Legal Question in Criminal Law in California
Arrested because police were ignorant of the law
I went to my employee's home to get my work tools I had over there. I have verbal permission to be able to enter his home any time if he's home or not. I also stay there on occation. I went to front door, knocked,no answer. Went thru gate to back and back, door was opened (ajar), steped into the back porch, called his name, no answer, went back out to patio grabed my tools and loaded them into vehc, cleaned up patio area little for him,went back into house to wash up use restroom and to secure the house then leave. The landlord (owner) ran into back yard as I was coming out he was yelling ''call the police, call the police''. He knew who I was I had met him earlier that day and talked about doing work for him at his home. I told him hey I'm just getting my tools calm down, called cops anyway.My friend hadn't been there for several days and owes him back rent but still lived there has not been served vacate orders or nothing. Police arive imeditly have me in detaind statis siting on curb.Listens only to him come back to me hook me up & arest me for burglery end up booking for tresspasing. Cops also had my vehicle searched and towed just to be aholes. Does that landlord have the right to do that and were police negligent to arest me
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Arrested because police were ignorant of the law
If you had the tenants' permission to enter the house then you didn't commit burglary. The fact that they were behind in their rent doesn't matter.
The police had no way to know you had such permission, though, and it was reasonable for them to believe what the owner told them. The title of your question says you were arrested because the police were ignorant of the law, but in reality it was because they were misinformed about the facts. This was not their fault, so you seem to have no recourse against them.
You may have rights against the landlord, but you would have to prove he knew who you were and that he knew you had permission to enter the house. Even then, the law strongly disfavors lawsuits based upon reports to the police because fear of such lawsuits might discourage people from reporting actual crimes. You would have a dificult case to win, and your damages might not be enough to justify the time and expense involved.
I suggest consulting an attorney in your area once the dust has settled to get a sense of how strong your case turns out to be. For now, though, focus on the criminal aspect of the case. There will be time to think about a civil suit later.
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