You're a police officer facing a sniper who has fired several shots from a window. Your job is to subdue and disarm this dangerous gunman. Whatever you do, don't break the window.

That seems to be the message from Grand Rapids, Michigan, where a U.S. District Court has ruled that police should not have smashed a sniper's living room window without a warrant. Joseph O'Brien, who was left partially paralyzed in an October 1987 shoot-out, sued the city, its police force and several officers for using excessive force and violating his civil rights.

O'Brien, now 34, was convicted of four counts of assault with intent to do bodily harm and placed on five years' probation. He had been felled by a police bullet after a nine-hour standoff, during which he fired several shots without hitting anyone.

In March, U.S. District Judge Richard Enslen ruled that O'Brien's Fourth Amendment rights had been violated. In smashing the glass, authorities breached his right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures, the judge ruled, adding that police had more than enough time to seek a warrant.

†