McKinney Homeowner Seeks Compensation After SWAT Raid Destroyed Her House

Vicki Baker was hundreds of miles away when McKinney police fired roughly 30 tear gas canisters through her home on July 25, 2020, breached her doors and drove an armored vehicle through her fence. She had nothing to do with the standoff. Six years later, she is still fighting the city for $59,656.59.

The crisis began when Wesley Little, a man who had previously worked at the property and recognized it, forced his way inside, barricaded himself and held a 15-year-old hostage before dying by suicide. Baker's house absorbed the full physical cost of the police response, and no government check followed.

A federal judge eventually ruled Baker is owed $59,656.59 plus interest under the Texas Constitution. McKinney appealed.

Arguments before the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in late March drew pointed questioning from the bench. One judge pressed the city's attorney directly: "Why does the city want to come and beat up a house and just say, yeah, let's see, that's your problem."

McKinney city attorney Edwin P. Voss Jr. defended the appeal on fiscal grounds. "It's an issue of liability and being responsible with public funds," Voss said. "The city's position in the case is to be sure that it's only liable when it has to be liable, but not when it doesn't have to be."

The Institute for Justice, the nonprofit representing Baker pro bono, described McKinney's approach as fighting the claim "tooth and nail," according to attorney Jeffrey Redfern.

The constitutional question is whether police damage to private property crosses into a compensable "taking" under Texas law. If the 5th Circuit upholds the lower-court judgment, homeowners who suffer property damage during police operations would gain a stronger legal footing to pursue compensation, and cities would face new pressure to account for the collateral costs of SWAT deployments before they happen.

For now, the bill for Baker's wrecked McKinney home sits uncollected, waiting on a court that has already heard one judge ask the city a question it struggled to answer.