door behind you. They have no right to enter without at a warrent at that point. Since you hid, they could probably argue against you...  

Answer 15

yep that is illegal  

Answer 16

well you shouldve came down wen thy were pounding on the door for 10 minutes your neighbors probably thought you were squatters. you would be stupid to file a suit because you didnt even come down to the door and maybe you were a squatter.  did you think that they were just going to leave you couldve been robbing the placve this is your fault and the police apartment acted apropriately. if they didnt knock on the door and they did what they did that wouldve been bad

Answer 17

Dude If u weren't charged than ur fine, just get ready for ur parents when they get back & have to pay for all the damages, I hope u have insurance or a lawyer.

Answer 18

wow cops take things a little to far... well every 18 year old drinks just tell your parents that your friend hit the garage door with his car and that you broke a window by throwing a baseball haha but the cop deal is messed up! that is illegal

Answer 19

lmao wow that was long. well i guess the cops were just doing their job and got impatient or annoyed when you didnt come down the first time they asked you to. but i do agree that the way they handled it was too harsh and injust. careful next time! =)

Answer 20

THE ONLY THING you people done WRONG  including you of course the owner of the house is the minute you sense the police is coming you people hide and kept silent for 10 minutes? Thinking the police will just go away don't you? Well they don't in usual cases. And lock all doors, they kept shouting and ringing the house bell asking you people to show yourself.

Next time, don't do that again. If you are having a party together with your buddies, and when cops arrived don't run inside and hide, the more the police might get suspicious you people are hidding something illegal inside the house that is the more reason they will search and secure the area, they might call some back up in some instances. SO IF YOU ARE NOT HIDDING or doing illegal stuff why not open or come OUT of the house once a mobile police vehicle approach the front of the house, tell them 'yes officers, what seems to be the problem' try to approach them rather wait for them to come to you or infront of your house. USE SOME COMMON SENSE. Because if you will approach them with an OPEN ARMS they will simply just go and forget about it or the complain if there is any from your nearby neighbor who called the cops. The more you open up or even inviting them in would be a sign that you guys are absolutely clean. So these cops would not bother to come inside the house on what ground? Nothing they will just slip out of the scene and go. BUT WHAT YOU DONE IS THE OPPOSITE OF IT, hide from each room of the house and cover yourself and lock every door possible.

IF YOU ARE NOT HIDDING something just keep it cool. But if you are doing illegal that is the way things are done just like you did, so can you complain what the cops did to your home? You can of course but the judge will side with the police with these kind of reason you just wrote. So why complain just make this as  A LESSON TO YOU next time around.  

Answer 21

That might be a little harsh but consider this a get out of jail free card.

Interesting story though haha.

Answer 22

if you are telling us the absolute truth of events (which I really don't think you are), then this would constitute a 4th ammendment violation of a seach.  You could thereby file a "1983 tort civil suit" against the department and officers involved, but you would need to hire a lawyer (which costs money you probably don't have).  So if you want to get a lawyer, you'll have to tell your parents...which by the way it sounds, you don't want to do.

moral of the story-don't drink until you are of legal age...

Answer 23

Yes they violated your rights. They had no reason to come in yes you were breaking the law but no one was in danger for their life. So they had no right to force their way in.

Answer 24

You're not going to get far with this. What if they had just walked away and something serious happened?  It's their responsibility to check things out. After all, because you all hid, it made them even more suspicious that something REALLY wrong was going on. You're lucky some real wierdo with a gun didn't walk into the house and terrorize everyone. It's been known to happen.

Answer 25

dude be thankful no minors were caught drinking because not only would everyone have been underage drinking, you arent a minor anymore.

Answer 26

lay a complaint on them at the police station

Answer 27

i think u should report the officers that unnescessarily damanged ur property.

to h**l with crooked cops.

Answer 28

The police did not have any right to enter your home without your permission in this case. Nor did they have any right to search for any of the alcohol.

Unfortunately our rights as Americans are not taken seriously anymore especially by those in the law enforcement careers. Whether that is due to the government alone or also to the citizens themselves who do not fight for their rights is debatable. I am glad that you know your rights and recognized that the police acted in a manner that infringed upon those rights.

Amendment 4 - Search and Seizure. Ratified 12/15/1791.

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Peace and luck

Answer 29

this is what a police state looks like. people who say "he was lucky lol" don't realize the implications of this situation. sounds downright fascist.  

Answer 30

because of the apparent public disturbance and possible drug trafficking with a number of people going into your residence taken into account. The police have probable cause to enter a residence if they think that there is a crime or something wrong in a house. They knew from the 911 calls that there was recently a great number of people in the home. When they knock and no one answers a red flag is immediately raised. The officer knows the house is occupied and no one is answering. They would be forced to enter if no one came out to ensure themselves that everything was ok. at least 10 people ion the home and 0 answers could imply that something had gone very wrong in the residence so they would have been forced to enter if you hadn't come down. Leave the alcohol alone.

Answer 31

interesting story, your lucky as **** man. who cares if they were wrong you could tell your parents you werent drinking and make up some lie about breaking the garage.