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Judge rules in favor of Texas woman after SWAT destroyed her house while pursuing a fugitive
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Five years after police destroyed cancer survivor Vicki Baker’s house while pursuing a fugitive, a federal judge has ruled that the Texas city she used to call home must pay her for the damage.
“I’ve continued fighting this long, because if this can happen to me, it can happen to anyone,” Baker told Fox News Digital in an emailed statement. “This case has always been about more than the money for me. I want to see real change.”
Baker’s ordeal started in July 2020, when she moved to Montana and was in the process of selling her home in McKinney, Texas.
A SWAT team caused an estimated $50,000 in damage to Vicki Baker’s McKinney, Texas, home in July 2020. (Courtesy Institute for Justice)
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Wesley Little kidnapped a 15-year-old girl, fled from police and took refuge in Baker’s home. Police surrounded the house and Little eventually released the teen but refused to surrender, according to court documents.
A SWAT team tried to draw him out by launching a barrage of tear gas canisters at the house, shattering windows and punching holes in walls.
When police finally entered the house, they discovered that Little had killed himself.
Baker’s daughter’s Chihuahua was inside during the onslaught and was left blind, deaf and sick from the tear gas and explosions. The dog eventually had to be put down, Baker said. A hazmat crew disposed of almost everything inside the house because it was saturated with a toxic film from the teargas, according to court documents.
Damage to the home totaled at least $50,000, according to Baker and her attorneys at the nonprofit civil liberties law firm Institute for Justice.
But her insurance company refused to cover the bulk of the damage because her policy — like most — excludes damage caused by the government.
A SWAT team bulldozed Baker’s fence, broke windows, blasted holes in the walls and filled her home with tear gas in an effort to drive out a kidnapping suspect who was hiding inside. (Courtesy Institute for Justice)
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Baker tried to file a property damage claim with the city of McKinney, but officials refused to pay, citing qualified immunity, a doctrine often used to shield police and other government agencies from being sued for violating people’s rights or destroying property during the course of their work.
The Institute for Justice sued under the Fifth Amendment and the Texas Constitution, arguing that police may have been authorized to seize Baker’s home in the interest of pursuing a dangerous fugitive, but that they should have to pay her just like they would if the government seized a home to build a road or other infrastructure.
A prolonged legal saga followed, with one federal judge ruling in 2022 that Baker should be compensated and a jury awarding her nearly $60,000 in damages. The following year, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed her Fifth Amendment win.
The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case last year, but Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Neil Gorsuch acknowledged the high court has yet to address whether the government can require individuals to bear the cost of police actions.
Last week, a U.S. district court judge ruled again that Baker is entitled to $59,656.59 plus interest under the Texas Constitution.
“This ruling makes it clear that the Texas Constitution’s promise of just compensation applies when police destroy innocent people’s property, and that this entire lawsuit could have been avoided if the city simply did the right thing in the first place,” IJ attorney Jeffrey Redfern, who represented Baker, said in an emailed statement to Fox News Digital.
The City of McKinney is “evaluating its options for appealing this ruling,” a spokesperson confirmed to Fox News Digital.
Vicki Baker told Fox News Digital she’s continued fighting her former city for the past five years because she hopes it will set a precedent and help people across the country. (Courtesy Institute for Justice)
The city previously offered to pay the full amount of the damage to settle the case, but Baker’s team says they refused to settle unless the city also changed its policies to protect all homeowners from similar actions in the future.
Redfern said he still hopes the Supreme Court will hear a case similar to Baker’s in the future so “we can ensure that the United States Constitution also protects innocent property owners in cases like this.”
“I want to make sure that cities around the country are doing the right thing and paying just compensation to people in similar situations,” Baker said.
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One person is dead after a shooting on a Dallas Area Rapid Transit train Sunday night, marking the second deadly incident on the Texas train system in the past week.
The shooting happened near the Pearl/Arts District Station on Bryan Street around 7 p.m., according to FOX 4.
DART police responded after a caller reported an active shooter at the station, the outlet reported. One person was found dead from a gunshot wound on the train.
Details surrounding the incident are limited, but FOX 4 reported a suspect is in custody.
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Police responded to the DART train near Pearl/Arts District Station on Bryan Street after a passenger was shot and killed. (Jordan Bickerstaff via FOX 4)
Fox News Digital reached out to DART for comment, but did not hear back by the time of publication.
The deadly shooting comes less than a week after a man was killed on the DART train last Monday. DART police responded to the Market Center Station on Harry Hines Boulevard at around 10:15 p.m., FOX 4 reported on Wednesday.
Daniel Tom Gormley, 53, was found inside a train car with multiple gunshot wounds to his chest. He was pronounced dead at the scene after first responders attempted life-saving measures.
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One person is dead after a shooting on a DART train in Dallas, Texas, on Sunday, Oct. 5, 2025. (Jordan Bickerstaff via FOX 4)
Gormley was a Marine veteran, according to a GoFundMe page aimed at helping the family pay for funeral costs.
“He was a victim of a senseless act of violence while aboard a train in Dallas, Texas, and was taken from us far too soon,” the fundraiser reads. “Our family is heartbroken and completely unprepared for the financial burden of planning a funeral and managing the associated costs. We are reaching out to our community for support during this devastating time.”
Daniel Tom Gormley, 53, was shot and killed on a DART train in Dallas on Monday, Sept. 29, 2025. (GoFundMe)
A DART rail operator reported to police that Gormley told the suspect to get off the train before the suspect fired a gun three times, according to FOX 4. It’s unclear what led to the exchange.
Gormley’s accused killer was identified as Christopher Clemson Akins and was taken into custody quickly, police said.
DART Police Chief Charles Cato said last Wednesday that such incidents are “extremely rare” and “taken very seriously.”
“DART Police remain deeply committed to the safety of our riders, employees, and the communities we serve,” Cato said, via FOX 4.
DART is a transit agency serving the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, offering multiple travel options: Light Rail, Trinity Railway Express commuter rail, bus routes, GoLink on-demand services and paratransit services.
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Republican Rep. Wesley Hunt of Texas announced Monday that he’s running for the Senate, jumping into an already bitter battle between incumbent Sen. John Cornyn and primary challenger Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
“The U.S. Senate race in Texas must be about more than a petty feud between two men who have spent months trading barbs,” Hunt said in a statement as he launched his campaign. “With my candidacy, this race will finally be about what’s most important — Texas.”
Hunt’s entry into the race turns up the heat on an already combustible battle between Cornyn, who’s running in 2026 for a fifth six-year term representing red state Texas in the Senate, and Paxton, the MAGA firebrand who’s an ally of President Donald Trump.
Hunt, a West Point graduate who flew Apache helicopters during his Army service and a rising MAGA star who is in his second term representing a safe Republican district in the Houston-area, emphasized in his statement, “My record speaks louder than words. I am the most consistently conservative legislator representing Texas in Congress.”
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Rep. Wesley Hunt of Texas speaks at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on July 15, 2024. (Mike Segar – Reuters)
Cornyn, who is backed by Senate Majority Leader John Thune and the National Republican Senatorial Committee, trailed Paxton by double digits at the beginning of the summer.
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But Cornyn has narrowed the polling gap in recent weeks, thanks in part to a massive ad blitz by allies that spotlighted the numerous controversies that have battered Paxton over the past decade.
Trump, whose endorsement would make a major impact in the Texas primary battle, has remained neutral to date.
Republican Rep. Wesley Hunt of Texas opens a Trump 2024 campaign field office in Philadelphia, on June 4, 2024. (Paul Steinhauser – Fox News )
Hunt, pointing to his backing of Trump as the then-former president launched his 2024 White House comeback, touted that “I was the first person in the nation to endorse President Trump, and I have remained steadfast in my commitment to the people of Texas.”
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Hunt had been mulling a Senate run for months and sources confirmed to Fox News earlier this year that the congressman had made his case to Trump’s political team that he’s the only person who could win both a GOP primary and a general election.
Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas is running for re-election in 2026 for a fifth six-year term in the U.S. Senate. (Reuters)
And an aligned super PAC spent big bucks this summer to increase Hunt’s name recognition across the state of Texas.
Paxton adviser Nick Maddux, in a statement to Fox News, said that “Primaries are good for our party and our voters, and Paxton and Hunt both know that Texans deserve better than the failed, anti-Trump record of John Cornyn.”
But Cornyn campaign senior adviser Matt Mackowiak argued in a statement that “Rep. Wesley Hunt is a legend in his own mind. No one is happier this morning than the national Democrats who are watching Wesley continue his quixotic quest for relevancy, costing tens of millions of dollars that will endanger the Trump agenda from being passed.”
Hunt’s entry into the GOP nomination race could prevent the winner of next March’s primary from winning a majority of the vote, which would trigger a runoff election two and a half months later.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, seen at the Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Tuesday, July 16, 2024, is primary challenging GOP Sen. John Cornyn in the 2026 election. (Hannah Beier/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Democrats are hoping for a Paxton victory in the primary, which they believe would make next year’s general election more competitive.
It’s been nearly four decades since a Democrat won a Senate election in Texas. You have to go back to the 1988 re-election victory by then-Sen. Lloyd Bentsen.
Former Rep. Colin Allred, who lost last November’s Senate election in Texas to conservative firebrand Sen. Ted Cruz by over 8 points, is running for the 2026 Democratic nomination, along with rising star Texas state Rep. James Talarico and former astronaut Terry Virts.
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An Oklahoma police officer’s smooth moves while issuing a noise citation have gone viral.
The officer with the Tulsa Police Department was caught on video dancing at a party while onlookers recorded with their phones and cheered him on at approximately 9 p.m. on Sept. 27.
“The caller said her neighbors had been playing loud music all day, and she wanted to file a complaint,” the department’s Facebook post with the video of the dancing officer said.
“Since this was the second time officers got called out there for the same issue, Officer Greene did issue a nuisance sound citation… but while he was there, he took a few minutes to also show off his dance moves!”
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Tulsa Police Officer Greene dances while issuing a noise citation at a party on Sept. 27, 2025. (Facebook/Tulsa Police Department)
Tulsa PD’s video of the dance had been viewed more than 1.1 million times as of Monday afternoon.
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Tulsa Police Department’s Officer Greene appears to be doing a choreographed group dance. (Facebook/Tulsa Police Department)
“The fact that TPD posted the video after the complaint makes it even funnier,” one Facebook user wrote.
Onlookers are telling Tulsa PD’s Officer Greene the moves while recording him dancing. (Facebook/Tulsa Police Department)
The department did post a comment on the video explaining the ordinance that the partygoers allegedly violated.
“The people out there appreciated his style, and also agreed to turn down the music,” TPD wrote. “Nice moves, Officer Greene!”
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