Woman takes fight to SCOTUS after SWAT destroys her home in raid

The Texas home of Vicki Baker, inset, was destroyed in a SWAT operation, and she is fighting for the city to pay for the damages. (Photos courtesy of the Institute for Justice)

A woman fighting for restitution after a Texas city police SWAT team caused nearly $60,000 in damages during a hunt for an armed fugitive has taken her battle to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Vicki Baker has petitioned the nation’s highest court to review her claim after the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declined to rehear her case.

“Getting dangerous criminals off the streets is a legitimate government function, but when police destroy innocent people’s property in the process, the government must pay just compensation,” said Jeffrey Redfern, a senior attorney with the nonprofit Institute for Justice, in a statement emailed to Law&Crime. “The Supreme Court has a chance to make it clear that the 5th Amendment’s Takings Clause applies to police powers, just like it does to any other government action that destroys innocent people’s property.”

In a statement emailed to Law&Crime, Denise Lessard, a city of McKinney spokeswoman, said Baker rejected the city’s offer of $51,215.04 in 2022 in “exchange for Ms. Baker’s dismissal with prejudice of this lawsuit in its entirety.”

The statement said the city “will continue to defend the ruling if the decision is ultimately heard by the Supreme Court.”

As Law&Crime reported, the raid left Baker’s home in shambles, prompting a prospective homebuyer to walk away.

The drama began on July 25, 2020, when Baker’s adult daughter, who was at the home while Baker was away, notified authorities that a fugitive — who had done handyman work at the house but had been fired — was holding a 15-year-old runaway girl hostage in Baker’s house.

Police arrived, and a standoff ensued. Officers used an armored vehicle to knock the home’s fence down and smashed doors and shattered windows with tear gas canisters.

A McKinney Police Department SWAT team set up a perimeter and engaged in “loud hailing” using an intercom system. Soon after, the fugitive released the girl, who came out of the house unharmed. She told police the fugitive was inside, armed and “ready to go down shooting.”

Police used explosives, took down the garage door, and used armored personnel carriers to knock down the front door and fence. They launched tear gas grenades through windows and walls until “every cubic inch of the interior was saturated,” court documents said.

By the time police went inside the house, the fugitive “died by his own hand,” the document said.

The house was destroyed. All the personal property was thrown out, and the flooring, drywall, and insulation were removed. Doors and windows needed to be replaced.

Baker asked the city to pay when her insurance wouldn’t cover the damages. After the city declined, she filed a lawsuit in March 2021 in federal court, alleging a violation of the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which says private property shall not “be taken for public use, without just compensation.”

A jury determined that Baker was entitled to $59,656.59 in damages.

The city then appealed, and the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals concluded that the clause did not require compensation for damaged property when it was “objectively necessary for officers to damage or destroy that property in an active emergency to prevent imminent harm to persons.”

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