By Ani
Imagine you were sleeping in your house, and you heard a knock at the door. Three police walk in and start shooting at you. How would you feel? Well that’s how Angel Mendez and his wife felt one night in 2010. A recent development in this case changes the legal rights of police officers. After years of argument over the Mendez case, this decision will have an impact on future police invasions. The supreme court’s rulings strengthen the power of police, even if they make a mistake.
Recently, the Supreme Court has ruled that it is legal for a police officer to shoot you if you pull a toy gun in the case Los Angeles County v. Mendez. In 2010, a police officer looking for a wanted man entered a house, saw a man holding a rifle sohe shot him, but it turns out he pulled a toy gun. The legal situation of this was not really about the shooting. It was more about that at the when they pulled their triggers, the police must have believed that they were in danger. The reason that there was an argument in the first place is because the police entered without a warrant which isn't legal. This shows that the police made a mistake, but they might have felt unsafe when fake gun was pulled at them. The couple might have felt unsafe also when the police went into their house also. So it was like one big misunderstanding. All of these unexpected events caused lots of confusion and fear, and it resulted in this very interesting and legal case.
His case has taken many interesting turns. In 2010, Angel Mendez, who lost his right leg below the knee in the shooting sued the county and was awarded 4 million dollars because of the damage. This decision satisfied the Mendez family and the county left it alone for seven years. Seven years later, in 2017, the county took the money away after this new court case. That is when the court ruled that is was legal for the police to go into the home. You might argue that it Is violating the fourth amendment because the police officers did not knock. The police still won the case. It wasn't really constitutional, but since the house was technically a shack, they might not have known.
Now that the supreme court has ruled that police men can just search your house, what does this mean for the people? The future of police men barging into your house does not look good for the people. If police can just legally just come in and search your house, how will that affect peoples private lives? For police men, this means more rights as you might guess. What the police men will do with their new rights is unknown. I hope the police men make good choices.
The end of this case gave police many more rights. The case did take seven years to make a final decision, but in the end, Los Angeles County won the case. Do you think that Mendez should have won the case, or the police were fully in their rights to enter the home and shoot. What does this case mean for every one else who are faced with a police invasion?