Man accuses Bloomington police checking a burglary report of 'unlawful' search, detainment

A Bloomington man is accusing the city's police of violating his constitutional rights by searching a house he owns and detaining him and his 18-year-old son.

According to Justin Voss, neighbors called the police when they saw him kicking in a door to the house, believing he was burglarizing it. Voss, who had purchased the house the day before from a cousin, captured the subsequent interaction with police on video and shared it on TikTok, where it quickly went viral and garnered millions of views.

Voss has since filed a formal complaint with the Bloomington Police Department and requested officers' body camera footage, along with a recording of the 911 call.

While Bloomington officials have not yet directly addressed the video, city spokeswoman Janine Hill said officers did not search the home and that "individuals located at the residence were detained until it was determined that the home was not being burglarized."

Bloomington police were called July 8 on a report of a burglary at the house in the 9000 block of 18th Avenue S., which had been boarded up after a fire in June, Hill said.

Since the fire, police had received multiple calls that were "suspicious in nature, specifically, individuals around or trying to get into the structure," she said.

In the brief TikTok video, officers can be heard telling Voss they were there to investigate a possible burglary. They asked if he had kicked in the door and whether he had any proof showing that he was the homeowner.

Voss is heard repeatedly asking the officers for their names and badge numbers, and requesting to speak with a supervisor. At one point during the encounter, an officer points to a colleague claiming he was the supervisor, before the colleague denies it.

"So, you lied to me," says Voss, who sounds frustrated.

Following the exchange, the officers ordered Voss to put his hands behind his back, causing him to drop his phone. He said police detained him and his son for at least 20 minutes while they called the previous homeowner to check his story.

According to Voss, the officers believed the paperwork he had on the house was fake. "They didn't even seem to want to look at the paperwork," he said in an interview Monday.

Voss went live on TikTok last Tuesday to field questions from viewers who were eager for an update and wanted to know why police had gone to the house. He said the previous owner had left their belongings in the house and that he and his son were there to clear it out.

Voss said the front door was screwed shut so he tried to enter the home through the unlocked back door, which he said he had to kick open because it was blocked.

While many TikTok users expressed support for Voss and anger over how police handled the situation, others were critical of him. They accused Voss, who has since attracted tens of thousands of followers on the social network, of exploiting the incident as a way to gain fame and money. Voss is a local contractor who owns a painting company.

"We are investors. We are not squatters," Voss said. "I just wanted to keep [the police] accountable for what they did to me and my kid."