North Texas hippie commune sues over failed SWAT raid

The Garden of Eden is a farming commune in Arlington, Texas, where residents help raise food and live off the grid. The group, led by founder Quinn Eaker, is suing the City of Arlington for a 2013 raid that saw residents handcuffed for an entire day, yet failed to produce any of the drugs or weapons named in a search warrant. less The Garden of Eden is a farming commune in Arlington, Texas, where residents help raise food and live off the grid. The group, led by founder Quinn Eaker, is suing the City of Arlington for a 2013 raid that saw ... more Photo: The Garden Of Eden/Facebook Photo: The Garden Of Eden/Facebook Image 1 of / 36 Caption Close North Texas hippie commune sues over failed SWAT raid 1 / 36 Back to Gallery

Quinn Eaker woke up naked on an early Friday morning to a 20-man SWAT team swarming his North Texas commune with weapons raised.

That was at 7:40 am on August 2, 2013. Eight hours later Eaker and seven others were still in handcuffs as various agencies from the City of Arlington continued to search for drugs and weapons listed in a search warrant. But they never found anything.

Now Eaker, 32, and four others are suing the city, claiming law enforcement violated Fourth Amendment protections of unreasonable search and seizure by raiding the home, forcibly detaining the residents and ripping up garden plants based on unsubstantiated intelligence and a flimsy search warrant.

"We were treated worse than criminals, like terrorists. But they didn't find a thing and not a single fact in their warrant was substantiated," said Eaker, a founder of the Garden of Eden commune and the person named on the search warrant. "They came in, machine guns in your face, no questions, just death or surrender immediately."

At the Garden of Eden, on the outskirts of Arlington, residents live with minimal electricity, drink from a well, use composting outhouses, grow all of their food and spend most of their time farming their almost four-acre plot.

The lawsuit, filed last month in a federal court, alleges Arlington Police failed to establish probable cause before cutting the lock on the Garden's gate and forcibly detaining the residents for a full day. It names Arlington detective Magdalena Perez, a five-year veteran of the department and a 2.5-year veteran of the narcotics division, who signed the probable cause affidavit to warrant the raid.

"This is a case about whether there was probable cause to issue the warrant," said attorney Wes Dauphinot, who filed the case. "That's what triggers the Fourth Amendment."

"The execution of the narcotics warrant was valid and based on probable cause," said Elisabeth Kaylor, an assistant city attorney with the City of Arlington.

In the affidavit, detective Perez uses four key claims to establish probable cause.

The first is that Eaker "committed the offense of possession of marijuana" on June 30, 2013, in Arlington, citing no source for the information. Eaker said he had no encounter with law enforcement that day and did not posess marijuana. A search of Arlington court records turned up no marijuana or other drug charges in Eaker's name.

Then Perez writes that undercover officers toured the Garden during a public event in 2013, and "Eaker spoke with officers about gardening." They also said they did not see all of the property.

Next the affidavit hones in on the Garden's website, which highlights the "uber dank high vibe cuisine" cooked from garden-grown crops.

"[Detective Perez] knows through her training and experience that "Uber Dank" is also slang for high quality marijuana. [Perez] also knows that individuals who consume marijuana often refer to the sensation felt after consumption as a 'high," the document said, even though the website went on to explain the term "uber dank" meant delicious.

Then the document cites "an anonymous source" for a claim that Eaker had "two rifles and one pistol on the property."

And it describes a July 2013 commissioned surveillance flight over the property by a Texas Department of Public Safety pilot who observed an area "containing perimeter plants that appeared to be taller than the interior plants." The pilot opined the plants "did appear to be consistent with marijuana plants," but Perez never described independent confirmation.

"By the way her affidavit reads you would think there was a live drug cartel going on in Arlington that nobody knew about except the police department," said Dauphinot. "The only problem is it was just a bunch of farmers."

According to the lawsuit, the SWAT raid was immediately followed by a swarm of more than 30 officials from the police department and the city's Code Compliance Department, who cut down and carted off tomatillo, hackberry and sweet potato plants, and who broke irrigation lines with their trucks.

In the end, authorities found no drugs or weapons.

Eaker said he was moved to sue to make a point and to prevent the ordeal from happening again to someone else.

"I'm passionately convicted in saying this is not how we treat people and this is not how a successful, efficient, honorable society operates," he said. "This is not in line with freedom."

The lawsuit requests compensation for damages, including mental anguish and physical pain from handcuffs.

It also demands that "City of Arlington narcotics officers should be trained on ... how to identify a marijuana plant;" "how to interview informants;" "how to take the proper time to develop a narcotics case; "to tell the truth in an affidavit;" and "to properly corroborate anonymous tips."