"Whoops... Sorry, citizen. We thought you were someone else" PING
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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."
Another great reason not to live in NYC (unlicensed shotgun, what the hell is that!?)
The guy is a repo man. In this economy he has a lot of business --and a lot of enemies.
He probably came up with the novel idea of buying a fake police badge off the internet and telling people he's a cop when he comes to repossess the cars they aren't paying for. He probably figures it'll lower the chances of getting assaulted while doing his job. Illegal? Yes, certainly. While committing the crime of "impersonating" a police officer, he was wearing body armor, another item he likely purchased to stay alive on the streets as some people have been known to shoot first and ask questions later when the repo guy shows up.
Wearing body armor while committing the crime of impersonating a cop is a crime in and of itself.
I see some value in it's existence, but not the way it's almost always deployed. If it's there solely as a reactionary force, fine. But, police departments, as seen in this case, use it almost exclusively as an offensive tool.
As LoneRangerMassachusetts mentioned earlier, they should have waited for this guy to go to work in the morning and nabbed him as soon as he started to back out of his driveway. This, as usual, was completely unnecessary dangerous.
Well, with the wealth of 300 years now well destroyed, the job of being the states Step’n and Fetch-it is one of the better paying. History never illustrates a shortage of people willing to serve in the suppression of their fellows if the cash is good.
I’m not aware, ever, of any organized action, by any police anywhere, to ever hold back the flood of oppressive laws emanating from the various legislatures.
More laws are more security for the security bureaucracy.
Spot on.
I wish newspapers would realize they are now national and international, and the name of a small town (or even some larger cities) is not going to cut it. There are 30 or more Goshens in the US and several in other countries.
Then when you go to most of their websites, they sometimes don’t tell what city or state the station is in. At lest WSBT lists it in small print in the upper left corner, unless I missed something more obvious.
Dude, we have two level two protection trained shepherds....
They would take down a couple before dying, and they would die....
Our house is heavily armed and my entire family is very capable......
That stated, it would be a losing proposition going against a swat team that has the element of surprise.....
I’ve shot against a lot of them in various competitions, most are good guys, most with strong military backgrounds....
Risk vs reward, I don’t want bullets flying around my children unless abosolutely necessary....it’s better to talk in that situation than fight. Since I’m a good boy, the situation will eventually turn out OK....
The issue isn’t the Swat team but the LEO managment that fosters the battle mentality.....
Don’t get angry at water cause it’s wet....
New York City where only movie stars and politicians get carry permits and where you now have to register every rifle, shotgun and BB gun while off-duty cops, correction officers, bridge and tunnel employees and court officers walk around the street and frequent their favorite watering hole armed like they’re going to attack the Maginot Line.
"Whoops... Sorry, citizen. We thought you were someone else" PING
Click the link to be added to the "Whoops. Sorry, citizen. We thought you were someone else" PING list.
Germany had enough sense to go around the Maginot line. I doubt that these leftist/statist drones are all that smart.
simple stooges. measure twice, cut once...
wear body armor all day as long as your not involved in criminal activity. Add a criminal act and mix in the kevlar and ya get a double whammie !
I was partly just kidding - about shooting the cops, not about being well armed and having two Schutzhund GSDs - I never kid about guns nor dogs.
But to your point, you say you wouldn't engage because you assume you'd recognize the intruders as LEO. Let's say it's 3:00am and you hear your dogs attacking something immediately after you hear, what you suspect to be your front door getting knocked down. You probably also hear your dogs being gun down almost immediately after the first bark.
Regardless of what the intruders are screaming, are you really going to believe it's the cops knowing that you're a completely law-abiding citizen?
Are you going to give them the benefit of the doubt, at 3:00 am, or are you coming down the stairs shooting first and asking for ID second? I'm probably going with the shooting first, just in case. This is why these no-knock warrants, especially in the middle of the night, are so damned dangerous, for everyone.
Good thing they didn’t have any dogs for the cops to shoot.
Please don't compare these bumbling dipsh*ts to Navy SEALS. SEALS are highly trained and disciplined. These morons are nothing but thugs with badges and probably couldn't run 1/2 mile without puking up donuts.
If used in the commission of a crime it is illegal. If the repo guy id'd himself as a police officer then that would be a crime.....if he was wearing the body armor then it was worn during the commission of a crime.
Of course I am only speculating. We're not getting all the facts from the media on this (SHOCK!).
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