The Back Alley Archives

Henderson resident Anthony Mitchell claims that Henderson police officers violated his Third Amendment rights when they “conspired among themselves to force [him] out of his residence and to occupy his home for their own use.”

Responding to a domestic violence call at a neighbor’s residence in July 2011, officers told Mr. Mitchell that they needed to come into his home to gain a “tactical advantage,” according to the suit, which the Volokh Conspiracy wrote about here.


When Mr. Mitchell refused, police officers came to his home, banged on his door, and then smashed it open with a metal ram, he alleges.


He claims they then aimed their weapons, commanding him to lie down on the floor and crawl toward them. When he didn’t move, they allegedly fired pepper-spray balls at him, striking him three times at close range and causing him to “experience uncontrollable coughing and difficulty breathing,” the suit says.


Police then arrested Mr. Mitchell for “obstructing a police officer” before “swarming” into his home. He also claims they fired pepper-balls at his cowering dog named Sam.