Summary Judgment Reversed [Feds Had Wrong Address For Search Warrant, By The Way].

DEA agents forced their way into a home under the mistaken belief it was occupied by a drug dealer.  Using #*#%#* words, they ordered the parents to the floor.  With their guns drawn, they also ordered the sleeping children to the floor.  The 14-year-old girl complied, but the 11-year-old girl was frozen in fear.  The agents then pulled the 11-year-old down, handcuffed her and pointed guns at her head.  The district court granted summary judgment in favor of the United States, holding the DEA agents used reasonable force when they executed the search warrant.  Applying California tort law, the Ninth Circuit affirmed as to the parents, but reversed as to the children, stating:  “A jury could find that the agents pointed their guns at the head of an 11-year-old girl, ‘like they were going to shoot [her],’ while she lay on the floor in handcuffs, and that it was excessive for them to do so.  Similarly a jury could find that the agents’ decision to force the two girls to lie face down on the floor with their hands cuffed behind their backs was unreasonable.”  Avina v. United States of America ( Ninth Cir.; June 12, 2012) 681 F.3d 1127.