HUNTINGTON — A Putnam County man is suing four officers and the Putnam County Commission for their search of his home in 2019.
Brian D. Hall, Xerxes Rahmati, Scott A. Lowther and Brian Lockhart were the officers named in the complaint.
Officers arrived at Dustin Elswick's home on Aug. 21, 2019, in two unmarked police cruisers to serve a civil summons on the plaintiff as part of a civil dispute that had been filed in Putnam Magistrate Court, according to a complaint filed last month in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia.
Bryan
Elswick claims none of the officers were tasked with civil service duties with the Putnam County Sheriff's Department and, instead, were members of an inter-county drug task force known as the Special Enforcement Unit.
"For some unknown reason, they believed that there were illegal drugs or other contraband inside the Plaintiff’s residence," the complaint states. "However, they had no probable cause, nor a warrant, to enter or search the residence. Nevertheless, the said officers entered the home and performed a search therein."
The officers then pushed a window-mounted air conditioner unit through a window into the interior of his home and then climbed through the window to enter Elswick's residence, according to the suit.
Elswick claims the officers were recorded on the plaintiff's hidden interior cameras and were captured searching the interior of his home. He claims they found the cremated remains of a deceased friend and took the container with the remains outside to test for narcotics. They also removed the plaintiff's lawfully owned and possessed firearms from the home and took them outside.
While on the property, the defendants destroyed Elswick's exterior surveillance camera that was attached to his residence, according to the suit.
Elswick claims his mother went to his residence and was detained by the defendants for 30 to 40 minutes before the officers left the property. Before leaving, Elswick's mother was instructed to call him so they could inform him there was civil process paperwork that would be given to his mother.
Elswick claims the defendants violated his Fourth Amendment rights and caused him harm and damages.
Elswick is seeking compensatory and punitive damages. He is represented by John H. Bryan of John H. Bryan Attorney at Law in Union.
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia case number: 3:21-cv-00468