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.

[The Red Zone]

If possible, as Claire whatserface has advised, harden your house to the point where you can actually call 911 to ask if this is police before they get in.

[Doctor Stochastic]

No. I just like the practice. Though the only really good improvement on English punctuation would be to use French quotes, «xxx». The idea is that commas and periods would look good either inside or outside quotes; with current English practice, commas and periods go inside, no matter the logic. It's a small matter.)

[The Red Zone]

Computer nerds, like me, tend to want to not put exclamation points in quotes because they are used to delimit literal character strings, not metacharacters.

[MarkL]

The damages should be assessed against the officers who misdirected the raid. Not the city.

Sorry, but it's the government (by the will of "the people") that give the officers the legal ability to use deadly force. It's the government that's responsible. It's up to the government to discipline the officers.

Mark

[MarkL]

It would've been justifiable self-defense, but the homeowners would've been thrown under the prison anyway

If the homeowner put up any resistance, or G-d forbid, raised a gun, he would never have survived the encounter.

Mark

[Postal Worker with a gun]

Reading over this article and the posts so far, several things come to mind.

First, here in the Houston area over the last year or so, there have been a rash of home invasion thefts. The criminals break down the door yelling out that they are cops, everyone down, the whole attack straight from a TV home assault. They then tie up/hurt the people present, steal what they can and leave.

Second, there are things you can do about your house to protect yourself better. I live in a brick house (brick is bulletproof). I have triple pane Pella windows for better insulation, but I also added a commonly available film to the outside window panes that makes them virtually unbreakable. My outside and garage doors are wood veneer over steel in steel frames, that little 2 man battering ram the cops and others use would not even scratch them. There are 8 sets of dual floodlights each set with its own motion detector activator covering the entire area around the house at least twice over. There are numerous other similar type improvements done too numerous to mention here.

Third, while my neighbors are not real close, I live in a small community. Anyone that does not belong here is quickly spotted by our very active Neighborhood Watch.

Fourth, while the house has an alarm, the best alarm of all is provided by my sons dog. 110 Lbs of Doberman (who fortunately is great friends with my Tomcat) is not something a thief wants to find.

Fifth, I noticed that this attack happened in a rural part of the county. I find it hard to believe that the cops did not know the people in the area, or that they were unfamiliar with the addresses. I live in a rural part of Montgomery County (Texas, north of Houston) and the local Law Enforcement mostly knows me (or of me, The County Gun Nut).

One of the other things that come to mind include that with the general shortage of Law Enforcement people available, the bad apples are usually able to find another government willing to hire them after being fired. As bad as the job conditions are and for the little that they get paid, we are lucky that we can get anyone to be Police anymore, especially in a high crime area. You get what you pay for, cheaper is not better.

In this case, there should have been a senior officer in charge of the raid. In the military and in business as well, being in charge also means accepting the responsibility for your teams actions. The only one that should be disciplined (however, not getting into what should be done to him/her here) is whoever was in charge of the raid.

[GrandEagle]

I say if the cops bust in, you should be able to ventilate them with impunity unless they can come up with some foolproof way for the breakin-ees to ascertain their ID BEFORE they enter.
I agree. This is the perfect application of "shoot first and ask questions later".

[GrandEagle]

The problem is that juries these days mostly consists of welfare people, government employees and only a few who are not **dependent** minded.
It didn't seem that way the time I've had jury duty. It has always seemed like a good cross section of society.

[GrandEagle]

They may never enter a private home and all criminals should keep on trucking?
No, but if they break into my home at 2:00 in the morning, I'm not too concerned with trying to find out who they are, I'm more concerned with stopping the intrusion and protecting my family. There is no need at all for this type of home invasion. IMHO it is WAY to dangerous both for the officers and their victims.
Just as I stated before, anyone who needs to hid his face, and use darkness to conceal his actions is nothing but either a crook or a coward.

[A CA Guy]

So let those people sue their neighbor that got arrested for big bucks for putting them in danger participating in illegal behavior.

Had that jerk not been involved in moving drugs, the law would have never been there.

[A CA Guy]

Because your soul murder issue is BS.

I guess if they are so dead, they don't need the money then.

I think they are greedy and are seeking a lottery win for their life.

[A CA Guy]

Goodness, you sound so liberal talking about giving large settlements over no death with taxpayer monies.

I don't think that should be done.

You should volunteer your assets to them.
Sounds like a cheap attempt to win the lottery to me and that is all.

[A CA Guy]

This wasn't a home invasion, it was an attempted apprehension of a drug dealing criminal.

They at first got the address wrong and the criminal was next door and who was responsible for getting law enforcement anywhere near the area.

[A CA Guy]

This wasn't a home invasion, it was an attempted apprehension of a drug dealing criminal.

They at first got the address wrong and the criminal was next door and who was responsible for getting law enforcement anywhere near the area.

[GrandEagle]

This wasn't a home invasion, it was an attempted apprehension of a drug dealing criminal.
I disagree. I was INTENDED to be an apprehension, but if was, in fact, a home invasion that would have landed anyone except these officers immediately in jail.
If the state is going to use a fascist government techniques, then they must be ready to face the consequences.

[A CA Guy]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1646236/posts?page=239#239

It happens occasionally in the course of law enforcement, but it isn't intentional.

[Luke Skyfreeper]

Oooo. Ooookay.

I still don't find it even "understandable," but I may have less tolerance for this kind of cr*p than you do. :-)

[GrandEagle]

They were living next to a drug dealer, so they must be used to living in a tough neighborhood as it is.

You must not watch the news very much.

My guess are these are trailer trash level people who are seeking a lottery pay day to make their life.

Not my assumption at all. If it happened to me, and I lived through it, I sue until it hurt. I don't live in a trailer (although it wouldn't matter if I did)
I don't play the lottery either.

I've myself mistakenly had several guns drawn on me by law enforcement that was a mistake and I never blamed them based on the knowledge they thought they had. Similar car in my area where I was driving was involved in a robbery. I drove into the area, was not in a robbery and was mistakenly pulled over by the police.

Myself too, only once, and guns were not drawn on me. I also didn't blame them because they were acting like police and really didn't even make a mistake. Similar car, similar looks - they were doing a good job in checking me out.

BOO HOO
It was scary.
It was a mistake.
It is part of getting the bad guys.


I suppose this is where we differ in view. When the police don't behave any different than the bad guys, it is NOT just part of getting the bad guys.
We were getting the bad guys WAY before the police began acting like some kind of para-military terrorist group. It is an ego trip, that is all.
I have a plan that could eliminate virtually all crime. Everyone is required to stay on their own property. Permits are issued for necessary departures from your residence. Anyone off their property without the proper permit is shot on sight. It would work great as a crime fighting tool, but I am not willing to give up what is necessary to accomplish that.
The police have isolated themselves from society by creating, in the last 20 or so years, this us against them atmosphere. Then they gripe that no one respects the officers anymore. I believe that it is totally unnecessary.

Cordially,
GE

[HiTech RedNeck]

I note you major in missing the point.

[HiTech RedNeck]

110 Lbs of Doberman (who fortunately is great friends with my Tomcat)

Cat's rule