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.
Perhaps so... For at one time, policemen were there to actually HELP us. I recall one incident when I was growing up, at about age 4 or 5 I wandered off from church one Sunday, figuring to go home. Came to a gas station and, I guess, decided to rest in a big tractor tire they used as a display out front. Cop came along, took me home where my grandparents took me in hand, GAVE ME A CANDY BAR, and left. I don’t recall that I was allowed to eat the candy, however, for causing turmoil for my parents. This was during the early 1950’s, though. Cops today are too hung up on being Rambo on mega-steroids to actually HELP folks.
Butt, then who is going to feel-up the Hooter gals???? LOL
Antisocial.
There weren’t police departments for a long time either. What a moronic statement.
Has the discussion been to fast for you, I think we are talking about the jackbooted thugs playing cops, with their little paramilitary weapons . So how long has there been these little boys playing swat?? And how in the world did we do without them kicking down the wrong door for so long.
“And how in the world did we do without them kicking down the wrong door for so long”
Your last sentence proves that you didn’t read my original post on the subject. Dismissed.
Did it ever occur to the occupant of the apartment during the hours that the police spent outside calling for the surrender of the fugitive they were looking for that she could have said something or picked up the phone and dialed 911?
Yeah but that would have taken an awful lot of common sense...lol
I don’t think that was the problem. From the story the police stay outside and yell for someone named Sean Deaton to come out. The woman, knowing that no Sean Deaton was in there with her, locks her door and assumes the police are yelling at another apartment. Then suddenly there are windows breaking and tear gas flying. I would sue, too.
Police state is as police state does.
“They were surely disappointed that there was no dog to shoot and they had to settle for gassing a guinea pig”
If you gassed the guinea pig you would be charged with felony animal abuse.
It is not stupid if they are regular police, I agree with you. I would never let them in without a warrant.
It is stupid if it is a SWAT team that will break your door down and possibly shoot you, whether you invite then in or not.
It isn’t a coincidence that it appears this way.
Apropos of nothing at all but merely to lighten up the mood today, the day before Thanksgiving, here is a little goodie I found at thespoof.com:
Phone Sex
An Irish woman was admitted to hospital after having phone sex. Doctors removed 2 Nokias, 3 Motorolas and a Samsung. No Siemen was found.
“Seems to me the lady could have just opened her door and said, “He is not here, I don’t know him, take a look.””
Who told you she remained in the apartment?
Because the Law exists in either. In the Military there is a different level of authority, whereas in “civilian” life there is a VERY different level & WAY TOO MANY LAYWERS TOO!
Actually, in the story they quote the assistant police chief, so they indeed did contact the JBTs and get their "side" of the story. You should try to see these stories from the point of view of a liberty loving American and not from the abusive side of the "thin blue line".
It’s been said a dozen times but it’s pretty clear she wasn’t IN THE HOME or she would have complained about more than furniture being ruined but about nearly suffocating from tear gas, etc.
Why read the article or use your noggin when you can blame the victim.
Not in this case. This was way way way overkill and they really trashed the poor girls apartment. The dude they were looking for was not even that big of a bad ass criminal either. He was a petty crook wanted for B and E, and not known to be armed and dangerous. These POS Swat Bozos were out to punish someone so they trashed the place. Its just that they just were at the wrong house.
Something that gets broken while making an arrest is far different than maliciously trahing the place. JBTs do not have the right to simply trash property even if they were at the correct house.
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