Posted on 05/27/2009 5:18:35 PM PDT by Chet 99
Story Updated: May 22, 2009 at 10:37 PM EDT
GOSHEN — It was a case of mistaken identity in Goshen, as SWAT officers knocked down the wrong door Thursday. Officers were searching for a suspect accused of impersonating a police officer. Instead, they found an elderly couple who had no idea what was happening.
The SWAT team meant to hit the house next door.
Instead, the brunt force of their battering ram wad focused on Harvey Borntrager's front door.
Dents still marked the inner door to the Borntrager's home Friday. The handle of what used to be a screen door is now missing; its glass is now shattered.
Harvey, 68 and his wife Lydia, 63, had just pulled into their driveway on County Road 40 when it all went down.
"I had just got backed in there, and here comes this black vehicle real quick like before I even know what was going on," Harvey explained. "We barely made it out of the truck when they were out of their truck and on the porch."
In a split second, they hit the door.
"The door was down before I even got to talk to anybody," Harvey said. "And I thought, what? What in the world is going on?"
Turns out, the answer wasn't quite what he expected.
"They said, they got a search warrant, and they asked me if I live here," Borntrager said. "I said, yeah, I live here. Then, he asked me what me address is, and I told him what it is."
"He kind of paused for a little bit," Borntrager continued. "Then, he asked me again. And, then he says, well, I think we're at the wrong house!"
They were. SWAT meant to hit the house next door, said Goshen Police Adjutant Joseph Brown in a news release Friday.
"The Goshen Police Department Emergency Response Team, while assisting the Elkhart Police Department in the execution of a search warrant on County Road 40 in Elkhart County, made a forced entry into a wrong residence," Brown wrote.
"The Elkhart Police Department had no involvement in the error, and the Goshen Police Department accepts full responsibility," Brown continued.
Goshen Police administrators are conducting an internal investigation to determine what circumstances led up to the mistaken entry, Brown said.
Brown wouldn't comment to WSBT on camera about the incident, saying only "We made a mistake. There's nothing left to say."
But there are plenty of leftover feelings for Harvey and his wife.
"I can't say I'm angry, you know? But I'm a little upset. [Lydia] was very shook up. If we would've been in the house when they broke in, she might've had a heart attack. She was shaking all night," Borntrager said.
The city has offered to make things right.
"They were very apologetic, and all that. And, I think rightfully so. We've hired Bail Construction to fix the door, and the city will be paying for it," Borntrager said.
"The important thing is, nobody got hurt. Anything that went wrong with the door can be fixed. But, I'm hoping it wouldn't ever happen to anybody else. It's not a fun thing to go through," he continued.
Elkhart County Prosecutor Curtis Hill says Robert Revoir, 39 was arrested after police eventually served the search warrant on the home next door.
Revoir's probably cause hearing was held Friday, and he now faces preliminary charges of impersonating a public servant and unlawful use of body armor. Both are class D felonies.
Witnesses told Elkhart Police that Revoir had identified himself a police officer while working as a repo man. He remained in the Elkhart County Jail Friday evening on $10,000 bond, and is scheduled to appear in court on May 29.
In the meantime, the Borntragers are just concentrating on moving on.
"Some people have said we should sue the city and all that, but I don't have any plans to do that," Borntrager said. "I just want to get my front door fixed."
Exactly. The police unions have done for policing what teachers' unions have done for education.
Proud to be a target.
The more of my fellow citizens have or develop my attitude, the better it will be for all of us.
See ya' at the junction, Travis.
What happened to create meth labs and why do paramilitary cop forces have to go after them now?
Yep, this reminds me of the famous Solzhenitzen quote about “how they burned in the camps, later.”
And we are 1,000 times more ready to resist tyranny than the Russians were in the 1930s.
I predict they will run out of willing jackboots before we run out of rifles.
I agree.
The only thing that has to happen is organization, command and control.
Not sure how that happens, that is the wild card.
It’s the Army of One that will be unstoppable.
The demand for Meth and the need to protect their resources against other gangs. I sure as heck haven’t have heard of them stopping the cops.
There are good historical reasons for outlawing drugs. I used to buy that crap about the drug laws being a bad idea, but I looked a little deeper. I think that drug laws are a danger to personal liberty, but I think drugs are an even greater danger to social order. Given a choice, I have to choose the drug laws.
Why should your personal weakness result in SWAT teams at my door?
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