Violated her rights
Dear Editor,
I would like to inform the public of an incident that occurred Monday, Aug. 18, that clearly violated my rights as a citizen. Red Willow County Deputy Lonnie Anderson opened the back door to my house and walked in. If he knocked, I did not hear him, but he still had no right to just walk in.
He was serving me a subpoena to testify in court. If I did not answer or was not home, an officer would have to try to serve the subpoena at another time or even at my place of work. He cannot legally walk into my home.
This is the second time since January 2008 that an officer of the law has illegally entered my home. The first time it was McCook City Police Officer Owen McPhillips. He entered the same back door and knew it went directly into the house, because he previously owned the house.
To the best of my knowledge, the only legal way a law officer can enter a home is with a search warrant and the officer(s) must knock and announce that it is an officer of the law with a search warrant or with a "no knock" search warrant, they can holler to announce "officer-warrant" and then bust the door down and enter.
I have tried both Aug. 18 and Aug. 19 to contact Sheriff Gene Mahon regarding this incident. He has not retuned my calls. I want the public to know that the law officers for the City of McCook and Red Willow County will enter a house illegally.
Sincerely,
Tysha C. Park,
McCook
EDITOR'S NOTE -- Offered the right of reply, of the two officers named, only McPhillips chose to respond:
It appears to me that Ms. Park is either being disingenuous, or is simply ignorant as to the facts.
It is important for readers to understand the layout of the building. This is a two-story house with a basement which at some time in the past was converted into three apartments: upstairs, main floor, and basement. In the basement, there are also a laundry room and several small storage rooms.
Near the southwest corner of the building, on the main floor, there is an exterior entrance to the building. This door opens into a hallway which extends east to a short flight of stairs leading to the basement.
It is one of only two pathways which lead to the basement apartment, laundry room, and storage rooms from the outside. It is clearly a common area of the building, not part of any one apartment.
The main floor apartment has a detached room which lies on the north side of this hallway. The door to this room is equipped with a hasp and padlock. On the south side of this hallway is a door leading into the kitchen of the main floor apartment. This door is equipped with a key lock.
Ms. Park and her companion were given keys to the kitchen door and the front door of their APARTMENT, but not given keys to the front and rear doors of the BUILDING, because both of the latter doors are common entrances.
I know this specifically BECAUSE I was, as Ms. Park stated, the prior owner of the building, and was, in fact, the person who exercised the poor judgment to rent to Ms. Park and her companion, and to issue them those keys in the first place.
I entered through the common exterior entrance near the southwest corner of the building. I stood there and knocked on the kitchen door. I invite Ms. Park to enlighten the public as to the rest of the incident: what occurred over the several hours leading up to my knocking on that door, what happened in the few minutes afterwards, and the ultimate outcome in court.
I do not know what happened with Deputy Anderson, because I was not there. That being said, if he walked through the SAME door, as Ms. Park said, then he, too, simply went through a common entrance into the building.
To consider this to be "illegally entering one's home" is as asinine as making the same allegation toward someone walking through any of the ground-level doors of St. Catherine's Apartments in order to go and knock on a third-floor resident's door.
Owen J. McPhillips,
McCook