Property Owners Sue D.C. Police for Seized Investigatory Evidence

WASHINGTON -- A federal judge ruled last week a lawsuit can go forward against Washington, D.C., police accused of keeping people’s property longer than necessary to complete investigations or prosecutions.

The class action lawsuit accuses the District of Columbia of violating the Fifth Amendment's due process clause and Fourth Amendment search and seizure provisions.

One of the plaintiffs said it took two years to get her car back after police seized it for a shooting investigation. The car had bullet holes in it and blood spatters on it.

The car owner was a witness who was not being prosecuted. Keys and an iPhone that were in it when police seized it were missing when the car was returned.

U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth dismissed most of the lawsuit claims. He is allowing the lawsuit to continue after ruling the police lack a constitutionally appropriate procedure for property owners to reclaim their possessions.

The Metropolitan Police Department and D.C. Superior Court say Superior Court Rule of Criminal Procedure 41(g) gives owners a right to retrieve their property when criminal proceedings or investigations end. Lamberth said the policy gives no adequate guidance to the owners.

"And if Superior Court Rule 41(g) does not actually provide individuals in plaintiffs' situation with any recourse at all for the deprivation of their property, it cannot satisfy the requirements of due process," Lamberth’s ruling says.

The lawsuit filed under the names of Olivia Parrott, Bardino Garland Joyner and Dreyvon Iracks also accuses police and D.C. Superior Court of the tort called unlawful detention of property.

In one example cited by the plaintiffs, police seized Iracks’ car in October 2021 after saying it was observed in video at the scene of a shooting. No criminal charges have been filed in the case but police still have the car.

"As this court has noted, 'the Fourth Amendment's touchstone is reasonableness,'" Lamberth wrote.

The case is Parrott et al. v. District of Columbia, case number 1:21-cv-02930, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

For more information, contact The Legal Forum (www.legal-forum.net) at email: tramstack@gmail.com or phone: 202-479-7240.