This is a submission from reader, Dana Carver. We encourage our readers to tell their stories on this blog. Thanks Dana!
Affidavit of Facts Regarding Violation of Constitutional Rights
Early in January 2014, we were asked to help Bruce Zolman at his mothers residence. There was a lot of older packaged food that he no longer wanted. William spent the afternoon packing this up and we took that home. I spent the afternoon going through some paperwork for Bruce, as he is illiterate. Bruce had previously stated to William that his sisters had been taking stuff out of the house and he couldn't find the paperwork for his house and needed help. Bruce spent most of his time that day tearing apart the kitchen looking for a mixer that was also missing, as well as sleeping on the hospital bed next to the area I was working in. I was under the assumption that he may have overtaken his Vicodin.. The only document of interest that I found, was an envelope containing what looked like old Certificates of Deposit. I woke him up and brought this to his attention and told him it would be a good idea to have an attorney look at them. Before we left that
evening, I asked him if he wanted me to take some of the piles of paperwork home with me to continue going through it. Bruce stated that he did not want anything to leave the house, so I didn't take anything and told him that when we could afford it, I would come back and help again.
Early in February, we received approximately three phone calls from Bruce. I spoke with him briefly and when he started screaming and accusing me of stealing his paperwork, I informed him that I would not be spoken to in that way. I then handed the phone to William. William continued to try to explain to Bruce where the paperwork was located in his mother's house, that if he would pay for gas money, we would come and show him where, and offered to let him come over and look through our house to make sure we didn't have it. He would get mad, hang up, then call back screaming again. William could hear Bruce's wife in the background trying to also tell Bruce that we hadn't taken anything.
On Feb 20, 2014, Trooper James Lively with the MSP came to our house and spoke with William. At this time William explained the situation to Lively and told him he needed to be searching Bruce's mothers house, because this is where the paperwork was and described the table that it was left on. William also offered to take a lie detector test and possibly have a neutral party come and look for the items in our home. The trooper then asked to search our home and William declined as was his right. William explained that he had had bad experiences with police officers in the past and frankly did not trust them in his home. Trooper Lively stated that he'd had a hard time understanding Bruce and gave William a card for me to call him.
Immediately upon returning I called the number on the card and even went as far as finding another number for Trooper Lively. I left multiple messages for him on both numbers. We have the phone records now. He states in his report that I failed to try to contact him. We heard nothing back from Trooper Lively.
On Feb 27, 2014, I looked out my front door window and saw 4 MSP officers surrounding my husband, violating his personal space. As I opened the door, they all 4 rushed through the door almost knocking me over. Prior to this William states that they came to the garage door where he was under the truck working and they had opened the door and yelled Police. When he yelled back, they told him to come out with his hands up. He complied and asked what was going on. They handed him the paperwork and told him they were going to search our house. William informed him that he did not consent to the search. He also informed them that they did not have a valid search warrant as there was no case number and did not state what they were searching for. At this time they surrounded him and one of the officers took out his handcuffs and threatened to arrest him. This is when I opened the door.
After they rushed the door, they yanked the search warrant out of Williams hands and handed it to me. Then three of them started going through our belongings as the other one searched William and removed his pocket knife from his pocket. William was instructed to sit at the kitchen chair and not move. They went through everything we own including our freezers. I continued to inform them that I did not consent to this search and that they were violating our 4th amendment rights spelled out in the US Constitution as well as Article 1 Section 11 of the Michigan Constitution.
Towards the end of the search, they decided they needed to see inside the gun safe. William was allowed to get up and open it for them. As he was reaching into the gun safe to get out our paperwork that was inside, one of the officers knocked him aside and started going through the safe. He began to take pictures and we both asked them to explain why they were taking pictures of the guns and they refused to answer us. (They stated that they were searching for paper, since when are guns paper?)
As we thought they were leaving, the officer that was going through the safe received a phone call. At this time, he again rushed at me in the doorway and pushed me out of the way heading back to the gun safe. I asked him what he thought he was doing and he stated that we had a stolen SKS. My husband followed him and it ended up being a British Model 303 that definitely was not stolen.
Then they left and still did not explain why they were putting our guns through the system.
Since this time it has been very difficult to get any information regarding this issue. The prosecutor has stated that she is unsure if she will be pressing charges. I have also been informed by Lisa Riche of the MSP internal affairs that they are allowed to do whatever they want when they come into your house. She also stated that the search warrant does not have to specify what they are looking for.
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