DEA Used Company’s Truck, Got a Driver
Killed In Botched Drug Sting, And Won’t Pay A Cent
A U.S. District Judge has
just ruled that the government agency responsible for using a company’s truck
in a botched drug sting that got a driver killed and caused $100,000 worth of
damage to the truck won’t have to pay the company owner anything for their
mistake.
All the way back in 2011,
one of Craig Patty’s two trucks was in the shop for repairs, or so he thought.
In fact, the Drug Enforcement Agency was using the truck and it’s driver to
haul a load of marijuana north from the Rio Grande Valley as part of a sting
operation targeting the Los Zetas cartel.
Unfortunately, as the
truck passed Houston, it was ambushed by cartel members and despite the fact
that he was being shadowed by two dozen federal agents and local police, the
driver was killed when the truck was shot full of bullets.
After the incident, the
truck was ruined and needed repairs. The insurance company refused to pay for
it since it had been used in a criminal act (hauling the marijuana), and the
DEA refused to pay for it simply because they didn’t have to.
Since 2011, Patty has been
fighting to make the DEA pay him the money he feels he is owed. His is
currently fighting for $133,532 in repairs and lost wages for the time the
truck wasn’t able to be used, and $1.3 million in damages to himself and his
family who have lived in fear of retaliation by the cartels since the incident.
Now a judge has ruled that
the DEA doesn’t have to pay him back because it doesn’t have a rule against
doing what it did. Despite the fact that the DEA wiped away the driver’s
substantial criminal record so that he would be hired, despite the fact that
they used the driver and equipment for illegal activities, despite the fact
that they never asked permission or told the company owner anything about what
was happening until after the incident, and despite the fact that a man died as
a result of their botched operation, the DEA still hasn’t legally done anything
wrong. So they don’t have to pay.
A lawyer for Patty sounded
as incredulous as everyone else after the ruling saying; “It is not just that
you can’t sue the federal government, but that federal law enforcement agencies
under this ruling can use anybody’s property to do anything they want to
further their law enforcement mission and not have to go get the permission
from the owner of the property to do it.”
He went on to comment that
“This type of ruling, in our judgment, ignores the Constitution, ignores the
privacy rights of individuals who are just trying to make a living, an honest
living… Even if the district judge was right [applying the law], the law needs
to change because this completely tramples what we believe the Constitution protects.”
From here, Patty plans to
appeal the ruling in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans. His
attorneys will have a total of 20 minutes to plead his case. If he loses there,
his last possible option will be a hearing in the U.S. Supreme Court.
No comments:
Post a Comment