SAN DIEGO—
The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit against the city of San Diego, its police department and city officials alleging city workers destroyed property belonging to the homeless in a series of raids.The 26-page lawsuit filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court alleges three raids were conducted with the intention of harassing the homeless. The lawsuit alleges that city workers watched as homeless men and women left their possessions on a vacant lot near a homeless shelter. Once they went into the shelter to use its services, the city workers collected the belongings and tossed them into a garbage truck, according to the suit. The lawsuit seeks compensation for the loss of their possessions, a permanent injunction to stop any further raids and other damages.
The lawsuit alleges that items taken included clothing, treasured family photos, prescription medications and blankets used to keep warm.
Chris McKinney told Fox 5 San Diego that he lost everything he owned when workers carted off his possessions.
"I was in on a piece of property that the owners told me I could stay on. It was behind a market, and I had my stuff in the bushes," McKinney said. "I had only been on the street for two months. All my clothes and everything I owned were in those two bags. All of the sudden one day, they were just gone, and it was because the city workers took them."
McKinney said that he and other homeless people have since replaced their belongings, but he wants the city to change its policies.
The ACLU suit seeks class-action status and alleges that such city policies discriminate against the homeless and violate their constitutional rights to due process and freedom from unreasonable search and seizure.
City representatives declined to comment on the suit or its allegations.
