Police Storm Wrong Apartment, Resident Dies of Heart Attack

WABC News NYC ^ | May 16, 2003 | Art McFarland

[Unknown Freeper]

(Harlem-WABC, May 16, 2003) — Police smashed down an apartment door and used a flash grenade in their search for a potentially dangerous suspect. But it was the wrong apartment, and the woman who lived inside is now dead after suffering a heart attack.

Police smashed down an apartment door and used a flash grenade in their search for a potentially dangerous suspect. But it was the wrong apartment, and the woman who lived inside is now dead after suffering a heart attack.

What happened at 310 W. 143rd Street was meant to be the end result of a drug investigation based on confidential information from a police informant. But it is now among the most tragic errors of the NYPD.

Lucille Ross, Building Resident: "She was such a lovely person. If something was to happen with her like this, I want to know why."

The search warrant was apparently issued for apartment 6F in the multi-unit building. It was the home of Alberta Spruill.

Today Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said it was based on what investigators thought was reliable information. But it all turned out to be a terrible mistake.

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly: "Entry was made by officers from our Emergency Services Unit who used a flash grenade during that entry. Once inside the officers found the occupant, a 57-year-old woman, identified as Alberta Spruill. She was briefly handcuffed while police conducted a cursory search of the apartment. The patrol captain then entered, and saw that the apartment did not match the description given by the informant, and immediately ordered that the handcuffs be removed."

The commissioner said Ms. Spruill soon told officers she had a heart condition, and then complained of chest pains. EMS was called to the scene and administered aid. But Ms. Spruill died a short time later at Harlem Hospital.

Commissioner Ray Kelly: "On behalf of the entire New York City Police Department, I want to offer my condolences and sympathy to the family of Alberta Spruill. I also want to offer my apology. This is indeed a profound tragedy."

Calvin Alston, Building Resident: "We're all just devestated. Really devestated. Because this is a woman that got up and went to church every day ... went to work every day. And we're all just devestated that this would happen to someone like this."

Police Commissioner Kelly did say a "flash grenade" was used at apartment 6F before officers entered. It may be the use of that flash grenade broke procedure. The ESU lieutenant who used it is now on administrative leave pending the investigation. Those grenades have been used 85 times this year.

And NYPD tells us only four mistakes out of 1,900 search warrants have been made this year. The investigation of this tragedy continues.

[FreeLibertarian]

The War On Drugs is a War on the American People. It is a counterproductive waste of public money and it is destroying America and our Rights. The people who are most interested in keeping the War On Drugs alive are those who profit from it. Legalizing Marijuanna or any of the stuff Congress likes to call "controlled substances," would eliminate the multibillion dollar profits and quickly reduce the market size. Users would be buying in licensed government stores, with the profits and taxes going into rehabilitation programs. Even worse for the drug barons, the glamour of doing somethin illegal would be gone for the teenagers, and there would be no reason left for the drug gangs to hire them to push the stuff in school yards and keep the list of customers multiplying. No more knife fights and gun battles for market territory. No more no-knock raids on innocent people. No more confiscated property. Legalizing and licensing knocks out the profits. Congress critters who support the War On Drugs are doing so for one reason only, they have a lobbiest funded by a drug baron slipping large quantities of cash into their pockets to keep the drug profits flowing.

[PatrioticAmerican]

"She has to be in horrible health to have that happen."

Ever been near a flash-bang? It will cause irregular heart beats.

[A CA Guy]

What do you mean it doesn't work, it works just fine.
Can you immagine the vast numbers of additional antisocial addicts there would be if there was no law enforcement and the suggestion of acceptability? Granted that would be a libertarian wet-dream, but hell on earth as we could ever know it.

[PatrioticAmerican]

"The ESU lieutenant and the officers responsible for the search warrant should face charges for negligent homicide."

Agreed. If you are I did that as a prank, we'd be in jail right now.

[PatrioticAmerican]

"doctors and teachers use pot? How about lawyers and Judges?"

I can name at least one of each, and a pilot, too.

I don't use, but for some reason I know a number of people who do.

[A CA Guy]

It is used to break up crowds, if it were considered excessive or is considered so now, it would be removed as a tool.

I think this poor lady will have been found to be suffering ill health before this.

[Amelia]

get your head out of the sand.

Provide proof of your assertations.

[justshe]

TLBSHOW: So the question is why aren't the teachers the lawyers the police officers or the judges homes doors busted down?

AMELIA: The question is, how do you know all these people are using drugs?

Answer the question, Todd.

[TLBSHOW]

The sand must be deep where you live.

[Howlin]

LOL @ the answer you got!

[my_pointy_head_is_sharp]

Police smashed down an apartment door and used a flash grenade in their search for a potentially dangerous suspect...She was briefly handcuffed...she had a heart condition...

If the police smashed down MY door, threw a grenade in my apartment, and handcuffed ME, I think I'd have a heart attack and die, too. Just imagine all the noise & commotion -- cops yelling at you, the noise & smoke from the grenade, your fear and confusion, the adrenaline rushing, your heart pounding...

You wouldn't even have to have a heart condition to have a stressed-out reaction to all that.

[lawdude]

"If it keeps one joint out of a kid's mouth, her death was worth it."

The sad thing is that IT WON'T. It was the wrong place. Even if it were the "right place", the KID will still get his joint. I in no way condone drugs but this kind of forced entry/terror tactics are beyond the standards for good police work. I hope her family sues the shit out of them.

The death of an innocent is NEVER worth it!

[Howlin]

Good lord....aren't YOU the dreamer.

Prepare yourself for utter nonsense.

[justshe]

TLBSHOW: So the question is why aren't the teachers the lawyers the police officers or the judges homes doors busted down?

AMELIA: The question is, how do you know all these people are using drugs?

Answer the question, Todd.

[supercat]

What do you mean it doesn't work, it works just fine. Can you immagine the vast numbers of additional antisocial addicts there would be if there was no law enforcement and the suggestion of acceptability? Granted that would be a libertarian wet-dream, but hell on earth as we could ever know it.

Pot was legal until 1930; somehow the country survived. I don't think people generally smoked it, but the plant was grown for plenty of other purposes.

Actually, decriminalization would reduce the amount of money to be made by drug dealers, and would correspondingly reduce drug dealer's incentive to spend effort to get people addicted.

If you think Prohibition II is working, you must have a pretty weak definition of success. It creates new problems without solving those it was created to deal with in the first place. That's success?

[ThinkDifferent]

Can you immagine the vast numbers of additional antisocial addicts there would be if there was no law enforcement and the suggestion of acceptability?

It would be horrible. Millions of white women would be seduced by jazz musicians. Just look at how American civilization collapsed after Prohibition I was repealed.

[harrowup]

The callousness of your view in concert with your intemperate remarks reminds me of the blowhard drunk at the end of the bar telling everyone else how to run their lives...and then running off to church to pray for the sinners.

[Amelia]

The sand must be deep where you live.

Yeah, I live near the beach. But my head is not in the sand.

I said that I'm sure some people in those professions use drugs, but not the majority. You're asserting that many people in those professions use drugs.

How do you know that? Can you prove it?

[tacticalogic]

Between this and the guys you know who slap their wives, you don't hang out with good people, do you? LOL

Only long enough to recognize a mean streak when I see one.

[A CA Guy]

That doesn't happen, because it wasn't on purpose that they came upon her.
But you are right in that the law breakers that these officers might have been there to take down could have charges of involuntary manslaughter added to them as the result of their actions requiring law enforcement to ever be there to begin with.