Armed Bounty Hunters Terrify Family With Midnight Warrantless Search | News 4 Buffalo
Category: News & Politics
Via: larry-hampton • 3 years ago • 38 commentsBy: Daniel Telvock (News Buffalo)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
BUFALLO, NY- Jake Reinhardt, his fiancee, and their 3-year-old daughter were all sound asleep when someone banged on their front door so hard that the noise echoed through the cold, dark January night.
Reinhardt jolted out of bed and entered the living room, where he saw through a sliver of his window shade what appeared to be a man armed with a long gun by his front door.
"Open it up or we'll kick it in!" the man yelled.
Reinhardt said he was terrified as he slowly walked toward the front door, and asked "Who's that?"
The man outside raises his gun toward the front door and again screams, "Open the door, now!"
Reinhardt said he spotted two Buffalo police officers on the sidewalk, which gave him enough peace of mind to open the door. Maybe they have the wrong house, he thought.
A shirtless and barefoot Reinhardt opened the door to face not one, but two men on his porch pointing long guns at his chest. He moved to the left of the door, with his hands raised.
One of the men wanted to know the whereabouts of his brother, who jumped a $5,000 bail bond for three misdemeanors out of Pennsylvania.
As it turns out, the two men were not police officers, but bounty hunters looking to extradite his brother. At least one of them is from Pennsylvania, a city police official said, but even less is known about the other man who assisted him.
Reinhardt said the bounty hunters searched his home and the unrelated upstairs tenant's apartment without any consent or warrants. At least one of them pointed his gun at his fiancee, who is eight-months pregnant, while she clutched their 3-year-old daughter. Startled by her presence, the bounty hunter ordered her to release her crying daughter.
"I was terrified," said Taylor Schmieder, Reinhardt's fiancee. "Neither of us had any idea what was going on."
The hectic scene, some of which was recorded by a home surveillance camera, played out while several Buffalo police officers idly stood watching.
Reinhardt shared the footage with News 4 Investigates to verify the incident.
Although Reinhardt said he has always supported the police, his conscience would not let him ignore how the police department handled the situation at his home.
"These are people who took an oath to serve and protect the community," he said.
"And in my eyes they aided in nothing short of an armed home invasion. They were all responsible. It was an egregious attack on my home and my family and my civil rights."
Rules and regulations for bounty hunters vary from state to state.
Some states, such as Pennsylvania, do not regulate bounty hunters at all. At least four states have banned bounty hunters completely, while 22 states, including New York, require them to be licensed.
But this incident raises questions about how police departments interact with bounty hunters, who are private citizens granted special powers by an archaic 1872 Supreme Court ruling. Those powers, which include extraditing a fugitive across state lines and entering a fugitive's home without a warrant, exceed the legal authority that law enforcement officers have in similar situations.
Reinhardt said he asked the bounty hunters if they had a warrant several times. Although one of the bounty hunters claimed he did have a warrant, he never produced one. Instead, he showed him a bail bond slip as he was preparing to leave.
"Mr. Reinhardt asked everybody he could ask to see the warrant," said attorney Anthony Rupp, who is representing Reinhardt's household, the tenants upstairs and Reinhardt's mother, whose home was also searched by the same bounty hunters, in a civil lawsuit filed in federal court.
"The entire home was searched at gunpoint without the warrant being produced."
They are suing the City of Buffalo, each police officer at the scene, the Bail Shop LLC in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, and the bounty hunters, whose names are still unknown.
Calls to the Bail Shop seeking interviews with the owner or the bounty hunters were not returned
Nerves were frayed, but no one was injured in this incident and the bounty hunters left empty-handed with police officers.
But the Buffalo Police Department has not always been this lucky to leave unscathed after assisting bounty hunters.
In 1998, city Police Officer Robert McLellan died on duty after being hit by a car on the Kensington Expressway while assisting Maryland bounty hunters in trying to nab a fugitive who jumped a $50,000 bail bond.
The death resulted in the state legislature passing a law in 2000 that established new oversight and accountability for bounty hunters.
Bounty hunters in New York now must complete basic training and notify local law enforcement agencies when they are searching for a fugitive.
But Buffalo's manual of procedures remains silent on how officers should interact with bounty hunters, even after McLellan's death.
In Reinhardt's case, his surveillance camera recorded small talk between two officers that revealed how little they knew about the armed men they had just watched enter his home.
"I don't know what agency that is either," one of the officers said.
"Me either. They're from PA, I think he said," the other office replied.
Reinhardt said as bad as the situation was for his family and tenants, he is grateful that the incident did not escalate further.
"I still want people held accountable as I would be held accountable," he said. "I hold everyone that was present that night responsible."
Rupp said the police department failed its basic mission to protect and serve the community, and instead witnessed and participated in "the most illegal search of a home that I've ever seen."
"They participated in gunpoint armed search, a midnight rousting of two young families with screaming babies, and it's utterly outrageous," Rupp said.
Buffalo Police Captain Jeff Rinaldo said he reviewed the surveillance footage and concluded that the officers did not do anything wrong.
"Based on my initial review of this, the officers did not knock on the door, they did not request the homeowner let these individuals into their home and from that point on the only question left in terms of a criminal matter is whether or not [the bounty hunters'] entrance and means of gaining entry into that residence was appropriate," Rinaldo said.
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But a Buffalo police supervisor had a different opinion than Rinaldo when he met with Reinhardt on his porch after the incident. The conversation was picked up by the surveillance camera.
"This is a failure on our part," the supervisor said to Reinhardt.
"I don't know if it's not enough training or what with our guys. They should have clarified any type of entry into a home. It's very serious in nature."
The supervisor also said that he would write up a report and he would not be surprised if this "went up to the state attorney general."
Erie County District Attorney John Flynn declined to comment but did confirm that an investigation is underway.
Rinaldo said the police department will review its own policies and procedures to determine if anything needs to be addressed.
"It's one of those weird situations where the law - not to use a term it's gray - but it sort of is," Rinaldo said, "and there's not a lot of established protocol for these people in terms of how they operate and to what ends they can utilize in an attempt to take somebody back into custody."
Meanwhile, Rupp said his clients feel terrorized by the event and indicated that the police department has plenty of work to do in assessing their own protocols
"I can't believe that trained officers from a professional police agency would conduct and assist in helping other people conduct an armed intrusion into a home without checking to see if that's okay," Rupp said.
That is the first intelligent thing that was said. FUBAR
Regulate them or get rid of them. If police can't enter a home without either consent, a warrant, or probable cause, bounty hunters shouldn't be allowed to, either. And police certainly shouldn't be helping bounty hunters to do so.
They should be illegal. There is no way these people should be able to bust up into anyone's house and haul them off.
I think if a bounty hunter gets shot and killed trying to apprehend someone, oh well. It should not be a crime for someone to defend themselves against someone who is not even an officer.
Since they refused to identify themselves , if they kicked in the door here in Wyoming , they would likely have been shot as soon as the first kick landed , wyo law allows for that. and wyo has no duty to retreat.
using the same situation above , the first thing i would have done once seeing a single armed person would have been arming myself . but this is Wyo and thats NY, dont know if that was an option there .
as they refused to id them selves i would simply have said , " do you know of the lord jesus christ and have you gotten yourself squared away with him? because if you havent , and you kick that door in , you just might want too." of course i would use a whiney preachers voice, all the while having 911 on speaker phone( evidence you know).
not saying i would shoot to kill them , but my target range would be from 30 inches to 34 inches from floor level with a shotgun loaded with a tri-plex load of #2, T and F stainless steel goose shot from a 19 inch long scatter gun( 18 3/4 is legal) at 20 ft it has a 16 inch spread and at that range whatever it hits is turned to hamburger , the 30 to 34 inch height is JUUUUST about the height of the dangly bits on a standing man, no head shots , no chest shots or center of mass, just hurt an unidentified intruder in the worst possible way and place imaginable .
word eventually spreads.
AND i would sleep like a freshly breast fed baby after doing it.
I imagine the same would happen around these parts.
I am a very passive person yet if someone busted through my front door, wearing camo or all dark clothes, could not identify as police, I would not hesitate.
we are likely on the same page then.
Arizona is similar. It recognizes the castle doctrine along with stand your ground and the state is fairly strict in it's educational requirements and licensing/bonding practices for bounty hunters.
Republicans run to many things and they do not like rules or regulations.
GHWBush, Clinton, GWBush and Obama administrations attempted to place rules on the ( bail and bounty industry ) but the McConnell senate would have none of it.
problem with that statement is repusses didnt always have control of the senate through all those admins , want to try again? or do you want to consider that some DEMS didnt agree with the regulations either?
but your welcome to your false and fake partisan views. even if they are wrong.
I believe it is Andrew Cuomo, killer governor of New York that you can direct your anger at. Bounty hunters can be regulated at the state level as is obvious directly from the article itself:
If they're licensed, what rules of engagement are they required to adhere to?
Personally, I'm with Mark in Wyoming...... come busting through my door uninvited and the flash you see won't be from a camera.
Talking Texas, dude.
The problem with that is that it runs into state's issues and jurisdictions rather than the Fed being responsible.
Vigilantes with permission. This is appalling. I hope these people sue all involved and prevail.
what happens will have a lot to do with what the state laws say , and what state regulations over the industry allow .
these are skiptracers , not vigilantes , and too many of them seemed to have watched too many A&E shows about bounty hunters and think its easy money if they have alittle muscle , intimidating attitudes and a disregard for the law themselves.
i know a bail bondsman here in state , and he will NOT hire skip tracers or bounty hunters.
Good seed.
sounds to me like the cops stood by and watched a felony home invasion.
i would have handled things "a little different " than the apparent victim here , and will be glad to expand about how it would likely have gone down if it happened here .
Some of you can likely already guess....
Here’s the problem I have with your solution. While I certainly agree with the premise that the fella would have been perfectly within his rights to defend his home, I’m concerned with the police officers outside.
Lets say things escalated and Mr. Reinhardt fired a weapon. How do you think things would have went down then? The other bounty hunters also open fire. The cops who were already allowing this illegal activity to take place would have most likely Barney Fifed the entire situation by filling the residence with lead.
This is a worrisome event.
Notice i said i would have 911 on speaker phone? at that point dispatch should and could have those officers take charge of the situation , up to that point they are false security to the BH , and standing around with their thumbs up their asses collectively., they by law will identify themselves (liability ), thus making the skiptracers secondary and out of the picture . no unlawful search or detention would take place.
well if they( the cops) came in after the fact , they are excellent witnesses for the defense, if they fire after allowing an illegal act of home invasion or terroistic threats , and only the skiptracers are killed , well thats another matter the public and cops have to deal with .
in my scenario , the cops take over over the skip tracers , nothing happens, things are discussed calmly , i might even let them look around without a warrant , to solve the situation, lickspittles that have no authority like skip tracers/ bounty hunters , would end up balless and re thinking their career choices, and their choices in life generally.
Frankly , the smartest thing the cops would have done is wait until the smoke cleared since they didnt get involved at the start and prevent an illegal search , and wait and see what the individual does .
bounty hunters /skip tracers want to commit suicide by stupidity , thats their problem
remember cops dont prevent crime , they only show up after its been committed and take notes to make reports . they are under no obligation to provide for anyones protection or security and safety.
gonzalas v castle rock.
Again my problem is with the police; I would even be reluctant to put trust in a 911 dispatcher that is supposedly going to give back up to the cops that are on the scene, already, not doing their job. If this is happening in real time, with a threat and a long gun pointed at me, I’m not putting faith in the police sending another squad to my home.
I like your work-through, I think however that the Genie was let out at the very start, and couldn’t go back into the bottle. Not so much imho because the cops didn’t stop it, but because they gave prior obvious consent, even backup, to unlawfulness. The cops threw away the integrity of that event.
Well i cant fault you for your thoughts , especially how often the police are in the media and are being portrayed and broad brushed all the time , nor can i deny that there are "bad " cops , but there are also some good ones .
Now this happening inside a cities limits , means something to me as well, it means that the head of the police are appointed by a political entity, and that can have an adverse effect as well.
usually most people will have to deal with 3 different types of LEO daily, and each though they carry the same titles and basically do the same job , do things differently due to leadership.
those 3 are of course , state , county and local, and of the 3 only one has leadership that is elected , the other 2 are appointed by small groups of politically minded and driven bodies.
Where i am , and living on a reservation , i deal with all 3 and a couple more as well because of jurisdictional issues , I also have to deal with tribal police , reservation police ( different federal animal ) and rarely FBI or US marshals. So if something were to happen out here , i would likely get responses from the county , tribal and reservation police and because im not an enrolled NA , the tribal police have little to no jurisdiction . Out of the 3 , there is a group i do have some trust in and the reason for that is when i moved here , like people that check out how good the schools are or the hospitals , I took the time to stop and get to know the top cops of the different agencies as well, i was told by one that they found it really refreshing that someone would take the time to do that. and frankly , i think thats why i have never had a problem with any of them.
The article ended by mentioning the police supervisor who clearly ascertained what had unfolded. I know fellas like him. I live in a small town in northern Minnesota of about 1,700. As the county seat we also house the court house and cop shop. We have five officers that live within 3 blocks of our house, all fine individuals with a civic servant spirit.
I have little knowledge about police procedure, bonds, or bounty hunters. Good conversation that is gonna spur me on to do some research. Thank you.
I did a little digging myself before i had to take a 5 and a half hour round trip road trip.
And i think i found out why the bail bondsman i know wont hire skip tracers or bounty hunters .
there is no licensing requirements or training needed in wyo statutes , but , there is also no special protections for them as well, so they would likely be treated in a case as described above and in the article as violent home invaders , that are able to be shot by a home owner that even has an inkling of a threat of violence or harm should they try to force their way into a home without proper warrants in this state .
I would say , someone that tries it , will likely have a very short life expectancy and life span considering how home protection laws are written in this state.
matter of fact the only ones the state does recognize as being able to forcably enter someones home , is an LEO( federal , state , county or local) with a valid warrant , not bounty hunters or skip tracers. and skipping or jumping bail, is not considered a criminal matter but a civil one . and as a civil matter the bondsman has to take it to civil court.
I thought this was funny when i read it and tried to ignore it but now find it rather hilarious .
i do understand the point you were trying to make , that the cops would go all apocalypse now on the dwelling and shoot it more full of holes than a cheese grater.
thing i find hilarious is barney fife , was only allowed one bullet , which he carried in his shirt pocket , and any time under duress when he tried to take it out and load it , he almost always fumbled and dropped it because he was so high strung, which is likely why he had to carry that one bullet in the pocket and not the revolver.
and i dont think he ever got to shoot that one bullet either , its likely in the smithsonian.
I would definitely need a new house from this as Mrs. Gee and the little Geezlings would all be way too traumatized to live in this little place anymore. It would have to be huge and have lots of rooms to hide from the home invaders in.
These are the requirements for bounty hunters pursuing a forced entry in pursuing a suspect in my state. It disturbs me greatly that there's no mention of a warrant being necessary.
If police use bounty hunters as a workaround for pesky things like warrants, it’s almost like mercenary work.
I think that the issue needs to be addressed, especially if police officers are going to stand around outside during the action. This action would not be covered under a warrant because the actors are not representatives of any government agency. In the State of New York, one must be licensed by the State of New York to legally conduct apprehensions of fugitives... which would mean that the officers are sanctioned by the state???
I don't know, sounds like felony home invasion to me.
Looked around quite a bit on this and it appears as if we would have to go into case law to determine precedent. Regardless, it seems to me that it would be or should be illegal for the bail enforcement agent not to clearly identify himself and state the reason why he was there. Still sounds like felony home invasion to me. most of the stuff I read says that they are supposed to have probable cause to believe the fugitive is there. Not sure if just because the guy is a relative if that would rise to the meet that bar.
all that sounds like the same things required for the police to get a warrant , with one very important exclusion .
the police need a judge to sign off on it/ authorize it to be legal , i see no judges authorization requirement there. seems to me to be a case of ALMOST here , almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. sometimes farts
You never identified the state , but this section right here , kind of tells me that it is simply being reiterated that the police in attendance are not there to provide security safety or protection for either party. be they participating in a cordon action ( secering the perimeter so that it doesnt spread ) I can not imagine that any force head would agree to officers actually being involved in the forced entry without a warrant by any LEO, basically it reiterates the premise brought up in gonzales vs castle rock and reiterates polices qualified immunity from prosecution.
giving assistance can be as simple as giving a simple lay out of the neighborhood , being in attendance can be as simple as standing back and watching and taking an overwatch position out of harms way.
WI, where I currently live, is one of the 4 states bail bondsmen are completely prohibited from operation. Out of state bondsmen have been arrested on kidnapping charges when attempting to "apprehend" an individual. It was outlawed 1979 after corrupt kickback schemes were uncovered across the country. The initial law outlawing the practice in 1980 was defeated as well as laws trying to reinstate it. The last attempt I can find online was in 2013.
EG i think you mean the proffession of bounty hunting is outlawed , being a bail bondsman , someone that puts up the bond or cash for bail is not illegal from a quick search of wis bail bonds entities.
those entities are likely highly regulated by the state as to what they can and can not do in cases of skipped bail.
What you see in your search are scammy loan companies that found a loop hole in the law, but the traditional commercial bail bonding AND bounty hunting are both illegal in WI. ALEC tried to get new referendum to reinstate commercial bail bonding on the 2020 ballot and failed. Also several tries to add it into a state budget bill have also failed.
ok , nice to know.
God bless the United States of America.
that pretty much might be what bounty hunters that employ forcible entry into private dwellings , could and might be facing depending on where they try it.