The mother of a man who was killed last year in a collision with a D.C. police cruiser is suing a Metropolitan Police officer for searching her backyard without a warrant just days after her son’s death.

The ACLU of D.C., which is representing Denise Price in her suit, says in the complaint that the officer’s search violated the fourth amendment of the Constitution, which prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures.

In May of last year, Price’s son, Jeffrey Price, died after colliding with an MPD cruiser on his dirt bike. Police said that he was speeding down the wrong side of the road. Price’s family and friends sued the District over his death, claiming that police were engaged in pursuit of Price (a practice that is against MPD policy) and cut him off on purpose, resulting in his death. According to the ACLU, the crash is currently being investigated by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

A week after the crash, Denise Price and other relatives were sitting outside of her Deanwood home discussing plans for his funeral, according to the complaint. A group of MPD officers pulled up and began searching the area around the home. One of the officers, Joseph Gupton, eventually went into Price’s backyard, appearing to search for something, while Price and her brother, Jay Brown, repeatedly asked whether he had a warrant and said they did not consent to a search of the property, according to the lawsuit and video captured by Brown.

“I was grieving the loss of my son, preparing for his funeral arrangement with family and friends, and it was like a traumatizing situation, for someone to just barge into our yard with no communication,” Price tells DCist. “They were very disrespectful.”

Brown says the officers’ appearance made him feel helpless. “I felt instantly nauseous. I wanted to vomit … For me, it was emasculating. I just felt that here’s a situation where I could not protect my family from a home invasion. That’s what it felt like—a home invasion. It didn’t feel like they were there to protect and serve.” 

The video opens up with a shot of Officer Gupton shining his flashlight into a car parked outside of Price’s property. Shortly after, Gupton makes his way into Price’s backyard.

“He got a search warrant to go back there? You got a search warrant? Nobody gave you permission to go back there,” Brown can be heard saying from behind the camera.

“They can go in the yard,” another officer responds.

Brown can be heard on camera saying that it’s private property. And Denise Price can be heard telling the officer that he is not allowed to come onto her property without a warrant. She asks Officer Gupton to leave the yard four times.

The officer can also be seen standing near the fence line on Price’s property and peering into an adjacent yard. “Can you tell us what you’re looking for?” Brown asks Gupton.

“No,” he responds. Gupton does not say anything else to any of the people on camera that day. He eventually also searches the backyard of Price’s daughter, which directly adjoins Price’s yard.

Police Chief Peter Newsham confirmed to the D.C. Council shortly after the search that the officers in question were under investigation. He said they should have communicated to the family why they were searching the property. They were reportedly taken off of the gun recovery unit and placed on neighborhood patrol while the investigation played out.

Police officers told WUSA9 at the time that officers thought a suspect might have dropped a gun in the vicinity, though the officers did not tell the Price family at the time. Later, according to the complaint, another MPD official told Jay Brown that Officer Gupton had entered the yard in search of a suspect.

“MPD has not attempted to reconcile these differing accounts or provide further clarification regarding whether its officers were purportedly searching for a person or an object,” the complaint reads.

MPD did not respond to a request for comment on the investigation or the lawsuit. The D.C. Attorney General’s office declined to provide comment on the suit.

The DC Police Union released a statement on the lawsuit Monday afternoon. “We believe this lawsuit to be without merit and we look forward to defending Officer Gupton against the ACLU’s baseless claims,” the statement reads. “The DC Police Union supports Officer Gupton, a highly decorated 6-year member of our department.”

Brown says that both he and his sister felt violated by the officers. According to the complaint, Price has suffered from debilitating anxiety as a result of the incident, and has trouble sleeping. She has had to enter therapy to address the emotional fallout.

Price and Brown both feel that the officers who came to the property that day were trying to intimidate them over statements they’d made to the news media in the preceding days blaming MPD for Jeffrey Price’s death. “I still feel threatened in this moment,” Brown says.

The ACLU says it brought the suit as a way to shine light on abuses from MPD officers. “This kind of disrespect for individual rights, decency, property, and privacy is something we hear about all the time from MPD,” says Michael Perloff, the lead ACLU attorney on the case. “We want to remind MPD about the importance of policing in line with the constitution and in a way that respects the community.”

The lawsuit comes in the wake of several other tense incidents in Deanwood involving MPD, including a controversial stop and frisk of several men hanging out on a corner in front of Nook’s barbershop where residents say officers demanded IDs for no reason.

“This is continued trauma that occurs in the community, not just with the constitutional violation of the Price family, but the incidents that led up to it and what has happened after,” says Lorenzo Green, the ANC Commissioner for the area. “This isn’t a new thing. It’s just that now people are seeing the videos.”

The lawsuit is asking for compensatory damages and attorneys fees for Price.

This story has been updated with comment from the DC Police Union.

Previously:
Two D.C. Police Officers Are Being Investigated For Potentially Illegal Search