The Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a South Bend woman’s case against the city, in which she alleges police violated her civil rights during a botched raid.
When police bust down your door and damage your home in search of a suspect, only to have the wrong house, should they do more than say oops, sorry?
No, the Supreme Court effectively said Monday, in declining to hear Amy Hadley’s case against the city.
In 2022 a SWAT team, before realizing its mistake, threw tear gas into her windows. Broken glass filled the family’s beds and the tear gas destroyed their clothes, electronics, and other personal items.
A year ago a federal appeals court upheld a lower court ruling that found South Bend police can’t be held liable for damages to Hadley’s East Calvert Street home. And the Supreme Court agreed Monday, declining to hear her appeal of that ruling.
But that’s federal court. Hadley’s attorneys, the Arlington, Virginia-based Institute for Justice, a libertarian public interest law firm, says the case will now proceed in state court. Indiana’s Constitution states that “(n)o person’s property shall be taken by law, without just compensation.”
