Posted on 11/21/2007 7:28:37 AM PST by TSgt
LAWRENCEBURG, Ind. -- A SWAT team raids the wrong home in Lawrenceburg, Ind., now the homeowner wants some answers.
Police said they were led to the Village Apartments on the trail of fugitive Sean Deaton.
Convinced he was inside apartment 407G, the Lawrenceburg SWAT unit surrounded the building.
"It looked like they were ready to go to war," one neighbor said. "Some of the ones out here had AR15's and shotguns."
Neighbors said police spent hours, ordering Deaton to surrender. But when that didn't work, they responded with tear gas and forced entry.
"It looked like my apartment was on fire. The smoke was just blowing out of my windows," Kayla Irwin, the tenant of 407G said.
Irwin, a single mother of two, said she is unable to live in her apartment and didn’t even know the man police were searching for.
Now, she said, she has been left with the mess and no apology.
"It's all covered with poison. I don't know where to start over with two kids," said Irwin. "How do you start with replacing the items that your kids have had since the day they were born?"
She said one of her pet guinea pigs was also killed during the incident.
Neighbors said the police action was simply overkill.
"Overpowered. In my opinion it looked like they were enjoying what they were doing. They did not need to do all this," Emanuel Brightwell, an Iraq veteran and neighbor said.
Irwin said she appealed to the police, but hasn’t gotten anywhere.
"They basically just said, sorry for the inconvenience. Go ahead and clean it up. Clean up our mess," Irwin said.
She said she's had to borrow everything from family in the week since the incident. She also said she can't stay in the apartment because of the acrid gas residue.
An assistant chief and another officer were at the Village Apartments talking to Irwin within 30 minutes of Target 5 asking them about the incident, telling her that they would try to get some money so she could clean her clothes and furnishing on her own.
"This is the first time this has happened. I'm surprised the incident has not been remedied. We will take care of it the best we can," the assistant chief said.
Until the incident is remedied, the manager of the apartment complex said he has put Irwin, her kids and her pets in another apartment.
“This was not a no-knock like some of the other examples. This whole thing strikes me as overkill on the PD’s part, and stupidity on the woman’s part.”
Its my guess that she wasnt home. However, its not stupid to refuse the police access to your home when they ask. If they have a warrant its different but I would not let the police into my home otherwise.
No, they did not. They spent hours asking him to surrender. He didn't because he wasn't there.
It’s weird she wouldn’t let them in to end the thing quicker...
She didn't let them in because she wasn't there, either. Not at first, anyway.
It always helps to read the article first.
It would also help if reporters could at least write a coherent paragraph, much less an entire story.
What makes you think the lady didn't tell them he wasn't there? I spent about a half hour once telling two cops the man they were looking for wasn't in my house and that I didn't know him, I finally got tired of their crap and told them to go get a warrent if they were so sure he was in my house, they left and didn't come back.
They tried to enter without my permission but I stood fast and wouldn't let them. I was lucky the guy they were looking for was only wanted on traffic warrent. Cops abuse their power, daily and they are becoming famous for getting the wrong house. Not all cops but enough of them that it is a real and growing problem in the US. Swat teams are BS. Police got along just fine without them for many, many years. We don't need para-military cops.
“this was not a search warrant that takes time and effort to plan.”
So you’re saying a no-knock does not need to be planned?
“but the risk is usually worth the reward with proper due diligence. guys like this need to be apprehended.”
Guys like whom? There was no ‘guy’ there. They should be fired for wasting all the overtime involved with keeping 10-20 people there for ‘hours’.
The guy they were after did need to be apprehended. Wonder how far away he got while they were staked out at this empty house.
“Cops abuse their power, daily and they are becoming famous for getting the wrong house. Not all cops but enough of them that it is a real and growing problem in the US. Swat teams are BS. Police got along just fine without them for many, many years. We don’t need para-military cops.”
I know of several cops in the area. Most of them won’t stop to say hi, wave or even acknowledge your existence. The huge chip on their shoulder must make them too good to converse with the commoners.
The story doesn't mention she was at home. If she was at home when the SWAT team broke down the door she would be complaining, rightfully so, of being tear gassed.
It looks like the SWAT team surrounded an empty apartment. Dunkin Doughnuts could of made deliveries.
It is almost a given that the participants will all be given commendations. They would be given medals if they had managed to kill the lady and her two kids. These things happen so often now that I am beginning to suspect that “wrong” addresses are used for training purposes. It is handier and more realistic to use existing structures with unpredictable occupants than to reserve land and build training structures and employing actors as the Fire Departments do. So far I have not heard any FDs aggressively “putting out a fire” at a wrong address. I suppose that is in the future, though, as the police practice sessions prove their practicability.
Revenue collection!
One of the classic police actions of an earlier decade was the “stomping” of a pet cat by a female officer in another “wrong” address. I wonder if that officer was eventually promoted to male and allowed to shoot dogs.
That is one of the joys and benefits of police work in the modern era, shooting dogs and occasionally “wrong” people.
For your edification, this country did fine without police for about the first 60 years of so of its existance. I believe NYC was the first place to have police and look how well that worked out. While I believe in law enforcement and letting them do their jobs, they don't need to be making raids on buildings, especially when they have NO clue as to the real where abouts of the perp.
The number of raids on the wrong house, the number of innocent lives lost and the property damage caused by these raids are increasing every year. This is due to the fact the people who have swat teams are trying to justify their need for such. We don't need swat teams. This country has seen some really bad crime eras that we were able to get through just fine without swat teams. They all need to be disbanded, IMO.
Heres a story of a cop shooting the family dog. http://www.kidk.com/news/11676076.html related video has some nasty pics of the wounds. Dog lived after being shot 3 times.
“The Barboza family has owned their dog Bobby for five years. A few days ago they say a Teton County Idaho Sheriff’s Deputy knocked on their door demanding to see the dog.
Leonel Barboza, Dog Owner: “He says, ‘I’m here to put him down. I’m here to kill him.’”
The officer told Leo Barboza there had been a complaint Bobby had bitten someone.
Barboza: “I said, ‘Do you have any proof or anything?’ He says, ‘I don’t need any proof.’””
If I recall, wasn’t that one of the BATFags’ infamous incidents???
what do you have against the NYPD?
this situation was not a search warrant. it was an emergency situation and there was no prior planning. they thought the guy was in there.
a search warrant (knock or no-knock) is usually the result of an ongoing investigation and can takes weeks to plan.
Exactly. There’s so much the article doesn’t say, it’s hard to draw any conclusion. Several posters seem to think she wasn’t home at the time.
Easy for someone to say who doesn’t put their life on the line bringing in the bad guys.
Piss on that police worshipping attitude. If cops want to be in the military and play with machineguns send them to Iraq. They are cops not a f@#$ing occupying army.
“this situation was not a search warrant. it was an emergency situation and there was no prior planning. they thought the guy was in there.”
They sat outside for hours. No planning time there?
“a search warrant (knock or no-knock) is usually the result of an ongoing investigation and can takes weeks to plan.”
Other times its the result of some low end druggy seeking to get off so he gives fake information to the police who don’t check it out and end up shooting innocent people.
And it’s been said before in this very thread that there’s a strong chance no one was home or she would have complained about being thrown to the ground or getting the tear gas in her or her children’s eyes.
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