A Birmingham man is asking in a federal lawsuit filed this week that Birmingham police department's policy of taking guns for "safe keeping" be declared unconstitutional after his pistol was taken by an officer two years ago and never returned although he never used, or threatened to use, it during a domestic dispute.
The lawsuit, filed Monday by Adedayo Anthony Agboola against the city of Birmingham and a police officer, claims that the taking of his gun, and the seizing of guns from other licensed gun owners in similar circumstances, was in violation of constitutional guarantees to bear arms, to be free from unreasonable search and seizures, and due process of law.
Birmingham City Attorney Thomas Bentley III declined comment on the lawsuit. "We are investigating the background facts and claims of the complaint and will respond with a timely answer in federal court," he wrote in an email.
The lawsuit stems from a June 12, 2009 incident in which a Birmingham police officer was called to his Agboola's home on a domestic dispute call from his live-in girlfriend. There was no threat of violence by either party and no weapons were involved in the incident, according to the lawsuit.
Among the claims in the lawsuit are that while the police officer was at the house he asked Agboola if he had a gun. Agboola showed the officer the pistol he had locked inside a brief case inside the locked trunk of his car in the basement of the house, according to the lawsuit.
The officer took the Taurus 9mm pistol for "safe keeping," according to the lawsuit. The officer told Agboola, who protested the taking of his gun, that he could claim it at police headquarters in 30 days.
http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2011/06/birmingham_man_sues_seeking_to.html
