They said it couldn't happen...

hmm, aggravated menacing

Her 29-year-old son, Brian Smith, who was outside the house when the raid took place said, “I had a gun put to my head.” According to Martha Smith, her 31-year-old son, Shawn Smith, was handcuffed and thrown to the ground.
I would seriously be looking for an attorney on this one. Point a gun at my head when you're at the wrong address and you can count on a lawsuit. just for the experience I would probably also file aggravated menacing charges against the officer. The prosecutor would almost certainly drop them since we can hardly have the sheep charging police and even if it went to trial the cop would say "oh no I didn't actually point a gun at the per-uh..victim. So this would be one of the cases where just like leos always say We need to let the courts figure this out. Pity it will almost certainly end up in civil not criminal court.
 
drat! I forgot the quotation marks, guess I posted in haste. For reference I'll do the paste thingy again.

Her 29-year-old son, Brian Smith, who was outside the house when the raid took place said, “I had a gun put to my head.” According to Martha Smith, her 31-year-old son, Shawn Smith, was handcuffed and thrown to the ground.


everthing after that is my post, sorry for the confusion.
 
Cops here had a "scout" come into the townhome complex to pinpoint the target unit so the felony-warrant team could drive in and deploy with fast surprise.

One problem.

The "scout" attended the pre-raid briefing and wrote down on the back of his hand the address as he heard it. He wrote 250, not 215!

Fortunately it was Saturday and several of us had just visited 250 when the "scout" walked past us using a cell phone to describe his location. We did ask him if he was lost and he told us "get outta here now!" We saw the van arriving and him looking at 250 and putting on a "raid vest". One of my neighbors -- a woman with a voice like Ethel Merman -- told ask the guy, "Hey! You're not raiding a 69 year old cancer paitient's house are you?"

*Plonk*

Two of us slowed up the raid team saying "wrong address!" several times in a row. Zack, a 75 year old Korean war vet was knocked down and I was shoved into the bushes. Carol turned on them and yelled "Stop! You have the wrong house!" which finally sank in. A quick check of the addresses confimed. No thank you, no apologies, they just found the right address and did the raid.

It took two weeks for the PD to acknowledge their error. When we offered to meet them, they said "we've already addressed the matter". Zack asked the spokescop for the name of the division commander and was asked "Why do you want to know?". He replied "Because when this old Sergeant-Major goes to the press I want to be able to tell them which incompetent pencil-necked, a** kissing paper-pusher is responsible and you can bet I'll tell 'em YOU stonewalled us." We met with them 3 days later. Less than gratifying.

But 3 months later a new Chief was in and we sent him a letter about it. Not only did we meet with him, but the assistant Chief, Narcotics division commander, Training division commander, the raid Lieutenant and the 8-man raid team! We offered some carefully chosen words about disaster averted and suggestions to prevent it - like having every member see the address on the paperwork and repeat it aloud three times. The Chief, bless his political black heart, told them that every member of the team is responsible for ensuring the right house is hit. And we were given apologies by each member of the raid team (I think some of them tasted humility for the first time). Their training office now includes steps on verifying the address before the raid team deploys and the scout is responsible for aborting if children are playing nearby.

Footnotes:
Both the cancer paitient and Zack have since passed away. But all of us (4 of us actually, Zack's wife was also there) dressed in business attire for the first meeting. At the second meeting Zack wore his dress uniform and as a USMC Sergeant-Major with a 25 year hitch, two purple hearts and a bronze & silver star he was damned impressive. A young 20-something PD officer told him he couldn't bring his (ceremonial) sword into the building and he received a look that should have turned him to stone. Zack wore his sword. Semper Fi, Zack ol' buddy!
 
It happens all too often and there are many heart attacks when the wrong house is raided.An armed homeowner has a bigger problem .Looking at the increasing number of home invasions by people pretending to be cops,what do you do ? Some PDs require at least one officer in uniform during the raid.
 
That raises an interesting question. Say cops hit wrong house. YOURS. You are sitting at computer, on TFL, and some guys start smashing in your door, not in POLICE UNIFORMS, and not identifying themselves as PD right away. You grab your trust 1911 and kill the first 2 to run into your home with guns. Then you die. Cops get off, even though they were COMPLETELY IN THE WRONG, because you fired first? What happens?
 
Reminds me of a Teatly Tea commerical in England that used to be on the tube.
SAS type Unit pull up in front of a apartment house. Van doors go open, team exits, flash bangs go into apartment along with the team, gun blazing. Next scene the team is plastering over bullet holes in the walls as the team leader is drinking tea with two old ladies. Always thought it was a hoot.

Jungle Work
 
That raises an interesting question. Say cops hit wrong house. YOURS. You are sitting at computer, on TFL, and some guys start smashing in your door, not in POLICE UNIFORMS, and not identifying themselves as PD right away. You grab your trust 1911 and kill the first 2 to run into your home with guns. Then you die. Cops get off, even though they were COMPLETELY IN THE WRONG, because you fired first? What happens?
Click to expand...

About 3 years ago a similar scenario happened in Houston. Hispanic male stumbled out of bedroom reportedly with a gun in hand and the cops used him for target practice. DOA. Lots of outrage about it. Last I heard the DA was "investigating" possible charges against the cops.
 
Derius, that's happened before several times, and will happen again, until the outrageous practice known as "no-knock" raids are outlawed.

The answer is, the innocent homeowner defending himself / herself is KILLED. Relatives might get some money in ensuing lawsuit, but you're still worm food. Taxpayers foot the bill. The cops invariably get off with a slap on the hand. A simple rule is in order, IMO: If a no-knock raid results in the death of a innocent person, from an incorrect address, the police chief in charge is executed. No knocks will either end, or be 100% precise. But in this war on some drugs, we can't have people flushing the evidence, now can we?
 
Not to be an a**, but killing an innocent person in pursuit of of possible drugs is not a justifacation. About a year ago, i remember seeing a story about the same kind of thing happening here in Tennessee. Cops kick in the wrong door, guy picks up his shotgun, not realizing its the police. Cops shoot him. Last I heard, no action was taken against the officers, and all the family got was a semi-sincere apology. Sucks, doesnt it.
 
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