San Diego — The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit against the city of San Diego, its police department and city officials Wednesday alleging city workers destroyed property belonging to the homeless in a series of raids.
The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court alleges the raids were conducted with the intention of harassing the homeless. It seeks the return of their possessions, a permanent injunction to stop any further raids and other damages.
“These raids have nothing to do with cleaning up trash,” ACLU of San Diego and Imperial Counties Legal Director David Blair-Loy said in a statement. “This is purely and simply a drive to force homeless people out—out of the neighborhood, out of the city, and out of sight and mind.”
The suit seeks class-action status and alleges that such city policies discriminate against the homeless and violate their constitutional rights to due process and freedom from unreasonable search and seizure.
In three separate raids in September and October, city workers took treasured family photos, prescription medications and blankets used to keep warm, the lawsuit claims.
Police officers and city workers watched as homeless men and women temporarily stored their possessions near a vacant lot while they showered and did laundry at a nearby church, the lawsuit said.
The workers said their property was “trash” and tossed the plaintiffs’ shopping carts containing all their worldly possessions
into a garbage truck where they were crushed, the plaintiffs said. When the owners asked to retrieve their items, police told them it was too late and they should leave town for Arizona.
Source: The Associated Press, December2, 2009
