03x57 - Shotgun Tale Backfires

[bunniefuu]

They made a complaint to the police
that you had threatened them with a g*n.

-Correct.
-And you didn't see a firearm.

He was telling me to get off
of his property, screaming accusations.

I turned and ran.

He didn't have a firearm.

Everything they've said is lies.

You consciously lied to the police

and it could have been tragic.

[narrator] This is Judy Justice.

[theme music playing]

[announcer] Donald Sullivan
is suing his tenants

William Callahan and Aaron Crowcroft

for loss of income,
a false restraining order

and filing a false police report.

[Kevin] Court come to order. All rise.

[Judy] Have a seat, please.

Hello, Judge. Case 3109.
Sullivan v. Callahan, Crowcroft.

Mr. Callahan, how long have you been
a tenant of the plaintiff's?

I've personally been a tenant
for three years,

Aaron here has been a tenant for 11.

-And you live together?
-Yes.

Yes, ma'am.

Anybody else live in the house?

-My partner.
-Okay.

And how long has your partner
been in the house?

Me and him have been in the house


And are you a tenant of his?

Yes, Your Honor.

-What do you pay in rent?
-We pay $1000 a month in rent.

You pay to Mr. Crowcroft?

No, I'm paying
for the entirety of the rent myself.

Why is that?

-Because he's mentally disabled...
-I'm disabled.

...and doesn't have
source of income right now,

so I am his caretaker primarily.

[Judy] Okay, let's start again.

You've been living in the house
for 11 years?

Uh, 11 or 12, yeah.

We moved in January 1st, 2012.

That's our official move-in date.

-And you have a partner?
-Yes, I do.

-Male or female?
-Male.

Does that partner work?

Yes, he does.

-What kind of work?
-Retail.

-Sales?
-Yes, retail sales like Walmart.

And what is the nature of your disability?

Uh, I'm severely bipolar
with Asperger's syndrome and ADHD.

Did you ever work?

I've worked on and off,
but I've never been able to maintain work.

-I've tried, I've never been able to.
-Get social security?

Not yet but I'm applying for it
as we speak.

-How old are you?
-I'm 38.

How have you been supporting yourself?

My parents. And then he came into my life.

How did he come into your life?

We've known each other online
for a very long time.

Does he get along with your partner?

Yes, very, very much so.

And what kind of work do you do?

-I'm a truck driver.
-You work for a company?

Yes, I work for a company.

Long haul?

I do a lot of the local regional stuff
so all within the state of Wisconsin.

Okay. You don't go on trips
longer than a day or two?

No, I'm usually home every night.

[Judy] How much do you earn at that job?

Uh, about $2,200 a week.

And what do you get paid for
and by whom?

-Uh...
-As a caretaker.

I don't get paid by anyone,
I'm just helping him out,

so I'm not officially his caretaker

or anything, but as a friend
I'm just helping take care.

I got it. So you're not a caretaker
of his, I misunderstood.

Did you apply to be a caretaker?

-No, ma'am.
-No. Because you're gone all day.

Yes, Your Honor.

So Mr. Crowcroft is alone all day.

Yes, Your Honor.

And his partner is in sales,
so he's not there during the day.

-Yes, Your Honor.
-And you pay the entire rent.

-Yes, Your Honor.
-Mr. Sullivan, this is your claim.

Your claim is that an incident occurred

and the defendants alleged to the police
that you had a g*n.

And you were at home at the time.

Police came to the house.
There was a scene.

They advised you, probably by bullhorn,

to come out of the house
with your hands up?

-Is that right?
-Correct.

You did, you had no g*n,

but you were in fact taken into custody
for that brief period of time,

you allege falsely
based on a false complaint

of theirs to the police.

The defendants acknowledge
that they made a complaint to the police,

but say that the police misunderstood them
that you had threatened them with a g*n.

That's your defense?

-Yes, Your Honor.
-Yes.

When did this incident occur?

It was November 6th,

after midnight, so November 7th,

until about 3 a.m.

What year?

-Of 20...
-Twenty-three.

Yeah, 2023.

Okay. Tell me first,
who called the police?

I was the one
who called the police that night.

All right, Mr. Callahan,
tell me what happened that night

that caused you to call the police.

Originally, I had went
to talk with his son

because I had received a call
from anonymous number...

From Mr. Sullivan's son?

No not from Mr. Sullivan's son.

No, you went to talk
to Mr. Sullivan's son.

-[Callahan] Correct.
-Is that his son?

No, we're talking about
Donald John's... [indistinct]

Okay, so he's not here?

No, no.

So you went to talk to his son
and where does his son live?

So according to the map there,

our defendant's house,
our house there.

[Judy] Got it. So you left your house
at what time?

I want to say it was about 11.45 p.m.

on the 6th of... That was November...

[Judy] Okay, so that was on
the 6th of November.

And what caused you
to leave your house at 11.45?

Uh, I had... Like I said,
I had received an anonymous call

that someone was investigating his son

for the sale and possession of marijuana.

Okay, so you received a call...

-Yes, Your Honor.
-...from someone you don't know.

Did they leave a message
or was it a call that you picked up?

-No it was unavailable number.
-Okay.

And the plaintiff's son
who lives in the middle of where you live

and the plaintiff lives.

-[Callahan] Yes, Your Honor.
-And you must be friendly with him.

Yes, Your Honor.

Yes, we are. We're on good terms.

Must be if you went there
and got this information.

How come you didn't call him?

Uh, I have text messages to him,

but unfortunately
that phone was lost and destroyed,

so I haven't been able
to recover those yet,

and I'm trying to.

We're also trying to get
his original police report

about an as*ault that occurred.

Why is it that some...

These lost phones always happen
within weeks of a lawsuit.

That is interesting to me.

Well, that one was actually replaced
in December.

I don't care whether
it was replaced in December,

it's just unfortunate for your proof.

[theme music playing]

When you came to get the cigarette,
the plaintiff was there already.

Yes.

Okay, so you called and you said
you're coming for a cigarette.

Yes, Your Honor.

I'm beginning to think
that somebody is peeing on my leg.

[audience laughs]

[theme music playing]

[announcer] Donald Sullivan
claims his tenants,

William Callahan and Aaron Crowcroft

filed a false police report
and a false restraining order

against him.

Okay, so you walked over
to the plaintiff's son's house,

and told him you had received
an anonymous call

that somebody was selling marijuana
out of his house.

No, that someone was reporting
that he was selling marijuana out of...

Who was selling?

Donald John Sullivan.

I understand that, that marijuana
was being sold out of his son's house.

-Yes.
-Okay.

And then what happened?

We talked it over.
After we talked it over,

I returned back home.
There was no issue at that point.

You didn't go over there because there
was an issue, I gather you went over there

because you were his friend
and you wanted to alert him.

-Yes, Your Honor.
-And then you went home.

-Come on, let me hear.
-That's right, Your Honor.

And then from there I had gone back inside

and leashed up my dog,
and then noticed I was out of cigarettes.

So I had called him and was like,
"Hey, do you have any cigarettes?"

What do you mean, you'd called who?

-Donald John Sullivan, the son.
-So now you telephoned him?

Yes.

After having gone over there
to have a discussion about the call.

-Yes.
-You telephoned him, you say

"I'm out of cigarettes."
So now this is 11... 12:00.

-Correct, Your Honor.
-Go ahead.

From there I went back over
to retrieve a cigarette for myself,

and this is where the incident occurred.

-There was a...
-Well, tell me what happened.

After he had given me a cigarette,
I went to return.

Mr. Sullivan was at the corner
of the house.

[Judy] Show me where.

So at the corner of the house here...

is where Mr. Sullivan was postponed
because I feel he knew the pos...

No, no, don't tell me what you fe...
I don't care what you feel.

You were between your house,

right at the edge
of where the plaintiff's son lives

and your house, so you went there
to get a regular cigarette.

-Yes, Your Honor.
-Yeah!

And is marijuana legal in your state,
by the way?

No.

No. You went there
to get a cigarette at midnight

and you claim
that the plaintiff came out...

[Callahan] Yes, Your Honor.

...of his house, and what happened?

I think you might have messed up
the timeline there.

The plaintiff didn't come
out of his house.

The plaintiff was already over here.

When you came to get the cigarette,
the plaintiff was there already.

-Yes.
-[Judy] Okay, so you called

and the plaintiff was already there,
you said you're coming for a cigarette.

[Callahan] Yes, Your Honor.

I'm beginning to think
that somebody is peeing on my leg.

-[audience laughs]
-[Judy] Go ahead.

-And then...
-And this is at midnight?

Yes, Your Honor.

Keep going.

And then from there, whenever I saw him,

he immediately saw me,
started screaming accusations...

Just a second.

Come and step back here now for a moment.

I want you to tell me
what Mr. Sullivan said to you.

He was telling me
to get off of his property

and get out of his house.

[Judy] Okay. And what did you say to him?

I did not say anything back.
I turned and ran.

Okay, and...?

From there I ran through our houses

-to the road there.
-[Judy] Now you can go back.

-So I ran from here...
-Yes.

...up through the middle of our house
and our garage here,

-down the neighbor's driveway...
-Why didn't you just go home?

I didn't feel like
I would be safe at home.

Why?

I don't own any firearms
or anything to prot...

He didn't have a firearm.

I know,
that's where the police messed up...

Just a second.

[laughs] Police didn't mess up,
I want to know...

You're running,
but you ran past your house

because you said you didn't have
any firearms in your house.

He didn't have a firearm
and you didn't see a firearm.

No, Your Honor.

So why would you worry about having
a firearm in your house? How old are you?

-Thirty-two.
-How old is he?

Seventy-four.

Yeah. You understand
I'm not buying your story.

-Okay.
-You do understand

that I'm not buying your story.

Back.

Do you have a copy of the police report?

-Yes, over here.
-Police were called.

The defendant, Mr. Callahan,
acknowledges that he called the police.

Mr. Crowcroft,
you did not call the police.

-No, I wasn't awake... I wasn't awake.
-Just...

-You did not call the police.
-Mm-mm.

Well, that's what this case is all about.
Did you speak to the police?

No.

Well, Mr. Callahan,

this is very clear in this police report.

Actually couldn't be clearer.

The police were dispatched.
It was not a mistake as you allege,

that the police didn't mistake anything.

They were dispatched over a call

that said that Mr. Sullivan

pointed an AR-15 type r*fle at him

while speaking to the plaintiff's son.

That's what it said in the police report.

Now, I've read your answer to this, sir,

and your answer suggests
that the police got it wrong.

-Yes, Your Honor.
-That's what the answer says.

However, the police did an investigation

and I'm going to read to you
what they say.

Sum and substance.

"Callahan..." That would be you.

..."admitted that he made up the incident
because he feared for his roommate.

I told Callahan that he was pathetic.

Callahan stated he might as well
blow his brains out

and stated that, 'It would do me a favor.'

Callahan was arrested..."
That would be you.

..."for obstruction.

The officers had conducted a follow-up

because they were shown film footage..."

Which evidently was from a Ring camera
that the plaintiff's son has,

showing the entire incident,

which clearly suggested
there was no AR-15,

there was no g*n pointed at all.

And when you were confronted
with that footage,

you said,
"All right, I made up the incident."

That's what you said.

This wasn't a question
of the police getting the report wrong.

You acknowledge you made up the incident.

Okay. Mr. Sullivan,
why are you suing Mr. Crowcroft?

[Sullivan] For several things.

For one he cost me loss of income

because I had a young lady
that was going to rent my house for 15...

-[Judy] Where is she?
-She couldn't get off work.

-Not interested in it.
-I do have a certified statement...

-I don't read certified statements, sir.
-Okay.

Why are you suing him?

We have the guy who made
the false police report,

he acknowledged it to the police
that he made a false report.

Why Mr. Crowcroft?

Well, because he was in on it,
I mean so far,

everything they've said is lies.
As far as the people that live there,

there's four people
that were living there...

I don't care. Right now, all I have here
is what you allege is a false arrest,

-your humili...
-False arrest.

Your humiliation about that.

And you are absolutely right, and you are
entitled to be compensated for that.

And if you look on that police report,
it was seven days later that I found out.

Other than that I had to live with
the fear that I was going to be arrested.

I was ordered out of my house.

Just a second, I get it all
and I think that that's horrible.

And he's gonna pay for that.

I'm trying to get to Mr. Crowcroft,
why he's a defendant.

They also filed a false restraining order.

Who did?

Mr. Crowcroft and William.

-Both.
-Just a second.

Forget about Callahan.
He's already guilty.

-[audience laughs]
-[theme music playing]

I don't see what the basis was
for your protective order.

Because Donald followed me around.
He was harassing me.

He knows I'm bipolar and he knows that
kind of interaction is very hard for me.

If you have issues and they're
exacerbated by the plaintiff, move.

[theme music playing]

[announcer] Donald Sullivan
has accused his tenants,

William Callahan and Aaron Crowcroft
of lying to the police

by claiming Donald was armed
with an as*ault r*fle.

[Judy] He lied to the police.

He lied to the police
about a very serious situation

because if things had been different,

it's in the middle of the night,
if you had some police officer

who was nervous and you came out
of the house, it could have been tragic.

Reporting that you had a serious weapon
in the house in the middle of the night.

He's already guilty.

Crowcroft. Did you file
for a protective order?

Uh, he did for me, yes.

-So he had my permission to do so.
-For what?

For a restraining order
to keep him away from me.

Well, just a second.

If you filed for a restraining order,

on what date
did you file for a restraining order?

William?

That was the 5th.

-The 5th.
-The 5th.

November 5th, 2023.

The day before this incident?

-The day before the incident.
-Just a second,

the day before the incident.

And on what basis did you file
a restraining order against him?

-William, what was...
-What? What was the basis? I'm asking you.

I don't know the details. He is the one
who took care of the paperwork for me

-because I didn't understand it.
-Who signed it? You?

-Yeah, I did sign it.
-Just a second, I'd like to see it.

I have it here, Your Honor.

By the way,
while I'm looking at this, Mr. Sullivan,

you're both
still living in the house, correct?

-Correct.
-Yes.

-Okay. Is there a lease now or is it...
-There hasn't been a lease in 11 years.

-We only had one for the first year.
-Shh.

I got it. Okay.

So you're a month-to-month tenant.

-Yes.
-When was the last time

-that rent was paid?
-William?

That would be...

Oh. Jeez. What are we in?

-We're in January.
-That was January 1st.

-Twenty-twenty-four. Yes, Your Honor.
-Of this year?

So they're up to date in their rent?

-Yes.
-Now,

I don't see what the basis was
for your protective order.

For the protective order, we ordered it
because in the previous year...

No, no, no, I want to know him, not you.

Him.

Why was it filed?
Is that what you're asking?

Yeah, you need facts
for a protective order.

Because Donald followed me around.
He was harassing me.

He would not leave me alone,
he kept coming over

asking questions and just being rude.

He would... I'd be sitting in the garage,
he'd come walking up

and he'd be demanding things
out of me and just...

He knows I'm bipolar

and he knows that that
kind of interaction's very hard for me.

I think you should move actually.

I actually think that you should move.

I'd love to.

Well, you should,
you're not paying any rent,

you might as well not pay rent
someplace else. Take him with you.

If you have issues and they're exacerbated
by the plaintiff, move.

You've been there 12 years, you've got
somebody else to pay the rent. Move.

Okay. Anyway,
the maximum jurisdiction for this court.

And I'm dismissing your case
against Mr. Crowcroft.

-Do you understand?
-Okay.

Nothing happened
as a result of this protective order?

What happened to you was a result

of Mr. Callahan's
false reporting to the police

that you had a weapon
which could have resulted in a tragedy,

which caused you to be removed from
your home as per directed by the police.

You say that neighbors came out.

I'm sure when the police arrived there was
more than one police car or just one?

-Five.
-Five police cars.

At what time in the night?

-Twelve-thirty.
-In the morning?

-Yes.
-Yeah.

Frightening. Frightening for anybody.

More frightening for someone in their 70s.

And absolutely outrageous

because you consciously
lied to the police.

Judgment for the plaintiff
in the amount of $10,000.

We're finished here. Thank you.

-Thank you.
-[Kevin] This court is adjourned.

I'm not truly in agreement with them

because the police did try
to bring up charges against me

but they dropped those
because they found the video was edited.

I was very happy with it.

There's a lot of information
that was missed out on.

I hope it sets an example for people
that make false police reports.

Mr. Sullivan's always been
a very hostile person

and this is just a continuation of that.

The incident happened the day after
they were served their eviction

by the sheriff's department.

No, the eviction was thrown away

and his son actually
took over the property

and has begun remaking the repairs
because his eviction was retaliatory

against us for calling code enforcement

because the house is just withering away

and he just sits there
with his hands folded and does nothing.

I was ordered to come out of the house
with my hands above my head.

At that time I didn't see
a firearm in his hand.

What I had reported to the police was

I was approached aggressively
by Mr. Sullivan.

And said it's a very serious matter.

When I came out of the house they ordered
me to lift up my shirt and turn around,

and told me they'd probably be coming back
to arrest me.

I told them to be wary,
he does own firearms

and they took that as me saying
he had a firearm that night.

I was accused of pointing an AR-15
at a tenant that I'm trying to evict.

I never claimed anything
about an AR-15 with the report,

I just stated to the police on the phone
that he had weapons.

My little sister was crying in the house

because she thought my dad
was going to jail.

I was calling up my family telling them
that we might need to go somewhere

because I thought my dad
was going to jail.

Don't lie to the police
and definitely, uh,

do something about your roommates
being assaulted before it's too late.

I'm just happy to be alive
and I'm happy to have it over with.

Very surprising to me
that after doing this investigation,

which was clear
from the police report that I read,

and he confessed to lying to the police

to get the police to the house,

lying about somebody having
an automatic weapon,

that they didn't arrest him.

Yeah, I mean, I think... I think he might
have said they did arrest him,

-but then they didn't end up charging him.
-Right.

But I'm surprised that
they didn't follow through on charges,

I mean, he's just lucky that
on the way to the home,

five police cars speeding
didn't hit anybody,

hit another vehicle, get in an accident.

Lucky nothing more serious
happened to the plaintiff either

as a result of the false reporting
because then it's not just an oopsie.

Then you have a big problem on your hands

because of a lie
that you told police knowingly.

-Yeah.
-So...

So it is surprising to me
that they didn't follow through.

-Yeah, I thought they...
-They dispatched five police cars...

[scoffs] That alone should have made
the police annoyed enough...

-Yeah. Exactly.
-...to at least follow through.

I thought that was a more serious crime,
reporting falsely to the police,

-than they seem to have treated it as.
-Yeah.

[narrator] Want Justice?


[theme music playing]