Police raid home moments after elderly woman dies, to snatch her meds

Dennis Romboy with Deseret News writes that police raided a man's home as he grieved for his wife, searching for her prescription medication. According to a lawsuit he has filed, they told him that Utah's Controlled Substances Act gives them the right to conduct warrant-less searches when people die.

Barbara Alice Mahaffey died of colon cancer in her bedroom last May. Ben D. Mahaffey, 80, said he was distraught and trying to make sure his wife's body would be taken to the funeral home with dignity, when he says officers insisted he help them look for the drugs. "I was holding her hand saying goodbye when all the intrusion happened," he told the Deseret News. Mahaffey said he was treated as if he were going to sell the painkillers, which included OxyContin, oxycodone and morphine, on the street. "I had no interest in the drugs," he said.