The arrest of Robert Jonathan Seacat was the culmination of a destructive 19.48-hour standoff with American police in June 2015. After being chased by police for stealing clothing from a Walmart, Seacat barricaded himself in a house at 4219 South Alton Street in Greenwood Village, Colorado. By the time Seacat was finally extracted from the premises, the house had been destroyed by law enforcement in their efforts to flush him out. The homeowner—Leo Lech—filed a lawsuit against the municipality for compensation, but was ruled against by the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit; he appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States, but the court declined to hear the case.
Background
Robert Jonathan Seacat (also Robert Seakat) was born in Kansas on May 6, 1982. In June 2015, he was 6 feet 1 inch (1.85 m) tall, weighed 175 pounds (79 kg), was residing in Aurora, Colorado,[2] and was married to Ramona Vitalyevna Grabchenko. With previous convictions for drug possession, aggravatedmotor vehicle theft, and burglary, on June 3, 2015, Seacat also had three outstanding warrants: two for illegal drugs and one for aggravated motor vehicle theft.[1] As of January 2024[update], he was six feet (1.8 m) tall and weighed 180 pounds (82 kg).[3]
Leo and Alfonsia Lech bought the house at 4219 South Alton Street for their son, John. In June 2015, John Lech was living in the house with his girlfriend—Anna Mumzhiyan—and her nine-year-old son,[4] and paid his father monthly rent of US$1,300 (equivalent to $1,671 in 2023).[5] John Lech kept an unloaded pistol and 20-gauge shotgun in the master closet, while ammunition was kept elsewhere in the house.[1]
Standoff
According to a police affidavit, on June 3, 2015,Seacat shoplifted two belts and a shirt from a Walmart in Greenwood Village. After assaulting a uniformed Aurora Police Department (APD) officer—John Reiter—with his gold-colored 1999 Lexus GS300, Seacat fled in the vehicle. Reiter soon found the abandoned car at the nearby Dayton station and radioed for a tow. A by-stander told Reiter that she saw Seacat holster a .380 ACPsemi-automatic pistol when he crossed the rail platform before running across northbound Interstate 225. Reiter lost track of Seacat and returned to the Lexus to inventory its contents: $27 in cash, 12.5 grams (0.44 oz) of psilocybin mushrooms, 45 grams (1.6 oz) of cannabis, and an unidentified 2.9-gram (0.10 oz) blue pill. From 1:43–1:54pm, a perimeter was established by Greenwood Village (GVPD) and Aurora police.[1]
At 1:54pm, Seacat entered the home at 4219 South Alton Street in Greenwood Village, twice tripping the security alarm as he did so. The nine-year-old son of Anna Mumzhiyan was home alone, and when he exited the house at 2:17pm, he described Seacat as the man currently inside the house. After Seacat began opening the garage doors, APD officer William Woods drove a marked departmental sport utility vehicle (SUV) into the garage door to block egress. Seacat responded by blindly firing his pistol through the garage door, striking the SUV approximately one foot (0.30 m) from Woods.[1]
GVPD Commander Dustin Varney took command of the situation, and summoned GVPD SWAT as well as further assistance from the APD, the Arapahoe County sheriff's office, and the Douglas County sheriff's office. GVPD officer Mic Smith, a SWAT negotiator, engaged with Seacat over the telephone; by 6:08pm, Seacat ceased communicating with police, despite the application of inductive irritants.[1]
At 10:38pm, SWAT entered the house and used a stun grenade to conceal their movements, but were driven back outside by gunshots (though criminalists would later establish that they were not fired upon). During the next 10.2 hours, a Lenco BearCat was driven through the front door, tear gas[1] and 40 mm grenades were repeatedly launched inside, shots were fired upon the house, and explosives were detonated to destroy several exterior walls. Ultimately, "the home was utterly destroyed"[6] by the time Seacat was apprehended in the upstairs bathroom. According to police, at the time of his arrest, Seacat was carrying a loaded-and-chambered Glock 19 and 6.68 grams (0.236 oz) of suspected methamphetamine.[1]
Aftermath
In their subsequent search of the house, police found Lech's over and under shotgun unloaded and still in its case. In the master bathroom, police found a loaded Glock 17, 322.54 grams (11.377 oz) of suspected methamphetamine, 1.75 grams (0.062 oz) of methadone, 0.47 grams (0.017 oz) of diazepam, 29.86 grams (1.053 oz) of suspected heroin, 17.5 pills of methylphenidate, 2.44 grams (0.086 oz) of clonazepam, 2.25 grams (0.079 oz) of cannabis, 61 packets of buprenorphine/naloxone, digital weighing scales, dozens of single-use baggies, used syringes and pipes, cash, and multiple cell phones. Another 3.60 grams (0.127 oz) of suspected methamphetamine was found in the bathroom where Seacat was captured. Anthony Costarella, a GVPD officer specialized in narcotics, argued that this cache evidenced Seacat as a drug trafficker.[1]
It was determined that, during the standoff with police, not only was Seacat experiencing the effects of intentionally-ingested methamphetamine, but also from packets of drugs he had swallowed:[5] at Swedish Hospital on June 6, Seacat defecated seven baggies that, with the addition of a Mecke reagent, tested positive for 10.95 grams (0.386 oz) of heroin and 21.19 grams (0.747 oz) of methamphetamine.[1]
As of January 2024[update], Seacat (inmate number 145189) was imprisoned in the Sterling Correctional Facility for 20 separate convictions, with an estimated mandatory release date of March 3, 2061. He is next eligible for parole on October 4, 2035.[3]
Lechs' litigation
[T]he residence had significant damage to all of the upper floor walls, basement back yard doors and front door. [… A]ll of the rooms in the home had damage and that the amount of debris both inside the home and outside the home was significant.
When he returned to his house, Leo Lech compared the damage to Osama bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad after Operation Neptune Spear: "[p]rojectiles were still lodged in the walls. Glass and wooden paneling crumbled on the ground below the gaping holes, and inside, the family's belongings and furniture appeared thrashed in a heap of insulation and drywall." Varney defended the police's actions by saying, "My mission is to get that individual out unharmed and make sure my team and everyone else around including the community goes home unharmed […] Sometimes that means property gets damaged, and I am sorry for that."[6] The National Tactical Officers Association supported Varney's assertion that appropriate force was used in the Seacat standoff.[5]
The rebuilt house (June 2024)
Due to the extensive damage, the house was eventually condemned by Greenwood Village, and the remains were razed.[7] John Lech, his girlfriend, and her son, moved into his father's home 30 miles (48 km) from Greenwood Village; the distance of the relocation forced John Lech to change jobs. The city refused to compensate the Lechs, and instead offered $5,000 (equivalent to $6,427 in 2023) "in temporary rental assistance and for the [home] insurancedeductible."[6] Alleging that the house's value was $450,000 (equivalent to $578,436 in 2023),[5] the Lechs refused the 1% offer, calling it "insulting"; rebuilding the house cost Leo Lech $400,000.[6] In a 2019 response to an NPR inquiry, Greenwood Village spokesperson Melissa Gallegos said it was Leo Lech's decision to demolish rather than repair the house, replace the undamaged foundation, and build a larger house than the one that was damaged.[7]
In 2019, the three-judge panel of the 10th Cir. ruled against the Lechs, saying unanimously that the destruction of the house fell under police power and that eminent domain was not undertaken. The court sympathized with the Lechs, calling their circumstances "unfair", but ruling that police cannot be "burdened" with the consideration of collateral property damage when performing their duties.[6] The 10th Cir. also noted that "if police officers 'willfully or wantonly' destroy property", then they can be subject to tort law; Leo Lech was also unsuccessful in pursuing that avenue with the courts of Colorado.[7]
^ abcdefMcGhee, Tom (August 4, 2016). "Man Sues City for Damages to His Property". The Denver Post. ISSN1930-2193. His home was destroyed when a gunman took shelter there last year.
