Couple seeks damages after police raid wrong house

Henry Daily Herald ^ | 6-8-06 | By Michael Davis

[VRing]

A Stockbridge couple whose home was mistakenly raided by Henry County Police last year as they sought a drug suspect is seeking $8 million in damages from the incident.

In a lawsuit filed last month in Superior Court against county officials and police, Roy and Belinda Baker say they were roused out of bed by police who used a battering ram to knock down their door and threw concussive grenades into their home around 1 a.m. Sept. 30.

“The Law Enforcement Defendants accosted the Bakers in the hallway to their bedroom, where they had been sleeping, and yelled at the Bakers, threatened, assaulted and unlawfully touched the Bakers, and placed the Bakers face down, at gunpoint ...” the suit says.

[JavaTheHutt]

Right. This is happening too often. If it happened in my house in the middle of the night there would likely be a lot of dead people. The couple should sue the person responsible for making the decision and make them pay or be fired.

My wife has made similiar comments several times, mostly while we are watching the JBTs do their thing on "Dallas SWAT". If they ever made a mistake and came to our house like that, it would be the last mistake several of them ever made, and our families would be the one's bringing the lawsuit, because they would probably gun down everyone in the house once the shooting started.

[beltfed308]

Henry County Police Chief Russell Abernathy was reported to have said at the time that the incident was “inexcusable” and that steps would be taken to ensure a similar incident doesn’t occur in the future.

Like reading lessons?

[JavaTheHutt]

That's the point: why do taxpayers ALWAYS have to foot the bill for incompetence and stupidity of public "servants"?

Because when things go so horribly wrong that a day of reckoning must occur, then gravity tends to reverse, and sh*t rolls UPHILL. The LEOs work for the city, the city works for the taxpayer. The taxpayer is the one who ultimately is responsible. If you have corruption and/or incompetence in your government, then either change it or be willing to suffer the consequences of your inaction. This applies on all levels from local government all the way up the food chain.

[GrandEagle]

because they would probably gun down everyone in the house once the shooting started.
So true. I'm thinking here...
Less than 1 sec. before my burglar alarm sounds off.
about 3 sec. for me to wake up.
another 5 sec for me to be armed.
I give them 10 sec. tops to find me, and they may do that, but if they don't - it won't be pretty.
Obviously I have no desire to have a shootout with LE, however, barging in unannounced, when I have no reason to suspect the police, I have to assume they are bad guys and intend to do me harm.

We had a burglar try and get into our garage. I was up and armed before the alarm horn got ramped up.

Cordially,
GE

[Alas Babylon!]

Any number of things could have caused such an error: Transposition of numbers in the address, 1128 instead of 1182, is but one example.

And I would call each such error careless. Everyone involved in the process needs to have their $hit straight. Piddling little mistakes like that are just so preventable IF there is discipline. Especially given a raid that was planned. Someone should have checked the numbers.

[geezerwheezer]

Hey Luke, you been off that oxygen a little too long. I wrote it was "understandable", not excusable! I suggest you read things a little closer before castigating someone. I also wrote the folks involved should be fired, transferred, etc, as a result of this screw up. You would be doing us all a favor by responding as to what we write, not by what you think we wrote! :0 )

[Michael.SF.]

fully agree!

[from occupied ga]

The LEOs work for the city, the city works for the taxpayer. The taxpayer is the one who ultimately is responsible.

Almost right Rather say, "The LEOs work for the city, the taxpayer works for the city. The taxpayer is the one who ultimately pays for everything, but has no power to change any of it."

[JavaTheHutt]

We had a burglar try and get into our garage. I was up and armed before the alarm horn got ramped up.

I remember as a little kid when something similiar happened. Our alarm system happened to be a Great Dane that was sleeping on top of my dad's pool table in the garage. The dude was determined, he actually disabled the alarm system by breaking a poolstick over its head. By coincidence, an uncle was staying with us at the time, just got back from 'Nam. By the time the burglar got the door from the garage to the kitchen open, he was staring down the barrel of my dad's 12 guage and my uncle's .45 auto... That was my first exposure to cleaning up large amounts of blood.

[JavaTheHutt]

The taxpayer is the one who ultimately pays for everything, but has no power to change any of it."

yes they do, it's the power of the vote.

[Ol' Dan Tucker]

The Taxpayers want a Drug War, they'll have to cover the costs of the occasional screw-up. So it goes.

Damn right. Sort of like asset forfeiture for the masses.

[takenoprisoner]

8 million is too little.

[Ol' Dan Tucker]

yes they do, it's the power of the vote.

Not to mention the power of their feet. If they don't like the climate, they can always move.

[righthand man]

Worth repeating , all involved should be fired .

Henry County Police Chief Russell Abernathy was reported to have said at the time that the incident was “inexcusable” and that steps would be taken to ensure a similar incident doesn't’t occur in the future.

[One4Indictment]

You must have fallen and cracked your coconutt!!

[steve-b]

The figure of $50k AS AN AMOUNT TO COME DIRECTLY OUT OF THE POCKET OF THE OFFICER IN CHAGRE is reasonable. The total damages to be paid for a terroristic death threat under false color of law should, obviously, be much higher.

[steve-b]

Maybe if they can hit the county hard enough it will make some difference.

It occurs to me that a good way to make the politicians in power feel the pain would be to allow the victims to take their $8 million out of the budgets of county programs of their choice....

[BJungNan]

Jackpot!.......

As it should be. But, the damages should come out of the salary of the government employee(s) that made the mistake. Or they should be fired of diciplined.

This kind of mistake is totally unacceptable.

[JamesP81]

1128 instead of 1182, is but one example.

Which does not qualify as a valid excuse. Put them in jail.

[JamesP81]

Give to widows & orphans, or another worthy cause.

Uhh, no, give it to the people who were caused damage.