Posted on 02/15/2008 9:24:24 PM PST by bshomoic
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) ― Two months ago, a terrified mother called 911 to report strangers breaking into her North Minneapolis home. The intruders were not violent criminals but members of the Minneapolis Police Department's SWAT team. They were raiding the wrong house after an informant gave investigators bad information.
The I-TEAM tracked the 17 hours that led up to the raid.
Shortly after seven in the morning on Saturday, Dec. 15, a young woman walked into the downtown police precinct and said her boyfriend had threatened her. She told police Jermaine Brown belongs to the Rolling 60's Crips street gang, and she claims he pointed a gun at her inside his home where they live together at 1321 Logan Avenue North.
Officers from the department's Violent Offender Task Force (VOTF) had been targeting the gang's drug dealings for months. They are brought in to check out her information.
By dinner time, the investigation put the VOTF officers outside a house on Oak Park Avenue North. Police had heard members use it to store guns and drugs.
As VOTF officers watch the house, Jermaine Brown walks out. The officers, including their supervisor Lt. Andy Smith, arrest Brown and take him to jail. Then they decide to go after guns his girlfriend has told them about.
Several hours later, VOTF officers meet with Hennepin County Judge Herb Lefler at his home. They convince him it is urgent to move fast before someone ditches the guns since Brown is now behind bars.
The judge agrees to allow them to conduct two high-risk search warrants. One is for the house where they found Brown. The other is for the Logan Avenue address his girlfriend said is their residence and where, she said, he has hidden more guns. That includes the gun he allegedly used the night before to threaten her.
The SWAT team is called in to conduct the raids. Less than 90 minutes later, the SWAT officers raid that first house on Oak Park Avenue. Police find three guns in the home along with mail addressed to Brown.
Despite clues that this was actually Brown's home, the SWAT team is still sent to its next stop.
It is now just after midnight on Dec. 16. Yee Moua is watching television while her husband and six kids are safe in their beds.
Strange sounds, including breaking glass, frighten her. She thinks it is violent criminals so she calls 911 while her husband wakes up and grabs his shotgun.
Vang Khang, Moua's husband, fires three shots from the second floor bedroom. The intruders fire back more than 20 rounds through the door. It's recorded on a 911 phone call tape.
On the same tape, men can be heard yelling "Get to the floor!" and "Where's the gun?"
It turns out that the intruders are not criminals. They are members of the MPD's SWAT team hunting for Jermaine Brown's guns at the wrong house. Officers take Khang into custody and search his bullet-riddled home for weapons.
His wife, Moua, can be heard pleading with the officers to tell her what happened.
Police see lots of family photos and Hmong decorations in the Khang home. However, the only gun they find is the shotgun Khang used to protect his family.
That night a police spokesman defends the raid in which two officers were hit. Their protective gear prevented them from getting hurt.
"I don't think it was a mistake on our part, we did everything correctly," said Sgt. Jesse Garcia on that Sunday night in December.
Two days later, Minneapolis Police Chief Tim Dolan meets with the Khang family. He admits mistakes were made and promises Khang that he won't be charged with shooting at the SWAT officers.
He also hugs one of the young children who went through the shootout in their own home.
"The fact that nobody was very seriously injured or killed, we were very lucky," said Dolan
He promised a full investigation of what went wrong and to find out who dropped the ball on the front of the case.
"I don't blame the SWAT team. I do take into consideration whether to consequences were the mistake was made intentionally," said Dolan.
The I-TEAM has looked into what could have prevented the mistaken raid. It's standard in cases like this to do surveillance outside a house and check for any police calls to the address.
Investigators also could have run a simple property search online and learned that the Khang family owned the house on Logan Avenue since moving there four years ago.
So far, the I-TEAM has found no evidence that any of those steps were taken on the Logan Avenue house to confirm the information provided by Brown's girlfriend.
Brown has been charged with assault and as a felon possessing firearms. By then police had confirmed his real address is on Oak Park Avenue where they arrested him. Brown denies the guns found there are his, and claims they belong to his girlfriend.
His attorney, Hennepin County public defender Mary Moriarty, told the I-TEAM that Brown will give police a DNA sample on Wednesday to prove he has connection to the guns police found during the raid at the Oak Park Avenue home.
Meanwhile, the Khang family has hired two lawyers to represent them. The lawyers include includes former U.S. Attorney Tom Heffelfinger.
"The police were the ones there illegally and they started this problem," said Heffelfinger.
The legal team also includes Sia Lo, a prominent Hmong American attorney. Lo said the raid shook trust between police and the Hmong community.
"They fought so hard to make sure they that are going to be respected and see this happen is a tremendous blow to the sacrifices they made," said Lo.
The attorneys say it will take a lot more than patching up bullet holes and replacing glass to heal an innocent family's pain.
Dolan said he wants to make them feel safe at home again.
"To come out of this event successfully for me would be having this family back in the city of Minneapolis and feeling comfortable being there. Anything beyond that is going to be a horrible loss for us," he said.
With all the toys at the officers disposal simple police procedure simply was not followed. I hope those responsible are held accountable for this major screw up.
One step on the way to what you propose is to rename police as “peace officers,” an old but valued term
Another solution is to require all police chiefs and sheriffs to stand for election before the citizens.
The elected sheriff in my county clearly states that he’s the senior peace officer in the county (an old common law tenet), and no other law enforcement apparatus may enter his county without his permission.
Further, he has his deputies out in the community conducting stakeouts of remote homesites which criminals prey on. And it works.
He’s also a strong defender of the 2nd amendment and respects people’s private property, so he reflects his community well.
This works because the citizens determined he’s a good peace officer and gave him their votes.
Very wise thinking on the part of all concerned in your county. I do like going back to the old elected “peace officer” model, since far too many police departments have gotten out of control with their SWAT/LEO mentalities.
No, what they CAN do is not break in at night when people are asleep, knock on the door and serve the warrant.
What, did they think people were going to flush the guns down the toilet? GIve me a damn break.
“Let’s remember that the next time someone “mistakenly” shoots a police officer.”
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You mean like Corey Maye? Oh, well at least his death sentence was commuted and he only has to serve life in prison (until justice is done, at least) for defending his baby daughter from one of these raids.
Actually I am looking for something far stronger, but would settle for loss of immunity.
To me, even mentioning to the jury that the defendants were law enforcement, even if it were clearly spelled out that their actions were outside the scope of their employment, should be off-limits.
The public gives law enforcement way too much latitude and presumption of innocence.
My intention wasn’t to report the whole story. It was to show that these types of things aren’t unusual anymore. I did supply two links to the story.
I wouldn’t mind you adding to it with what you think is important.
I live here also.
Sorry, I meant to ping you on my #67 also.
What, did they think people were going to flush the guns down the toilet? GIve me a damn break.
That is the crux of the matter, why didn't they just maintain surveillance and pick up anyone entering or leavint the residence until morning? Night time warrants, 10 pm to 6 am should be near impossible to get.
More than just a story. I was one of the neighbors who made a written statement.
I hope you didn't think I was implying that it was made up. I didn't mean to suggest that at all, in case it came across that way.
It must have been scarring and gut-wrenching to see that and be able to do nothing about it. You're probably still living with the aftermath of your feelings about it. I sure as hell would be.
Ummm, you did see the part where they raided the wrong house, right? Kind of a critical mistake here. They put an innocent family at risk as well as themselves on the advice of a criminal informant that they didn’t check up on very well (obviously).
Macho Aggressive Legal Power Syndrome
When infected with this dangerous syndrome mixed with high adrenaline, concern for making mistakes and assaulting innocent citizens does not enter their thinking process.
They're on a roll.
In so many cases they are not held accountable for their actions.
They should be held responsible.
No doubt this is true, but it's still awfully silly.
The raid had nothing to do with the family's ethnicity. It's highly probable the cops had no idea what it was. Dark and all.
How true.
It's playing the race card. I do seem to remember this being done before when one of that particular nationality shot several hunters.
Could it be that they have a Jesse Jackson H mong their community?
I believe a charge of manslaughter can be assessed against a regular citizen in that case, if so why not the authorities?
I think we have our signals crossed. You’re saying don’t punish the whole department and I was merely saying that they SHOULD punish them because it is the refusal to serve the warrants in the traditional (and constitutional and honorable) manner that led to this.
So, wrong house or not, if they had knocked and served properly, there would have been no shoot out and they would have understood quickly they were at the wrong house.
We’re on the same side, basically, other than I believe in punishing the entire department. :)
Yes, thanks for clarify that. I would agree with you wiht the one difference. Going after thw whole department is a little too much for me. The regular patrolman has nothing to do with the SWAT team over-reacting, much less the authority to do anything about it.
I think the way they compensate these people is all the drug and illegal money they confiscate from drug sellers, criminal enterprises, etc, gets stored in a ‘SWAT/Police wronged victims fund) and payouts come from there. If there isn’t enough to cover things, then it comes fromm the SWAT budget and officer salaries.
If I was back in th $hit I would want a Hmong body guard. The ARVN were basically useless.
No offense taken. Interesting side note - my neighbors and I have been stopped innumerous times by the PD for ‘routine traffic checks’. Stay away from Westland, MI. It’s crooked as hell here.
Welcome home brother
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