By Ken Esten Cooke —
A civil lawsuit has been filed by a Harper couple who say their home was searched on May 3 without consent by sheriff’s deputies and one of the homeowners was thrown to the ground in the process.
Plaintiffs Huntly and Susan Dantzler filed suit against defendants Gillespie County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Joe Hindman and Deputy Hunter Westbrook for an early morning search of their property on the 16000 block of U.S. 290 West.
The case will be filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, Austin Division.
Deputies claim they were performing a welfare search for a female who was with the Dantzlers’ son, Huntly Jr., 32, and deputies said they had reason to be concerned for her safety.
Accusations of pills slipped into a drink and the woman leaving with Dantzler Jr. in an intoxicated state were made by a caller who never gave his name, according to incident reports.
The episode was detailed in the Aug. 17 Fredericksburg Standard-Radio Post after the Dantzlers’ complaints became public.
Westbrook no longer works for the GCSO, Sheriff Buddy Mills said Tuesday, but in a law enforcement capacity at the University of Texas-San Antonio.
Mills said the county’s attorney is Charles Frigerio of San Antonio. Frigerio’s office is compiling information about the case and could not yet comment.
The Dantzlers are represented by the Rutherford Institute in New Jersey, a civil liberties organization that provides free legal services to those whose constitutional and human rights have been threatened or violated. The institute was founded in 1982 by John W. Whitehead.
“There are those who insist that if you’ve done nothing wrong and have nothing to hide, you should submit to police demands to search your person and your home, whether or not those orders are lawful,” Whitehead said about the case. “What makes this case so striking is the contrast between American citizens who not only know their rights but are exercising them and government officials — in this case, the police — who are either completely ignorant of what the law requires (namely, a search warrant and probable cause) or who don’t believe the laws of the land, namely the Fourth Amendment, apply to them.”
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