OPINION ISSUED DECEMBER 20, 1985

GAIL PHILLIPS
VS.
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY

(CC-85-129)

Claimant appeared in person.
Robert D. Pollitt, Assistant Attorney General, for respondent.

PER CURIAM:

On or about October 14, 1984, the claimant was the owner of a house
trailer occupied by a
tenant, Veronica Taft, and her infant daughter, at Mountainview Trailer
Court near Morgantown
in Monongalia County. According to his testimony, he had attempted to
help her by purchasing
the house trailer and renting it to her. He said that her brothers were
a problem; that she had said
that she would be able to get along if she could stay away from them and
have a place to live.

An officer of the Department of Public Safety, the respondent,
testified that he had three felony
warrants for one of her brothers when he and another officer went to the
trailer on the previous
evening, after a neighbor had reported that the brother had been going
to and from the trailer
and was there at that time. Getting no response to knocking on the door,
the officers found the
doors unlocked and entered the trailer. They found no one there. The
officer witness and two
others returned to the trailer on the following day after another
neighbor reported that the
brother was then in the trailer. They knocked on the door and asked the
brother to come out.
There was no response. After several hours, trying to talk him out of
the trailer, "We decided to
gas it." Six to eight tear gas canisters were projected through the
windows, and the three officers
then entered the trailer. They found no one there.

The claimant presented an estimate of repairs in the amount of
$1,026.00 for damage he said
had been done to the trailer by the officers. Included on the estimate
were broken windows,
burned sofa, carpet, broken doors, a plate glass mirror, and other
items. He said he had
managed to get the work done for a total of $918.00.

The Court is of the opinion that claimant sustained unprovoked damages
as a result of action
of members of the Department of Public Safety, the respondent herein,
and makes an award to
the claimant in the amount of $918.00.

Award of $918.00.

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