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Directing plaintiffs to leave during execution of search warrant was not a seizure

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Directing plaintiffs to leave during execution of a search warrant was not a seizure of them at all. Streater v. Cox, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14907 (E.D. Mich. February 28, 2008): Plaintiffs claim they are entitled to damages against defendants George Harris and Michael Williams in their individual capacities because the two executed a search warrant at Plaintiffs' place of employment March 16, 2005. They claim they were forced to leave work for six hours while Harris and Williams executed the warrant. Plaintiffs' Fourth Amendment claim seems to implicate an unreasonable seizure--that by being forced to leave their place of employment, their movement was restricted, resulting in a form of seizure. However, the Supreme Court has held that "a warrant to search for contraband founded on probable cause implicitly carries with it the limited authority to detain the occupants of the premises while a proper search is conducted...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on March 01, 2008 (boomark / email).