Southwest
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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A man armed with a knife was shot by L.A. police officers responding to an assault with a deadly weapon call overnight, authorities said.
According to the Los Angeles Police Department, officers with the Hollenbeck Division responded to an apartment complex in the 3000 block of Glenn Avenue in Boyle Heights at 1:45 a.m. Saturday after callers reported a male suspect was armed with a knife and had just assaulted someone in the complex.
Arriving officers found the suspect in front of the residence, but he did not comply with officers’ commands to drop the weapon. He then advanced toward the officers and an officer-involved shooting occurred, LAPD confirmed.
“The suspect was struck by gunfire and remained non-compliant,” the LAPD Public Information Officer said on X early Saturday morning. “Officers deployed a 40mm foam round and ultimately took the suspect into custody.”
Video obtained by KTLA shows the man being loaded into an ambulance and taken to a hospital; officials said he was transported in stable condition, adding that his knife was recovered at the scene and booked as evidence.
No officers or community members were injured during the incident. The man’s name was not released.
Dangerous rip currents and high surf are forecast for Los Angeles County beaches, including the Malibu Coast this weekend.
The National Weather Service has issued a hazardous beach statement, warning of the potentially deadly beach conditions. The dangerous conditions are forecast to last from Saturday evening to Monday morning.
“There is an increased risk of ocean drowning,” the NWS forecast reads. “Rip currents can pull swimmers and surfers out to sea. Waves can wash people off beaches and rocks, and capsize small boats nearshore.”
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A guide to surviving rip currents from the National Weather Service (NWS)
Minor Beach erosion and coastal flooding is possible through the weekend. The flooding is most likely to occur during evening high tides from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m.
Beachgoers are advised to stay out of the water and remain near lifeguard towers. Jetties and tidepools are also especially dangerous during the weekend forecast.
“Rock jetties can be deadly in such conditions, stay off the rocks,” the NWS forecast reads.
Similar hazardous beach conditions are also in the forecast for Santa Barbara County. A high surf advisory is also in effect for Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties this weekend, where 10 to 15-foot waves will be possible.
If you live or want to live in Los Angeles, the city controller has released a new dashboard highlighting some of the city’s most notorious problem rental properties, a tool designed to help renters avoid future headaches.
“This project comes at a time when tenants are reporting harassment and illegal evictions violating the City’s Rent Stabilization Ordinance, Just Cause for Eviction Ordinance and Tenant Anti‑Harassment Ordinance, but very few of the complaints end up leading to strong enforcement or real accountability,” L.A. City Controller Kenneth Mejia said in a media release Thursday.
The new Top 100 Problem Rental Properties dashboard includes a searchable database of all residential addresses with reported housing violation cases within the city of Los Angeles, a ranked list of the 100 addresses with the most violations and an interactive map.
“There has never before been an uncomplicated way for anyone to look up years’ worth of violations by address,” Mejia said in the release.
Data for the dashboard was compiled from multiple sources, including the Los Angeles Housing Department, Los Angeles City Planning and the L.A. County Assessor’s Office, according to the controller’s office.
The release also identified the top three addresses with the highest number of reported housing violations:
1. 636 1/2 North Hill Place, Chinatown
192 housing violation cases
2. 11700 West Wilshire Boulevard, Sawtelle
166 housing violation cases
3. 6650 West Forest Lawn Drive, Hollywood Hills
113 housing violation cases
“Our new dashboard is an easy‑to‑understand public tool that we hope will help renters and organizers document patterns of harm, as well as put pressure on both landlords and the City to act,” Mejia said. “Everyone deserves safe, stable and dignified housing.”
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