Opinion ID: 802109
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The January 20, 2007 Search of the Avina Home

Text: Because this case comes to us on summary judgment in favor of the United States, we must view the record in the light most favorable to the Avinas, who are the non-moving parties. Brown v. City of Los Angeles, 521 F.3d 1238, 1240 (9th Cir. 2008) (per curiam). Many of the key facts that we will recite here are disputed, including the specific nature of the officers’ actions toward the minor plaintiffs. On the morning of January 20, 2007, Plaintiffs Thomas and Rosalie Avina and their daughters were asleep in their mobile home. At approximately 7:00 a.m., DEA Agents approached the front door of the home. The agents banged loudly on the front door and yelled “police.” They waited briefly and then used a battering ram to break through the front door. The agents then entered the Avinas’ home with their guns drawn. Upon entering the Avina home, the agents first encountered Thomas and Rosalie Avina. Thomas was standing in an area between the living room and his bedroom, and Rosalie was lying on a couch in the living room. One of the agents approached Thomas and told Thomas to “get down on the [fuck]ing ground.” Thomas told the agent that he was “making a mistake.” After hearing Thomas’s response, another agent “forcefully pushed” Thomas to the ground, pointed his gun at Thomas’s face, and told Thomas, “Don’t you [fuck]ing move.” Both Thomas and Rosalie were placed in handcuffs. When Rosalie noticed agents approach the rooms of her daughters, Rosalie screamed at the agents, “Don’t hurt my babies. Don’t hurt my babies.” 6652 AVINA v. UNITED STATES
At the time of the search, fourteen-year-old B.F.A. was lying on her bed in her room. She heard a loud bang on the front door of the mobile home followed by shouts of “police, open up. Open up.” B.F.A. then heard agents enter her home and shout at her father to “[g]et down on the ground.” B.F.A. also heard the agents use profanity towards her father. Agents then entered fourteen-year-old B.F.A.’s room with their guns drawn.1 The agents told B.F.A. to “[g]et down on the f[uck]ing ground.” In response to the agents’ commands, B.F.A. rolled off her bed. The agents then handcuffed B.F.A.
At the time of the search, eleven-year-old B.S.A. was asleep in her room. Agents entered B.S.A.’s room with their guns drawn. The agents yelled at B.S.A. to “[g]et down on the f[uck]ing ground.” B.S.A. initially refused to get down on the ground because she was “frozen in fear.” The agents then pulled eleven-year-old B.S.A. to the ground and handcuffed her. After the agents handcuffed B.S.A., the agents pointed their guns at eleven-year-old B.S.A.’s head “like they were going to shoot [her].” The agents then picked up B.S.A. and moved her to B.F.A.’s room. Once the agents transported B.S.A. to B.F.A.’s room, the agents forced eleven-year-old B.S.A. and fourteen-year-old B.F.A. to lie facedown on the ground with their hands cuffed behind their backs. B.S.A. and B.F.A. were forced to lie facedown with their hands cuffed behind their backs for “a while.” Sometime later, agents moved B.S.A. and B.F.A. into the 1 One of the agents testified in his deposition that when he first encountered one of the girls, presumably B.F.A., she looked like she was “12 [or] 13 years old.” AVINA v. UNITED STATES 6653 living room, with their hands still cuffed behind their backs. At this point, eleven-year-old B.S.A. began to cry because she could not find her father. At some point, B.S.A. noticed her father lying on the floor. According to B.S.A., the agents unhandcuffed her about thirty minutes after they first entered her bedroom.
The agents searched the Avina home for approximately two hours. At approximately 9:00 a.m., agents left the Avina home.