A Menifee woman has sued Riverside County and a sheriff’s deputy who she alleges unlawfully entered her home without a warrant, refused to step outside after repeated demands, and then arrested her in front of her children.
Adele Shirey, 45, alleges several Fourth Amendment rights violations against Deputy Martin Huizar in her federal lawsuit filed June 20 in U.S. District Court in Riverside, including unlawful entry, excessive force, battery and malicious prosecution. Shirey’s daughter, Destiny Shirey, who was present during her mother’s 2024 arrest at their former home in Winchester, also is a plaintiff in the lawsuit.
The heated confrontation was recorded on video and widely seen on social media.
Shirey, a day trader who is currently unemployed, was hosting a Fourth of July gathering at her home last year when Huizar, responding to a noise complaint, barged into the residence after a guest tried closing the front door on him, reportedly to go inform Shirey the deputy was outside, according to the lawsuit.
Huizar, however, blocked the guest from closing the door and forced his way inside, only to be confronted by a very agitated and dismayed Shirey. When she told Huizar to step outside, where she would talk to him, Huizar refused, according to the lawsuit. The interaction between the two escalated as Shirey repeatedly told Huizar to get out of her home.
“I am telling you, now that I am inside your house, I own your house,” Huizar told Shirey. When she told Huizar she knew her rights, he responded, “I don’t care if you know your rights.”
The altercation became so heated that Shirey told Huizar her dog “would bite him if she asked her to,” the suit alleges. When Shirey raised an arm and took a step toward Huizar, which the lawsuit states was done in exasperation, Huizar swiftly grabbed the woman and arrested her.
“Huizar grabbed her, slammed her against an inside wall, turned her around, pulled her outside the home, forced her against an outdoor wall, handcuffed her, and placed her under arrest,” according to the suit, which noted Shirey’s arrest occurred in front of her family and guests, and has caused emotional distress for her and her daughter.
Shirey said the encounter shook her trust in law enforcement.
“My family and I continue to be very traumatized based on what occurred in our home. I always had respect and trust for the police but now that trust has been broken and I live in fear of the police,” Shirey said in a statement Friday, June 27.
Shirey’s attorney, Dale K. Galipo, cited the situation’s lack of “exigent circumstances,” which are typically emergency situations where police intervention is needed for the safety or protection of people and property.
“Law enforcement cannot enter a home without a warrant or exigent circumstances, and none of that existed,” Galipo said in a telephone interview.
After Shirey was handcuffed and placed in the back of Huizar’s patrol car, he and several other deputies who responded as backup entered Shirey’s home again, without a warrant, and proceeded to “interrogate” her children and guests, according to the lawsuit.
The District Attorney’s Office charged Shirey with one misdemeanor count of resisting a peace officer on Aug. 13, 2024, but then dismissed the charge the following month “in the interest of justice,” an office spokesperson said.
A Sheriff’s Department spokesperson said Huizar is still employed by the department, but is no longer working patrol. He now works in court services.
Sheriff Chad Bianco declined to comment, citing the pending litigation.
