No time for the Constitution

Sergeant Matthew Corrigan called the National Veterans Crisis Hotline for advice on sleeping because of nightmares from his year training Iraqi soldiers to look for IEDs in Fallujah. The operator, Beth, called 911 and reported Sgt. Corrigan “has a gun and wants to kill himself.”  He claims that he never threatened suicide.

In any case, what resulted was a SWAT standoff, where he was taken to the hospital for evaluation.The police then conducted a warrantless search of his home, causing extensive damage. The search revealed unregistered firearms.

Even if one assumes that he is lying, and did threaten suicide, once the sergeant had surrendered and was in custody, there was absolutely no valid reason for police to enter the home without a search warrant. Maybe there needs to be a law that bars anyone who is found in court to have violated a citizen's constitutional rights from ever again holding a government job. Maybe that will stop some of the abuses.