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Five years after police destroyed cancer survivor Vicki Baker’s house while pursuing a fugitive, a federal judge has ruled that the Texas city she used to call home must pay her for the damage.
“I’ve continued fighting this long, because if this can happen to me, it can happen to anyone,” Baker told Fox News Digital in an emailed statement. “This case has always been about more than the money for me. I want to see real change.”
Baker’s ordeal started in July 2020, when she moved to Montana and was in the process of selling her home in McKinney, Texas.
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Wesley Little kidnapped a 15-year-old girl, fled from police and took refuge in Baker’s home. Police surrounded the house and Little eventually released the teen but refused to surrender, according to court documents.
A SWAT team tried to draw him out by launching a barrage of tear gas canisters at the house, shattering windows and punching holes in walls.
When police finally entered the house, they discovered that Little had killed himself.
Baker’s daughter’s Chihuahua was inside during the onslaught and was left blind, deaf and sick from the tear gas and explosions. The dog eventually had to be put down, Baker said. A hazmat crew disposed of almost everything inside the house because it was saturated with a toxic film from the teargas, according to court documents.
Damage to the home totaled at least $50,000, according to Baker and her attorneys at the nonprofit civil liberties law firm Institute for Justice.
But her insurance company refused to cover the bulk of the damage because her policy — like most — excludes damage caused by the government.
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Baker tried to file a property damage claim with the city of McKinney, but officials refused to pay, citing qualified immunity, a doctrine often used to shield police and other government agencies from being sued for violating people’s rights or destroying property during the course of their work.
The Institute for Justice sued under the Fifth Amendment and the Texas Constitution, arguing that police may have been authorized to seize Baker’s home in the interest of pursuing a dangerous fugitive, but that they should have to pay her just like they would if the government seized a home to build a road or other infrastructure.
A prolonged legal saga followed, with one federal judge ruling in 2022 that Baker should be compensated and a jury awarding her nearly $60,000 in damages. The following year, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed her Fifth Amendment win.
The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case last year, but Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Neil Gorsuch acknowledged the high court has yet to address whether the government can require individuals to bear the cost of police actions.
Last week, a U.S. district court judge ruled again that Baker is entitled to $59,656.59 plus interest under the Texas Constitution.
“This ruling makes it clear that the Texas Constitution’s promise of just compensation applies when police destroy innocent people’s property, and that this entire lawsuit could have been avoided if the city simply did the right thing in the first place,” IJ attorney Jeffrey Redfern, who represented Baker, said in an emailed statement to Fox News Digital.
The City of McKinney is “evaluating its options for appealing this ruling,” a spokesperson confirmed to Fox News Digital.
The city previously offered to pay the full amount of the damage to settle the case, but Baker’s team says they refused to settle unless the city also changed its policies to protect all homeowners from similar actions in the future.
Redfern said he still hopes the Supreme Court will hear a case similar to Baker’s in the future so “we can ensure that the United States Constitution also protects innocent property owners in cases like this.”
“I want to make sure that cities around the country are doing the right thing and paying just compensation to people in similar situations,” Baker said.
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