Woman upset after police enter unlocked home during investigation
By Rachel McCrary, Brianna Owczarzak
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BAY CITY, Michigan (WNEM) — Local police went into an unlocked home while investigating a possible hostage situation to search for the suspected victim.
After not finding anything, the homeowner said police left behind a mess and did not notify her leaving her wondering what happened to her belongings.
The Bay City Department of Public Safety stands by their investigating, but the homeowner says officers crossed the line.
“I’m just really upset about the whole situation,” said Amanda Delaney, homeowner.
On Sunday, Delaney said she came home to her house in disarray after police made entry through an unlocked door looking for a suspected hostage.
“They just like conveniently welcomed themselves into my home, went through stuff, moved things. So you know, I just, I’m really feeling really uncomfortable ‘cause here I am a single mom,” Delaney said.
Delaney lives on S. Van Buren Street in Bay City. Initially, she didn’t know who had been at her house until neighbors let her know Bay City Department of Public Safety officers were there conducting a search. She said when she got home there wasn’t a contact number for who had been there or a reason why, which scared her.
“The gates were for upstairs or down the sheets that I had blocking the air conditioner was down. It looked like they even like shuffled like through my closet. ‘Cause like stuff was moved. Like you know, it’s just like, I just, nobody would fit under my bed. Why did you have to move my bed out,” Delaney said.
TV5 reached out to the Bay City Department of Public Safety about the incident. Public Safety Director Michael Cecchini said officers were dispatched to a home in the 1200 block of S. Van Buren at 3:43 p.m. on June 27 for a call of a female being held against her will. The phone call came from a phone, which could not receive a call back and the caller stated they could not talk to dispatch, Cecchini said.
Due to the nature of the call, a decision was made to enter the residence. Nothing was found and public safety believes the calls were prank calls. The location of the call was determined by geotracking software used by central dispatch.
“I just think some rights were violated and invasion of privacy. There was something. Some line was crossed here,” Delaney said.
Cecchini said while he understands Delaney’s concern, he said officers did everything right and not investigating the calls would be neglectful of the department.
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