this post was submitted on 29 Sep 2024
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Bumbling US cops who raided a medical diagnostics center thinking it was a cannabis farm got a gun stuck to the powerful magnets of an MRI machine, a California lawsuit has alleged.

The owners of the facility are claiming damages against the Los Angeles Police Department for an operation their lawyers describe as "nothing short of a disorganized circus."

Their lawsuit details how a SWAT team swarmed Noho Diagnostic Center after the squad's leader persuaded a magistrate to issue a search warrant.

Officer Kenneth Franco drew on his "twelve hours of narcotics training" and discovered the facility was using more electricity than nearby stores, the lawsuit said.

"Officer Franco, therefore, concluded (the facility) was cultivating cannabis, disregarding the fact that it is a diagnostic facility utilizing an MRI machine, X-ray machine and other heavy medical equipment -- unlike the surrounding businesses selling flowers, chocolates and children's merchandise," the suit said.

...

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[–] renrenPDX 15 points 1 hour ago

The summary just says gun, so I assumed hand gun. it was a rifle.

[–] mlg 10 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

If I ever saw a building using more power, my automatic assumption would be a big machine is inside.

If it were ridiculously high, then my next guess would be a crypto mining farm.

Ain't no way modern LED lamps for growing plants gonna be drawing that much power.

Not to mention any of these fools could have just as easily sent someone inside to check. Or if they really wanted to play coppers so bad, book a fake appointment or even just pretend to be a news agency to ask for a tour.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 hour ago

Depends on the scale; modern LEDs just means you can make the farm bigger for the same level of power consumption. There's also dehumidifiers, which suck a decent amount of power because they're basically AC units.

Still, I think crypto farm would be my first guess if there's no obvious other reason for the power usage (which in this case there is, it's a fucking medical imaging place)

[–] Itdidnttrickledown 224 points 14 hours ago* (last edited 14 hours ago) (5 children)

Raided based on nothing more than power usage. Ignored warning in place around the MRI to prevent an accident. Cops gun gets pulled out of his hands and he pull the emergency shutdown button. Now it will cost a couple of hundred thousand to get the MRI going again. Somehow the cops will blame someone else.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

I love how cops take less training to arrest people than I took to professionally reset passwords

[–] [email protected] 54 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

Losing 2,000 litres of helium is possibly the worst part of this.

[–] Itdidnttrickledown 26 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

A large part of the price as well. Not to mention magnets that were destroyed.

[–] MataVatnik 13 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

Don't know about MRI machines but reenergizing NMRs that were quenched is fucking expensive

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 hour ago

I'm not completely sure but I think quenching MRI magnets is pretty permanent

[–] assassinatedbyCIA 75 points 10 hours ago

And if they do pay damages it comes out of your tax dollars. Great system all round.

[–] saltesc 77 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

Also, they left behind a loaded magazine on the floor 🤣

[–] Passerby6497 25 points 7 hours ago

Even Barney Fife is amazed at how terrible of a cop that dude is.

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[–] Zexks 150 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

Leader and judge who issued should be fired and disbarred immediately. I feel like something should happen to the rank and file who follow such stupidity too but not sure what.

[–] [email protected] 132 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago) (1 children)

Yeah, good point. A judge signed a warrant on just 'this place uses more electricity than others'? The court system's just a rubber stamp at this stage.

[–] [email protected] 111 points 15 hours ago (3 children)

Don't forget the "distinct odor" lol. That just says to me that the cops lied through their teeth to get the warrant.

[–] [email protected] 30 points 8 hours ago

“I smelled weed” is the classic cop trick to skirt around probable cause.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

the 'odor' was probably just 'clean', and mr copper doesn't know what 'clean' smells like so it just had to be something super illegal.

[–] PM_Your_Nudes_Please 20 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago)

Nah, they don’t get the benefit of the doubt anymore. “I smelled weed” has been used for decades to skirt probable cause requirements. Because it’s transient evidence that can’t be saved or replicated, and you can’t prove that they’re lying. You can be 100% clean, but a cop claims he smelled weed and now your car’s interior paneling is getting ripped out on the side of the highway.

The cop lied to get the search approved. No more, no less.

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[–] [email protected] 298 points 17 hours ago (32 children)

It gets worse:

Instead of seeking expert advice on how to retrieve the weapon, one officer decided to activate the emergency shutdown button.

"This action caused the MRI's magnet to rapidly lose superconductivity, leading to the evaporation of approximately 2,000 liters of helium gas and resulting in extensive damage to the MRI machine," the suit said.

The officer then retrieved his gun, but left a magazine full of bullets on the floor of the MRI office, the suit says.

[–] setsneedtofeed 4 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

California still has a 10 round magazine capacity limit for ordinary private ownership, I believe. (Last I heard the ruling striking it down was stayed).

So, did this cop negligently just leave a super illegal thing (by California legal standards) on the floor for some medical technician to eventually pick up and get legally slapped for?

[–] Stamau123 174 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

When you're never, ever, punished, eh who gives a fuck

[–] [email protected] 92 points 15 hours ago

Exactly, the city is going to be on the hook for this, at worst he'll get a talking to by the chief.

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