Two Huntington Beach police officers violated a man’s civil rights when they walked into his home without a search warrant while investigating a noise complaint, a jury has ruled.

An Orange County Superior Court jury deliberated for less than a day before awarding $28,000 in compensatory damages to Huntington Beach resident Roger Mielke on Friday, said his attorney, Mark Eisenberg.

The jury ruled 11-1 that Officers Bernard Atkins and Jason McFall violated Mielke’s rights under the Fourth Amendment, which prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures, when they entered his home around 2 a.m. in August 2013 while investigating complaints of a loud radio.

Jurors, however, unanimously found that the officers did not act with malice, fraud or oppression, so Mielke was not awarded punitive damages, his attorney said. The city of Huntington Beach is also responsible for upward of $350,000 in attorney’s fees, Eisenberg said.

By law, police can enter private property without a warrant if someone’s safety is being threatened, a suspect is escaping or important evidence is being destroyed, situations known collectively as exigent circumstances. But there were no such circumstances in this case, Eisenberg said.

The officers maintained that they were in the 7700 block of Garfield Avenue conducting their investigation when they entered Mielke’s home for a “welfare check” after observing that his front door was open, Eisenberg said.

According to court documents, Mielke said he was sleeping in his bedroom when his dog, a blue nose pit bull, began growling. Mielke walked out of his bedroom and was confronted by the officers, who were in his living room.

Mielke said the officers told him to “get your dog under control” or else they would shoot the animal.

When Mielke asked the officers why they were in his home, the officers told him they were investigating a complaint of loud music, according to court documents. Mielke responded that he had been sleeping but was not playing music.

After about two minutes, the officers left without explanation, Eisenberg said.

“After hearing the evidence, the jury concluded the entry was not a welfare check but part of their noise investigation,” Eisenberg said. “Once inside and confronted by my client, they failed to ask any of the standard welfare check questions.”

Eisenberg said this is not the first time Huntington Beach officers have been accused of violating constitutional rights while investigating loud noise complaints under city municipal code.

In 2013, the city paid $150,000 to settle a lawsuit accusing two police officers of wrongfully bursting into a home and arresting a man and a woman under the city’s noise ordinance.

The couple, Eric Anderson and Nadsya Mohoff, who were also represented by Eisenberg, were arrested after an officer said he heard noise from a clock radio. Charges against the two were dismissed.

During depositions in that case, police admitted that Huntington Beach officers were issuing $250 noise citations without using a meter to measure the sound.

Authorities later said the settlement was not an admission of wrongdoing, but an attempt to curb legal costs.

Contact the writer: 562-221-8798 or kpuente@ocregister.com