{"id":62521,"date":"2023-04-18T04:30:56","date_gmt":"2023-04-18T08:30:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/texas-police-destroyed-a-cancer-survivors-house-a-new-legal-maneuver-may-force-the-city-to-pay-62521"},"modified":"2023-04-18T04:30:56","modified_gmt":"2023-04-18T08:30:56","slug":"texas-police-destroyed-a-cancer-survivors-house-a-new-legal-maneuver-may-force-the-city-to-pay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/texas-police-destroyed-a-cancer-survivors-house-a-new-legal-maneuver-may-force-the-city-to-pay-62521","title":{"rendered":"Texas police destroyed a cancer survivor’s house. A new legal maneuver may force the city to pay"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The SWAT team smashed Vicki Baker’s brand-new fence, shot dozens of tear gas canisters through the walls, windows and roof, and used what Baker describes as a “bomb” to blow off the garage door. The goal, police later told her, was to create confusion and to shock their target.<\/p>\n

But Baker was not the suspect in a crime and in fact was more than 1,000 miles away when police destroyed her home in McKinney, Texas. Now the 78-year-old cancer survivor is at the center of a landmark federal court ruling ordering the city of McKinney<\/a> to pay nearly $60,000 in damages for destroying her house while pursuing a fugitive.<\/p>\n

THE FBI TOOK HER LIFE SAVINGS. NOW SHE\u2019S FIGHTING TO HELP OTHERS GET THEIRS BACK.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Baker had packed up a portion of her belongings and moved to Montana in summer 2020 for her retirement. The sale of her McKinney house was almost final.<\/p>\n

But on July 25, while Baker was in Montana, a handyman she had hired two years previously took refuge in her home after kidnapping a teen girl. Baker’s daughter fled the house and called 911 while Wesley Little remained inside with the teen and a backpack full of guns, Baker said.<\/p>\n

Police swarmed the home. Little eventually released the 15-year-old girl, but refused to surrender, telling police he would not come out alive.<\/p>\n

So a SWAT team<\/a> moved in, unleashing a barrage of tear gas explosions from all directions.<\/p>\n

“What I was told is the reason they did a lot of that was to bring about confusion to the perpetrator inside,” Baker told Fox News. “They call it shock and awe.”<\/p>\n

“While they were doing all of this damage to my house, [Little] apparently killed himself,” she continued.<\/p>\n

Every window had to be replaced. Doors had been smashed and tear gas canisters had punched holes in the drywall.<\/p>\n

HANDYMAN TURNS THE TABLES ON SQUATTERS WHO TOOK OVER HIS MOTHER’S HOUSE<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

“A hazmat team threw everything out,” Baker said. “They had two huge containers in front of my house and both were filled.”<\/p>\n

Furniture, clothes, Baker’s high school yearbooks, her mother’s doll collection and antiques all had to be thrown away because they were so saturated with tear gas, she said.<\/p>\n

The tear gas and explosions left her daughter’s Chihuahua blind, deaf and sick. The dog eventually had to be put down.<\/p>\n

The buyer backed out. The damage totaled at least $50,000.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Baker’s insurance company<\/a> refused to cover the bulk of the damage because her policy \u2014 like most \u2014 excludes damage caused by the government.<\/p>\n

Baker tried to file a property damage claim with the city, but officials refused to pay, citing qualified immunity,<\/a> a doctrine often used to shield police and other government agencies from being sued for violating people’s rights or destroying property during the course of their work.<\/p>\n

“‘We’ve never paid a claim like this,'” Baker remembers a city employee telling her. “‘You won’t get a dime.’ Those were her exact words.”<\/p>\n

WATCH MORE FOX NEWS DIGITAL ORIGINALS HERE<\/u><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

She said she laid on the couch crying for days.<\/p>\n

“I was forced into semi-retirement, mostly retirement, when the cancer came,” she said. “My house was no longer sold. I couldn’t pay off this property.”<\/p>\n

When the Institute for Justice took Baker’s case, lawyer Jeffrey Redfern tried to avoid immunity entirely.<\/p>\n

“It’s a very good thing that the police got this guy off the street, and nobody’s disputing that,” Redfern said. “It’s just about who has to bear the cost of that.”<\/p>\n

He argued police seized Baker’s property under the Takings Clause, just like with eminent domain<\/a> when the government might seize someone’s home to build a road or other infrastructure. Redfern said the city had a right to take the home, but that Baker must be compensated.<\/p>\n

A federal judge agreed<\/a>, and a jury awarded Baker $59,656.59 in damages.<\/p>\n

But since the city of McKinney appealed that decision, Baker still hasn’t seen a dime. The city maintains that destruction of private property through police operations cannot constitute a Fifth Amendment violation.<\/p>\n

The case will be argued before the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in early June. If the Appeals court sides with Baker, it will create a split decision with the 10th Circuit in Colorado<\/a>, which previously ruled a local police department did not have to compensate a man whose house was destroyed during a gun battle between officers and a shoplifting suspect.<\/p>\n

“That raises the odds of a Supreme Court review,” Redfern said.<\/p>\n

No one knows exactly how many innocent citizens have their property damaged or destroyed by police each year, but Redfern said he hears about large scale damage “every few months.”<\/p>\n

Baker hopes her case will help others.<\/p>\n

“I feel we will win this thing,” she said. “I feel God is on our side.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Source – https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/us\/texas-police-destroyed-cancer-survivors-house-new-legal-maneuver-force-city-pay <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The SWAT team smashed Vicki Baker’s brand-new fence, shot dozens of tear gas canisters through the walls, windows and roof, and used what Baker describes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"twitter_2902945987_2902945987":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[16563],"tags":[],"stock_ticker":[],"class_list":["post-62521","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-market-news","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nTexas police destroyed a cancer survivor's house. A new legal maneuver may force the city to pay - Wall Street PR<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/texas-police-destroyed-a-cancer-survivors-house-a-new-legal-maneuver-may-force-the-city-to-pay-62521\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Texas police destroyed a cancer survivor's house. A new legal maneuver may force the city to pay - Wall Street PR\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The SWAT team smashed Vicki Baker’s brand-new fence, shot dozens of tear gas canisters through the walls, windows and roof, and used what Baker describes […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/texas-police-destroyed-a-cancer-survivors-house-a-new-legal-maneuver-may-force-the-city-to-pay-62521\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Wall Street PR\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/WallStreetPR\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-04-18T08:30:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/businessman-showing-business-evolution1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"715\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"423\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/texas-police-destroyed-a-cancer-survivors-house-a-new-legal-maneuver-may-force-the-city-to-pay-62521#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/texas-police-destroyed-a-cancer-survivors-house-a-new-legal-maneuver-may-force-the-city-to-pay-62521\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/#\/schema\/person\/6e00efa2abc413bdc0bca51a90c54d36\"},\"headline\":\"Texas police destroyed a cancer survivor’s house. A new legal maneuver may force the city to pay\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-04-18T08:30:56+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/texas-police-destroyed-a-cancer-survivors-house-a-new-legal-maneuver-may-force-the-city-to-pay-62521\"},\"wordCount\":821,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Market News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/texas-police-destroyed-a-cancer-survivors-house-a-new-legal-maneuver-may-force-the-city-to-pay-62521\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/texas-police-destroyed-a-cancer-survivors-house-a-new-legal-maneuver-may-force-the-city-to-pay-62521\",\"name\":\"Texas police destroyed a cancer survivor's house. A new legal maneuver may force the city to pay - Wall Street PR\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-04-18T08:30:56+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/texas-police-destroyed-a-cancer-survivors-house-a-new-legal-maneuver-may-force-the-city-to-pay-62521#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/texas-police-destroyed-a-cancer-survivors-house-a-new-legal-maneuver-may-force-the-city-to-pay-62521\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/texas-police-destroyed-a-cancer-survivors-house-a-new-legal-maneuver-may-force-the-city-to-pay-62521#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Texas police destroyed a cancer survivor’s house. A new legal maneuver may force the city to pay\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/\",\"name\":\"Wall Street PR\",\"description\":\"Latest News From WallStreet\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Wall Street PR\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/brand-logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/brand-logo.png\",\"width\":537,\"height\":70,\"caption\":\"Wall Street PR\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/WallStreetPR\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/WallstreetPRs\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/#\/schema\/person\/6e00efa2abc413bdc0bca51a90c54d36\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/360_F_336393115_5gCUfwn76x3MJaCJMYDKLoRebkC8QyrL-300x300.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/360_F_336393115_5gCUfwn76x3MJaCJMYDKLoRebkC8QyrL-300x300.jpg\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/author\/admin\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Texas police destroyed a cancer survivor's house. A new legal maneuver may force the city to pay - Wall Street PR","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/texas-police-destroyed-a-cancer-survivors-house-a-new-legal-maneuver-may-force-the-city-to-pay-62521","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Texas police destroyed a cancer survivor's house. A new legal maneuver may force the city to pay - Wall Street PR","og_description":"The SWAT team smashed Vicki Baker’s brand-new fence, shot dozens of tear gas canisters through the walls, windows and roof, and used what Baker describes […]","og_url":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/texas-police-destroyed-a-cancer-survivors-house-a-new-legal-maneuver-may-force-the-city-to-pay-62521","og_site_name":"Wall Street PR","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/WallStreetPR\/","article_published_time":"2023-04-18T08:30:56+00:00","og_image":[{"width":715,"height":423,"url":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/businessman-showing-business-evolution1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"admin","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/texas-police-destroyed-a-cancer-survivors-house-a-new-legal-maneuver-may-force-the-city-to-pay-62521#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/texas-police-destroyed-a-cancer-survivors-house-a-new-legal-maneuver-may-force-the-city-to-pay-62521"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/#\/schema\/person\/6e00efa2abc413bdc0bca51a90c54d36"},"headline":"Texas police destroyed a cancer survivor’s house. A new legal maneuver may force the city to pay","datePublished":"2023-04-18T08:30:56+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/texas-police-destroyed-a-cancer-survivors-house-a-new-legal-maneuver-may-force-the-city-to-pay-62521"},"wordCount":821,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Market News"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/texas-police-destroyed-a-cancer-survivors-house-a-new-legal-maneuver-may-force-the-city-to-pay-62521","url":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/texas-police-destroyed-a-cancer-survivors-house-a-new-legal-maneuver-may-force-the-city-to-pay-62521","name":"Texas police destroyed a cancer survivor's house. A new legal maneuver may force the city to pay - Wall Street PR","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/#website"},"datePublished":"2023-04-18T08:30:56+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/texas-police-destroyed-a-cancer-survivors-house-a-new-legal-maneuver-may-force-the-city-to-pay-62521#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/texas-police-destroyed-a-cancer-survivors-house-a-new-legal-maneuver-may-force-the-city-to-pay-62521"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/texas-police-destroyed-a-cancer-survivors-house-a-new-legal-maneuver-may-force-the-city-to-pay-62521#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Texas police destroyed a cancer survivor’s house. A new legal maneuver may force the city to pay"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/#website","url":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/","name":"Wall Street PR","description":"Latest News From WallStreet","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/#organization","name":"Wall Street PR","url":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/brand-logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/brand-logo.png","width":537,"height":70,"caption":"Wall Street PR"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/WallStreetPR\/","https:\/\/x.com\/WallstreetPRs"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/#\/schema\/person\/6e00efa2abc413bdc0bca51a90c54d36","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/360_F_336393115_5gCUfwn76x3MJaCJMYDKLoRebkC8QyrL-300x300.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/360_F_336393115_5gCUfwn76x3MJaCJMYDKLoRebkC8QyrL-300x300.jpg","caption":"admin"},"url":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/author\/admin"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62521","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62521"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62521\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62521"},{"taxonomy":"stock_ticker","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/stock_ticker?post=62521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}