A federal court has ruled that the Drug Enforcement Agency does not have to pay a truck owner whose vehicle they commandeered in a botched drug sting operation – without his knowledge or permission – in which the agency's confidential informant driver was shot dead and the truck was damaged.
Says truck owner Craig Patty: "I took the federal government to court and lost. They refused to pay for my truck that was shot up and damaged because of their operation which I knew nothing about." He says that the insurance company wouldn't pay for damages either because it involved a criminal action. "It's in the fine print," he says.
"Everybody is shocked at this kind of ruling [from the federal court] and just appalled that the government has the ability to use a private citizen’s personal property without their consent and that it can withstand judicial scrutiny," says Patty's co-counsel, attorney Fred Shepherd.
The complex story, pieced together from trial documents and interviews, offers a view of a federal agency that apparently did not have a handle on its own operations, disregarded Constitutional law – according to the truck owner's lawyers – and then asked the courts to seal documents because it might reveal confidential information about their failed operation.
Larry Kahaner | American Trucker
Larry Kahaner | American Trucker
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