Evidence gathered by FBI agents who posed as broadband repairmen to enter a suspect's villa without a warrant has been thrown out by a US judge.

The District Court of Nevada has decided [PDF] that the g-men violated the Fourth Amendment rights of poker ace Wei Seng Phua when they searched his Las Vegas bolthole while disguised as ISP technicians.

If such a ruse was allowed to stand, the US government could search any home in America without a warrant, the court ruled.

The FBI believed Phua and his associates were running an illegal World Cup gambling den out of his villa on the grounds of Caesar's Palace between June and July of 2014. With the hotel's help, the agents cut off the broadband links to the home, then two of them turned up posing as ISP employees to repair the internet connection.

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Now, in a hearing at the end of last week, district judge Andrew Gordon has ruled that the whole operation violated the US Fourth Amendment, which safeguards against unwarranted search and seizure.

As a result, all the evidence gathered against Phua has been stricken from the record, which rather derails the prosecution's case. However, the criminal complaint against Phua, 50, continues: according to the FBI, $13m in bets were unlawfully placed before the villa was raided and its computers seized.

Phua's son Darren and five other defendants in the case have pleaded guilty to lesser charges, forfeited large sums of money, and have been banned from traveling to the US for five years.

According to motorists, police moved into the middle of the street during the worst traffic jam in years and began a ticket writing assembly line that made them over $18,000. In total, 65 drivers were given tickets that amounted to $290 a piece.

In an extreme traffic situation like this, it is understandable for people to use their phones to contact loved ones and rearrange their plans. This is especially important for those who are responsible for taking care of children or elderly people.

Police representatives admit that the ticketing strategy was unfair, but they claim that this operation was pre-planned and that the officers were not opportunistically taking advantage of the traffic jam. In fact, police representatives told local reporters that they were totally unaware of that the highway was in gridlock. This is despite the fact that it should have been obvious to the individual officers in the street, as well as their superiors back at headquarters.

“This cop was walking the highway and motioned for all these cars to move into the gas station parking lot, and they had an assembly line of cops giving tickets,” commuter Tiffani Breeden told reporters after she was ticketed by police.

Honolulu Police Department Assistant Chief Clayton Kau said that the whole thing was just one giant misunderstanding.

“At the time, that they were doing that, they weren’t aware of the traffic problem. When they were notified, at that point, they ceased enforcement action,” Kau said.

Breeden, however, is not buying their story. “I knew about it at noon, in my office in Honolulu, and I’m not even a cop patrolling the streets. How are they unaware of street conditions?” she said.

During a press conference earlier this month, Captain Darren Izumo admitted guilt, saying that the operation should have been cancelled.

“I’ll take the hit for that, in that we were concentrating on getting the westbound traffic flowing, so I failed to cancel that operation,” he said.

Even after admitting that the tickets should not have been issued to begin with, the police department is still refusing to cancel them. Instead they are asking the commuters to fight the tickets in court and take their chances with the judge.

South Huntsville, AL– A woman was shot by police Sunday evening after her estranged husband, against whom who she had filed multiple protection orders, broke into her home and threatened her with a weapon.

Lisa Skinner, was at the house she shares with her mother on Sunday as Bradley Skinner, broke the glass on a back door and entered the home carrying a pistol and a large knife. The frightened woman asked her mother to go to a neighbor’s to call the police for help, and her mother set off the home security system on her way out.

Lisa previously stated ‘I left in fear of becoming a victim of murder/suicide,’ as she applied for a restraining order against Skinner. The order was in effect on Sunday when the break-in took place.

Aiming to defend her life, Lisa Skinner, 52, armed herself with a shotgun and moved to the garage. Bradley, 59, who had been ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation as part of their divorce, followed her and allegedly aimed his pistol at her. That is when Lisa Skinner shot the man in his chest.

As the shots rang out, the police were arriving on the scene and saw Lisa Skinner holding the shotgun in the garage as the home alarm went off.

The scene was imaginably quite hectic as the police ordered her to drop her weapon. Innocently, the woman began to turn towards the people she believed were there to help her, and at least one officer opened fire.

It is currently unclear how many times Lisa Skinner was shot, or how many officers fired their weapons. Luckily her injuries are reportedly non-life threatening. Her husband has undergone surgery and remains hospitalized in critical condition, WHNT reported.

Unfortunately, this is not the first time a woman has been treated like a criminal for defending herself against an abusive former spouse.

ARLINGTON, Va. (WUSA9) -- Raw video of an Arlington County officer's order to stop a WUSA9 photographer from recording video in an Arlington public space, along with iPhone video that picks up the altercation shortly after the cameraman turned his camera off, show what legal scholars say is a clear violation of the First Amendment.

"I understand you're pointing this camera in my face right now," said the officer who either wasn't wearing identification or was covering it with his pens and/or his hand. "I've already told you to turn that off and stop that," the officer said referring to the recording camera.

Exclusively-obtained dash-cam video shows Dontrell Stephens, 20, talking on a cellphone while riding his bike on a Friday morning in September 2013. He can be seen turning onto Norma Elaine Road near Haverhill Road and Okeechobee Boulevard as PBSO deputy Adams Lin trails him.

Moments later, Stephens realizes he’s being followed. He pulls over, gets off his bike with a cellphone in his right hand and walks toward the deputy.

For approximately four seconds Stephens is out of frame only to be seen again when being shot four times.

Stephens, who is black and has a criminal record for possessing cocaine, is seen running from the bullets then dropping to the ground.

Stephens was armed with nothing but a cellphone.

The video, exclusively obtained by WPTV NewsChannel 5 and The Palm Beach Post as part of a joint investigation into police shootings, was released as part of a federal wrongful death lawsuit filed against PBSO.

A short time later, an admittedly shaken Deputy Lin is heard talking to another deputy.

"He starts backing away," Lin explains. "I said, ‘Get on the ground, get on the ground.”

Then, the other deputy is heard saying, "I got your back man. I got your back. Hey, you hear me?”

Deputy Lin responds, “Yeah, I know.”

That day, Sheriff Ric Bradshaw went on TV to defend the shooting.

"Stop what you're doing and comply with us,” he told reporters. "There's nothing in the rules of engagement that says we have to put our lives in jeopardy to wait to find out what this is to get killed."

Lin was cleared to return to work four days later. Months later, investigators from the State Attorney's Office and PBSO ruled the shooting justified.

The affidavit supporting the warrant contained the following representations: 1) the extensive training and experience in drug investigations, controlled purchases and arrests of the officer who made the affidavit, 2) the confidential informant's report that the apartment for which a warrant was sought was "small, confined and private," 3) the confidential informant's report that the defendant "keeps his door locked and admits only people whom he knows," 4) the fact that the defendant sold drugs to the informant only after arrangements were made by telephone, and 5) the officer's assessment that, given the retail nature of the defendant's operation and the fragile nature of the illegal drugs involved, "it would not be difficult for [the defendant] to destroy the narcotics if given the forewarning."

In other words, if you have a "private" home with working toilets and locks and you don't routinely allow complete strangers to wander around your home, you, too, could be subjected to a no-knock warrant. This description fits pretty much every person who lives in a residence anywhere. All it takes is an officer's "upon information and belief" statement and a few assertions from a confidential informant, whose otherwise unreliable narration (if, say, he/she was facing charges in court) is routinely treated as infallible by cops and courts alike.

The appeals court may have pointed out how ridiculous this warrant application is, but its statements are far removed from the time and place the application was submitted, approved and served. So, the courts still provide an avenue of recourse, but this decision does nothing to prevent cops from using the same specious assertions to obtain no-knock warrants in the future.

Official footage released which shows police in Los Angeles, California brutalizing Samuel Arrington, a homeless man.

The video contradicts official police reports that “Suspect Arrington lunged at one of the officers and attempted to grab his service belt.”

The incident began when Arrington was confronted by police about an umbrella and other items being placed “outside of a designated area” on a public beach.

The 7-second video shows a Lakewood police officer pointing his gun at Daniel Covarrubias as the 37-year-old hides in a stack of boards at the Pinnacle Lumber and Plywood yard. The officer then fires multiple shots as Corarrubias slumps to the ground.

Corarrubias' grieving family says officers unnecessarily resorted to deadly force.

"He was shot and murdered in broad daylight by the police. By the Lakewood police," said Lanna Covarrubias, the man's sister. " I just can't believe my brother is another statistic."

Two Lakewood police officers approached Covarrubias early Tuesday afternoon while he tried to hide in a stack of boards at the Pinnacle Lumber and Plywood yard off 108th Street SW.

Officers say they saw Covarrubias reach into his pocket. The department is refusing to divulge whether the man had a weapon.

Video captured by a man inside the Wing Stop on East Palm Valley in Round Rock Tuesday afternoon shows Officer Ben Johnson arresting Viviana Keith.

The video shows Johnson and Keith talking, then he tries to force her to bend over onto the hood of his car during the arrest. When she resists, Johnson performs a take-down move, essentially throwing Keith onto the ground. She hit her head and was knocked unconscious.

The video goes on to show Keith's 6-year-old daughter walk over to check on her mom as the officer rolls Keith onto her back and checks her pulse.

"When I look back at the tape, I can see her head bounce off the concrete because when he threw her down, she wasn't able to brace herself," said the man who recorded the video, who wanted to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation. "She was absolutely unconscious. There were a couple of other gentleman in the store with me and we were saying 'is she breathing?' Because at first we weren't seeing her stomach rise and fall."

Viviana Garcia, who works in the shopping strip, said witnessed the incident and fearing the worst, she walked over to help Keith's child.

"It looked like she was dead," Garcia said. "The little girl was screaming, 'Mommy, mommy.'"

Staff from an urgent care center in the strip went over to help until EMS arrived. Witnesses say the left side of Keith's face was black and she had a large cut over her eye.

What the video did not capture was what led up to the arrest. Witnesses said Keith was drunk when she walked into Deluxe Nails.

Statements from Delio's supervisor to OPD Internal Affairs investigators appeared to have some inconsistencies, so Channel 9's Kathi Belich watched the two-hour surveillance video to compare what was said in the investigation and what was seen on the video.

She found the video contradicts what Sgt. Michael Faulkner said he did concerning getting medical treatment for Robert Liese.

Liese, who was arrested after being accused of skipping out on a $60 bar bill, asked for medical attention at least 20 times as he writhed on the floor gasping and moaning, with his hands and feet bound, following the kneeing incident.

"Can I please have some medical attention? Please, please. I'm begging," Liese is heard saying in the video.

Faulkner told OPD internal affairs Liese refused medical treatment before he got there and said when he talked to Liese; "I also inquired about that. He, uh, once again refused, um, that treatment."

But the video recorded in the holding cell shows that not only did he never ask Liese if he wanted medical attention, he also ignored Liese's pleas for treatment.

"I need medical attention, please," Liese said.

"What do you need medical attention for?" Faulkner asked Liese.

"I have to lay down, please. I want to lay down," Liese said. "My chest."

"What's wrong?" Faulkner asked Liese.

"I can't breathe right," Liese said.

Faulkner did not call paramedics. Instead, he took cellphone photos of Liese.

He told internal affairs investigators that he was investigating Delio's use of force. But the video shows Liese is the one who brought it up and Faulkner never asked about it.

"I got kicked in the chest in the backseat of the car," Liese said.

As 16 more minutes passed the sound of laughter and talking is heard outside the holding cell while Liese continues to ask for help.

"Somebody please call the – paramedics," Liese said.
Even following that request the laughter outside the cell continued.

Police told Liese paramedics were on the way about an hour and a half after he asked Faulkner to call them.

Liese's doctors said he was bleeding internally.

Four vacationing Swedish police officers helped out after two homeless men began fighting on a New York City subway – and showed it’s possible to subdue violent suspects without hurting them.

The officers — Samuel Kvarzell, Markus Asberg, Eric Jansberger and Erik Naslund — were riding an uptown No. 6 train Wednesday on their way to see “Les Miserables” when they responded to the subway driver’s call for help, reported the New York Post.

A bystander began recording cell phone video after the officers pulled the pair apart.

The video shows one of the brawlers sitting calmly on the floor, flanked by two of the Swedish police officers, while two others kneel on the other man – who is more unruly – to hold him face-down on the floor.

“How do you feel?” one of the officers asks the seated man, who says he feels fine.

The other man struggles, but the pair of officers calmly keep him pinned to the floor.

“I can’t breathe,” he screams, as he rises occasionally from the floor but is unable to escape.

“Take it easy,” one officer repeatedly tells him. “Sir, calm down, OK? Everything is going to be OK.”

The man eventually calms down, and he admits to the officers that he’s not injured after they ask.

The Swedish officers held the men until New York City police could board the train and take them into custody.

“We came just to make sure no one got hurt,” Asberg said. “We were trying to stop the fight.”

Of course, not every police interaction ends with a suspect’s death or injury — but social media users pointed out the difference between the way the Swedish officers behaved and recent tragic cases involving American police.

With the guise of voluntary consent stripped away, the reality of the District’s regime is revealed. It is a rolling roadblock that sweeps citizens up at random and subjects them to undesired police interactions culminating in a search of their persons and effects. If the Fourth Amendment is intended to offer meaningful protection in the context of Terry stops, the voluntary-consent exemption cannot be used to engage with members of the public en masse and at random to fabricate articulable suspicions for virtually every citizen officers encounter on patrol.