The piece below was authored by William N. Grigg and posted to his blog Pro Libertate on August 8th, 201:
Police have no enforceable duty to protect an individual threatened by criminal violence. A lawsuit recently filed in New Hampshire demonstrates that police are taught to assume that citizens have a moral and legal duty to protect them.
Beverly Mutrie of Greenland, New Hampshire is being sued by four police officers who were wounded during an April 12 shootout at the home of her late son, Cullen. Greenland Police Chief Michael Maloney was killed in the gunfight. Following an eight-hour standoff involving SWAT operators and dozens of police officers, Cullen and his girlfriend, Brittany Tibbetts, were found dead in what was described as a murder-suicide.
Mrs. Mutrie’s only connection to the events of April 12 is the fact that she owned the home where the shootout took place. The lawsuit filed by the officers claims that she “indirectly supported and facilitated” illegal activity that supposedly occurred on the premises. She has not been charged with a crime.
In addition to being an act of simple vindictiveness, the lawsuit against Beverly Mutrie is probably an attempt by the municipality – which wasn’t cut in for a share of the “forfeiture” haul – to confiscate her home. An interrogatory interview of Mrs. Mutrie focused entirely on her insurance coverage. The DEA seized three vehicles found on the property and $14,320 in cash that was found on the body of Brittany Tibbetts.
The raid itself may have been prompted by concerns that the case against Cullen Mutrie was weak. An aspiring firefighter who spent much of his time in the gym, Cullen came to the attention of a state narcotics task force in July 2010 when an officer serving a restraining order found anabolic steroids during a search of the home. In a bench trial, Cullen was found guilty of domestic assault against a live-in girlfriend. He was put on probation and required to undergo an anger management assessment.
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n January, an informant working with the state drug task force allegedly bought a small amount of oxycodone from Cullen’s girlfriend. Over the next several weeks, while the police continued their surveillance of the home, Cullen reconsidered his initial guilty plea on the steroid-related charges. His attorney, Stephen Jeffco, filed a motion to suppress the drug evidence as the product of an illicit search. As Rockingham County Attorney Jim Reams points out, the case was “set for trial when the shootout began.”
Police arrived at Cullen’s home on April 12 to serve a no-knock warrant. Two of the officers, who were acquainted with Cullen and aware of the home’s surveillance cameras, gestured to be let inside. When Cullen refused to grant entry, Task Force agents forced open the door. Cullen reportedly opened fire, wounding four of the officers and killing Chief Maloney. An eight-hour standoff ensued, during which time the alleged murder-suicide took place.
If Cullen Mutrie, who was 6’3” tall and weighed 275 pounds, was involved in criminal conduct, what was his mother supposed to do about it – spank him? Assuming that she was aware of his activities, she could have called the police, who had already been investigating her son for nearly two years. If she had been an accomplice or an accessory, Mrs. Mutrie would face criminal charges, rather than what amounts to an extortion attempt.
The persecution of Beverly Mutrie is neither the first, nor the worst, case of its kind.
In June 2007 Karen Mies, a 66-year-old hospice nurse from Shingle Springs, California, suffered two losses no wife and mother should ever endure. Her husband, 72-year-old Arthur, was killed in an entirely unanticipated act of irrational violence on the part of their 35-year-old son, Eddie.
After the police were notified, Eddie was killed in an armed stand-off involving the local SWAT team, a helicopter provided by the state police, and several deputies from the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Department.
More than one hundred rounds were fired in the June 5, 2007 shoot-out. In addition to the deaths of Arthur and Eddie, three deputies — Jon Yaws, Greg Murphy, and Melissa Meekma — suffered gunshot wounds. The injuries suffered by deputies Yaws and Murphy required multiple surgeries and lengthy hospitalization, but weren’t life-threatening.
In the months prior to that horrible day, Eddie’s behavior had become erratic, leading his friends and family to wonder if he suffered from a psychological condition. Karen and Arthur had tried, unsuccessfully, to find suitable help for their troubled son – but they certainly didn’t anticipate that his problems would culminate in murder.
Displaying preternatural grace, Karen inquired after the health of the injured deputies, telling a friend that her sole consolation was the fact that they would survive. A measure of the depth of her good character is offered by the fact that she didn’t recant that statement after Yaws and Murphy filed a multi-million-dollar lawsuit against her and her husband’s estate.
The deputies claimed that Karen – who was not charged as an accomplice – shared the culpability for the injuries allegedly inflicted on the deputies by her son. Eddie Mies was characterized in the document as “a diagnosed schizophrenic” with a “criminal history” who displayed “paranoia and [a] propensity for violence.” For these reasons, insisted the deputies, Karen should have known it was “necessary to avoid allowing Eddie Mies access to firearms,” and they claimed that she displayed actionable negligence by permitting such access.
Jon Yaws on right
In a television interview, Yaws appeared to accuse the Mies family of conspiring to endanger his life and those of his fellow officers. When Jake Mies, Eddie’s brother, made a frantic 911 call to report that his father had been shot, he told the operator that he didn’t know who had committed the crime. Yaws characterized this as a deliberate lie, and accused Karen of being a party to the deception.
“We were directly lied to when they said they didn’t know who had done it,” asserted Yaws. “We thought it was a random person [on the ground] through the neighborhood. We would have handled it entirely differently if we had known it was someone from the residence.”
Even if this had been true, it’s difficult to see how the knowledge that the shooting was an aggravated domestic dispute would have changed the tactical situation. The police deployed overwhelming force, then used a CHP helicopter to flush Eddie into the open where he was quickly killed by the SWAT team.
Immediately after the incident the El Dorado Sheriff’s Office peddled a self-dramatizing version of the episode in which Eddie Mies supposedly “tried to bait the officers” into a thicket near the house. The department also claimed that he had devised “an elaborate system of bunkers and tunnels” akin to the labyrinth Colonel Hogan’s resistance cellcreated beneath Stalag 13. The lawsuit asserted that Eddie was “found dead in a bunker with a cache of weapons and ammunition, as well as a change of clothes.”
After the suit was filed, Karen Mies took a reporter from the Sacramento Bee on a walking tour of the family’s 2.5 acre property, where she and her late husband had raised six children.
The “ammunition cache” was an old toolbox containing bullets, birdshot, and useless junk. The “change of clothes” was a jacket. At the time of his death, Eddie was armed with a shotgun and a revolver he had purchased legally as an adult. The warren of “bunkers” and “tunnels” consisted of a handful of small depressions and sunken trails “where the kids used to play,” Karen pointed out.
In similar fashion, Eddie’s psychological problems and “criminal” history were generously embroidered by the deputies. Although his behavior had become alarming to his friends and family, Eddie was never diagnosed with schizophrenia or any other mental disorder. His “criminal history” consisted of traffic arrests in Wyoming and Nevada.
Although it is clear that Eddie had killed his father, it was never firmly established that he actually shot the deputies, who may well have been injured as a result of “friendly fire.” When asked about this possibility, Bill Clark, who at the time was chief deputy DA for El Dorado County, blithely replied that his office had been “too busy” to complete its official inquiry.
Lawsuits of the sort filed against Beverly Mutrie and Karen Mies are generally foreclosed or dismissed on the basis of the “Fireman’s Rule,” which recognizes that police and emergency workers assume certain risks inherent in their jobs.
In 1996, the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME, the official tax-feeders’ union) enacted a resolution denouncing the “Fireman’s Rule” as a form of “unfair and indefensible treatment of public safety employees and law enforcement officers” and supporting efforts to “reform or abolish the Fireman’s Rule wherever it exists.” The AFSCME, through its affiliate, the National Law Enforcement Officers Rights Center, has quietly lobbied for modifications to the “Fireman’s Rule” while looking for a promising lawsuit that could abolish it outright.
The lawsuit against Karen Mies was quickly snuffed out by a gale-force outburst of public revulsion, at least some of it inspired by the fact that the female deputy who had been wounded didn’t join in the suit.
The shootout that prompted the lawsuit against Beverly Mutrie is much better suited to the needs of the cynical tax-feeders’ lobby. It involves the death of Chief Michael Maloney, who – in a cinematic touch — was eight days from retirement (at age 48, following a 26-year law enforcement career that was otherwise devoid of danger).
Thousands of law enforcement personnel attended Maloney’s funeral, including career criminal Eric Holder, who apparently wasn’t too busy fomenting racial tensions, covering up FBI torture-murders, or supplying high-performance weaponry to Mexican criminal syndicates.
If Beverly Mutrie had been visiting her son on April 12, and been shot by one of the officers during the raid, her assailant would be shielded from a lawsuit by the spurious principle of “qualified immunity.” The lawsuit filed against her is intended to advance the perverse principle that citizens have a legal responsibility to act as the equivalent of human shields for police officers – a development that is both revolting and entirely predictable.
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Interesting, and you thought only people could sue the police…
No Common, it’s the old 2 faced pile of shit routine again. We get qualified immunity for shooting whoever we want, whenever we want. But let us get a scratch, and somebody’s getting sued. It’s almost funny.
Best part is no ballistics done to see who even shot them. That’s what the lady’s attorneys need to focus on. Of course, even if it were shown that all wounds were caused by PD bullets, the cops would still blame the lady, because for some strange reason, her owning the house would outweigh them firing the bullets as far as responsibility goes.
Anybody out there rent a house or apartment from a cop?
Anabolic steroids??? The elite officer class use steroids all the time to make their neck bigger so people will be scared of them. Why were they harrassing Mr. Mutrie? I live in North Carolina. Among the many crimes commited by the first responders in this state was the case of the state trooper who pulled over a man and his wife and 2 children. I don’t remember any of the names but the first responder got mad and shot the man to death in the driver’s seat of his car in front of his family. They later determined the first responder was on steroids which probably caused him to lose his temper. He went to prison for murder. Thanks Cullen.
Steroids? Bales? Go figure…
Ballistics? I bet she died like she woul have wanted, at her boyfriend’s side, 14k in cash In her pocket and a pistol in her mouth. Almost like Romeo and Juliet… But that’s beside te point.
As far as funny? I bet Murtie was chuckling about this all day. I know I will be.
Hey common scents- you’re not too astute or perceptive are you? The fella above was referring to the mies case in which pigs were suing Karen mies for injuries they claim were the result of her son the fella above is right in pointing out the need for proper ballistics analysis of the case, and it seems laughably negligent that such tests were not conducted as a matter of fact, I’d be willing to bet 5 lbs of bacon and a box of bearclaws that ballistic tests HAVE been conducted and that the results remain unpublished in order to shield officers from public scorn from having been such gung ho piss poor shots that they hit their own team. I will put a dozen jelly filleds on top of that and say that if or when ballistics evidence is presented that it would exonerate her son of culpability of the shooting of the officers. That is of course if the ballistics hasn’t been conveniently lost. See, if that ballistic evidence was damming it would have been shoved up our asses already. The fact that it hasn’t denotes that the cops have something to hide and it seems to me as though the lawsuit is but a deterrent effort to keep mies from digging deeper into the case, an act that would surely showcase the inept and unqualified stupidity of cops. Dude- you shot your own guys DUMBASSES. lets see, a Remington870 and a trooper model colt 357. You’re telling me that 14 shot capacity total is going to produce those results? You do know the effective lethal range of shot guns loaded with bird shot, dont you? How about maximum range and penetration of body armor possessed by a colt wheel gun? You fucking clown. Common scents, change your handle to dipshit it fits ya.
The whole lawsuit is BS. I hope fair judge will see it and throw the case out of court. I doubt that will happen because the Judges, cops and DA’s all work as a team.
Has the warrant for the New Hampshire raid been unsealed yet? I would bet good money that it is defective on it’s face . You need to sworn reliable informants for a warrant and they almost NEVER have this. They usually have the op “information and belief” and the uncorroborated statements of anonymous people. Of course no one challenges shit anymore. Especially dead people.
wow, talk about revealing traits and personalities. Police officers, who talk big about protecting us from the big bads, get the courts to shield them from liability for failure to protect us, and are now applauding another court action to force the people they are ‘sworn to protect’, to protect them and hold them liable for failure to do so.
Brent, you’re right, it’s a massive conspriacy. The police actually shot the girl using a robiot, execution style, then used a cordless 3/8″ drill and tapped her skill to make the would fit the handguns owned by Cullen.
That sounds about right…
Wow, wow WOW ! What a telling reaction this is. Only the police have to be accountable.
I think this is a great tactic. Use the old cop blocker “sue, sue, sue”. Hit em in the old wallet. If this is successful, it will set a great presedent. Landlords everywhere will start cracking down on the types of things that happen on their properties or be held responsible.
Not sure if it’ll work, but I really like this tactic. I’ve said before that we (the police) don’t aggressively go after those that attack us. I’ve successfully sued 2 liars who tried to destroy my career. Good luck with this.
@T, how much do you think an individual should be held accountable for the actions of another? All this tactic can do, succeed or fail, is turn more of the public against LE. Is that what you want?
No one is saying there should be no accountability, but the people who harmed the cops are dead, assuming as someone suggested that the cops didn’t once again do a circular firing squad.
@t
As Shawn said, the individual responsible is dead, you are simply advocating for holding anyone who has a connection, however remote, to the perpetrator responsible for the crime committed. But of course you like this action, since it benefits you, regardless of the harm done. Nice.
I see that you mention your ability to sue 2 “liars”, while at the same time defending the police’s ability to lie to the public; and while hiding behind the qualified immunity that is accorded the police, even when the facts prove that they were in the wrong. You seem to take a perverse glee in this obvious double-standard, but then again, you are the benefactor of this inequity, so why wouldn’t you?
As far as setting a “presedent” (president? precedent?); it seems that the court, and public opinion, disagreed with you once, and most likely will again; however, should it come to pass, there will then be absolutely no reason to call the police, since, as we all know, the police are allowed to lie, and it would be very easy to concoct a story alleging harm in the course of a call, thereby opening up a lawsuit (“oh, I stubbed my toe on his property when I answered the 911 call, I need insurance money to make it all better”). When it becomes prohibitive to call the police due to these actions, then we will have no need of the police at all, as well as making it more likely for the public to turn on the police since any police presence equals potential financial ruin.
Accountability goes both ways.
Holmes’ head shrinker will be named in a suit and perhaps the university itself. The theater will be named in a suit (and has already).
Sometimes its not what you did, its what you ought to have done.
The mother of a drug dealer has an obligation, however slight, to take some form of action. Apparently she chose to ignore the situation.
Perhaps the suit will be dismissed, time will tell.
@2: First, I don’t worry, e er, about what people like this p.o.s. dead drug dealer thinks. I don’t want them to like me. Fear is a better descriptor. As I said before, I’d be very surprised if this worked. I also said that I hope it does. If YOU knowingly allow illegal activity to occur on your property, and then someone gets hurt due to that illegal activity, which you took no action to stop, YES…you should be held accountable. Hell, buy, people get sued when someone slips on their sidewalk all the time…and they didn’t do anything wrong at all. If this lawsuit is won, and it makes landlords pause to think about who they are renting to, and what is going on inside the properties, and then decide to not rent to those folks because their property might be forfeit…that is a damn good thing. The neighborhood wins big time.
So we can stop renting to niggers and beaners, for fear that cops will kick in the door and take our property. Easier not to rent to cop targets, and those are the two groups cops like to roust the most.
@t, when you say this – ” If YOU knowingly allow illegal activity to occur on your property, and then someone gets hurt due to that illegal activity, which you took no action to stop, YES…you should be held accountable.” – do you also mean that you and your fellow cops should be held liable for cops that break the law and YOU knowingly allowed it?
Flakewood: Don’t look now but your racism is showing. Your the only that even thought of such nonsense.
Suddeth: Already happens all the time.
I’d certainly like to know of any incidents then, because all I ever hear about are qualified immunity excuses or union lawyers threatening the upper management types if they even pursue legal action. please, give us examples, verifiable please.
Suddeth: research it yourself. Think Rodney king. Lots of others. Just read the other posts on this site. Happens all the time.
LOLOL T, you are a lying faking piece of dogshit. “…we (the police) don’t aggressively go after those that attack us…”. LOL. Like I said before, only way you’re a cop if if your pop’s the chief.
rodney king? you mean the case that the FEDS had to finally prosecute because the public outrage was so great after the ineptness of LAPD? no, i hear far too many cases of ‘no policies violated’ or ‘no criminal intent’, and the even worse ‘not enough evidence to ensure conviction’. no, you guys go way out of your way to protect your own.
“Suddeth: research it yourself. Think Rodney king. Lots of others. Just read the other posts on this site. Happens all the time.”
Do you know what kind of hell we must raise to get the police to do anything about a cop’s crimes?
Look at how Canton Ohio reacted to Officer Harless. They resented the public interest and initially didn’t want to do anything. It took a viral video and national attention to get them to go after that piece of trash, and they still support him.
And all he lost was his job. No criminal charges for his actions.
Harassing Cullen Mutrie? Are you FUCKING kidding me? You people are ALL mentally ill and should seek professional help for the way your inhumanity consumes your mind. Your minds are in an UNNATURAL state of consciousness. You folks know NOTHING about Cullen but come on the internet and spew your venom. ILL PEOPLE!! Cullen Mutrie BEAT and ABUSED EVERY SINGLE GIRLFRIEND HE EVER HAD SINCE HIGH SCHOOL!! He was a REPEAT OFFENDER!!! 15, 16, 17…..20 chances! And yet he NEVER learned how to properly keep his HANDS TO HIMSELF!! This a failure of PARENTING!! Do not blame the POLICE, as shitty as they can often be!!! Sure, they botched an arrest, but that doesn’t mean they should be SHOT at or KILLED!! If you believe so, you’re no different than a big-Ego rogue cop!!! I see so much trash about this case, and none of you even live where it happened, you don’t even know the people, you’re opinions are so ridiculous that it insults the logical, humane mind. Cullen Mutrie was a drug addicted bully, abuser, woman batterer, fear-mongerer, steroid freak, mentally incapacitated and socially inept BEAST/ANIMAL that needed to be CONTROLLED. Where do RABID DOGS go? OUT BEHIND THE WOODSHED!!! He got PUT DOWN because that’s what HE CHOSE!!! life is about CHOICES!! He took HIS OWN LIFE because he was simply a big empty-headed bubble and a COWARD who didn’t want to do his time in in the clink playing penal league baseball, even with all the steroids he shot up and all the steroidal tissue he managed to grow. Give me a break, LOSERS! Your psychology is far too obvious, every one of you that excuses cullen mutrie is MENTALLY ILL and you should evaluated, and I can also guarantee most of you mutrie-loving saps are up to NO GOOD as well and are more than likely performing your own ILLEGAL ACTIVITIES. So much for LAW of the LAND!! P.S. Who would donate to such TRASH that you only find on a random search!!! I wouldn’t give you a buffalo nickle!!
@thetruthcommission….are you kidding me? You clearly didn’t know Cullen and are basing this off of what people said. I’m not even going to argue or fight with you because people like you aren’t worth my time however….Bev is a kind, gentle, loving woman who LOST HER CHILD. He was 30 years old and yes, had made his fair share of mistakes but Bev doesn’t deserve to be hounded and tormented everyday anymore than she already is. People need to back off and leave her alone. Period.