From the artsy bedroom community of Marin, home of a whole lot of liberals. They must love this: "I said, 'Sir, sir, please check with Pac Bell.' All I got back was 'shut up, shut up.' The cop with the canine unit said, 'If you don't know anything, what are so nervous about?'"
http://www.marinij.com/news/stories/index1000620.html
Armed Fairfax cops invade wrong house
By Rebecca Rosen Lum
John Fischer opened his door Wednesday morning at a little after 11 a.m. to face a battery of armed police officers with their automatic weapons trained on him.
Over the next half-hour, the officers rifled through Fischer's home at 7935 Sir Francis Drake Blvd. in Lagunitas, taunted him, and "tore through here like commandos, screaming and yelling, turning things upside down," he said.
Fairfax police admitted they made a mistake, but denied disrupting Fisher's house.
"With him standing there we checked the house for the suspect and we left nothing disturbed, except some doors were opened and one of officers may have looked under the bed," said Sgt. Dan Johnston.
The law enforcement team, led by Fairfax police Det. Phil Torres and one canine unit, was closing in on a man suspected of robbing Perry's Deli in March. Marin County sheriff's deputies provided back-up aid.
The officers later found the suspect, William Lipps Jr., at a Rosario Avenue home in the neighboring town of Forest Knolls. Lipps is in custody in Marin County Jail on $100,000 bail.
Officers said that they were looking for the fugitive, and had traced a telephone number Lipps was known to have used. Using internal records, the police were led to Fischer's home.
But that number had been transfered to a Forest Knolls address, Fischer said.
"I must have told them that 10 or 15 times," Fischer said. "I said, 'Sir, sir, please check with Pac Bell.' All I got back was 'shut up, shut up.' The cop with the canine unit said, 'If you don't know anything, what are so nervous about?' Well, why wouldn't I be nervous, with an automatic weapon pointed at me?"
Fisher, a 35-year-old property manager and antique importer, said he gave the officers permission to look for Lipps inside his tenant's quarters, "but they trashed the place, went through her paperwork, and damaged her possessions," he said. "I just felt awful."
When Lipps did not turn up at the house, Sgt. Johnston had staffers check the phone number and address twice. Around 11:40 a.m., a call came over the police scanner revealing the officers had the wrong address.
"They quite literally missed by a mile," Fischer said. "Once they got the word from Pac Bell, they were out of here like a bat out of hell."
"We were wrong," Johnston said. "I flat-out apologized to Mr. Fischer for any inconvenience, and for any misunderstandings that might have been generated with his neighbors. All he did was step out of his house to go to work, and there was quite some activity, I can tell you."
Fischer appreciated Johnston's apology, and called him "a really good guy - a nice, nice man. All I want to know is, what went wrong?"
Fischer also said sheriff's deputies conducted themselves "with the utmost professionalism."
Undersheriff Dennis Fin-negan confirmed that the officers arrived with an arrest warrant for Lipps signed by a Superior Court judge.
"I really feel for the guy," he said. "Guns are real awful to see. It's terrible to see one pointed at you."
However, he said Fairfax police had good reason to believe Lipps was armed: When the arrest was made, he had two guns within his grasp.
"He's a very dangerous guy," Finnegan said of Lipps.
Fischer has not yet determined whether he will file a police complaint, and he said lawsuits "are not my style."
He also said he adamantly supports well-directed and efficient law enforcement.
"All I want is some accountability," he said.
Contact Rebecca Rosen Lum via e-mail at rrosenlum@marinij.com
Copyright 2000 Marin Independent Journal, a Gannett publication.
http://www.marinij.com/news/stories/index1000620.html
Armed Fairfax cops invade wrong house
By Rebecca Rosen Lum
John Fischer opened his door Wednesday morning at a little after 11 a.m. to face a battery of armed police officers with their automatic weapons trained on him.
Over the next half-hour, the officers rifled through Fischer's home at 7935 Sir Francis Drake Blvd. in Lagunitas, taunted him, and "tore through here like commandos, screaming and yelling, turning things upside down," he said.
Fairfax police admitted they made a mistake, but denied disrupting Fisher's house.
"With him standing there we checked the house for the suspect and we left nothing disturbed, except some doors were opened and one of officers may have looked under the bed," said Sgt. Dan Johnston.
The law enforcement team, led by Fairfax police Det. Phil Torres and one canine unit, was closing in on a man suspected of robbing Perry's Deli in March. Marin County sheriff's deputies provided back-up aid.
The officers later found the suspect, William Lipps Jr., at a Rosario Avenue home in the neighboring town of Forest Knolls. Lipps is in custody in Marin County Jail on $100,000 bail.
Officers said that they were looking for the fugitive, and had traced a telephone number Lipps was known to have used. Using internal records, the police were led to Fischer's home.
But that number had been transfered to a Forest Knolls address, Fischer said.
"I must have told them that 10 or 15 times," Fischer said. "I said, 'Sir, sir, please check with Pac Bell.' All I got back was 'shut up, shut up.' The cop with the canine unit said, 'If you don't know anything, what are so nervous about?' Well, why wouldn't I be nervous, with an automatic weapon pointed at me?"
Fisher, a 35-year-old property manager and antique importer, said he gave the officers permission to look for Lipps inside his tenant's quarters, "but they trashed the place, went through her paperwork, and damaged her possessions," he said. "I just felt awful."
When Lipps did not turn up at the house, Sgt. Johnston had staffers check the phone number and address twice. Around 11:40 a.m., a call came over the police scanner revealing the officers had the wrong address.
"They quite literally missed by a mile," Fischer said. "Once they got the word from Pac Bell, they were out of here like a bat out of hell."
"We were wrong," Johnston said. "I flat-out apologized to Mr. Fischer for any inconvenience, and for any misunderstandings that might have been generated with his neighbors. All he did was step out of his house to go to work, and there was quite some activity, I can tell you."
Fischer appreciated Johnston's apology, and called him "a really good guy - a nice, nice man. All I want to know is, what went wrong?"
Fischer also said sheriff's deputies conducted themselves "with the utmost professionalism."
Undersheriff Dennis Fin-negan confirmed that the officers arrived with an arrest warrant for Lipps signed by a Superior Court judge.
"I really feel for the guy," he said. "Guns are real awful to see. It's terrible to see one pointed at you."
However, he said Fairfax police had good reason to believe Lipps was armed: When the arrest was made, he had two guns within his grasp.
"He's a very dangerous guy," Finnegan said of Lipps.
Fischer has not yet determined whether he will file a police complaint, and he said lawsuits "are not my style."
He also said he adamantly supports well-directed and efficient law enforcement.
"All I want is some accountability," he said.
Contact Rebecca Rosen Lum via e-mail at rrosenlum@marinij.com
Copyright 2000 Marin Independent Journal, a Gannett publication.