and shooting an elderly woman probably wasn't the sort of publicity they would have wanted.
Wrong-address raids are rare, but common enough that this would fit the pattern. From a thread on another board:
Here, a brief list of cases to put the Ms. Johnston's death into its proper context. Let's start in Georgia:
# Xavier Bennett: In 1991, police in Dekalb County conduct a 2:30am no-knock raid on the home of Bobby Bowman, a man they suspect of possessing cocaine. They were right. He did, though only enough to identify him as a user, not a dealer. What they didn't expect is that his 8-year-old stepson Xavier Bennett would be inside, too. When Bowman, who says he thought he was being invaded, met police with a gun, the boy was killed in the crossfire. No disciplinary actions were taken against the police.
So police conduct a dangerous no-knock on a home where a child's inside. The child dies. Police blame the father of the child for (1) possessing cocaine, and (2) not realizing the raiding party was police.
# Deputy John Whitehead. In 2006, police in Macon conduct a 1:30 am raid on a suspected drug house. Residents of the house say they were startled from sleep, believed they were being robbed, and shot to defend themselves. In the process, the shoot and kill Dep. Whitehead. Once the resident realize they're being raided by police and not gang members, they surrender immediately. Prosecutors charge all five residents with murder, including two who had nothing to do with the shooting, one who wasn't even home at the time of the raid. Two face the death penalty. The sheriff later says of the raid, "It just went wrong."
So if you mistake midnight-raiding police for intruders and there are drugs in your home, your mistake means the death penalty. If your roommates possess drugs and mistake raiding police for intruders and shoot and kill an officer, you're looking at a murder charge.
Source: Phillip Ramati and Joe Kovac Jr., "'It just went wrong,' sheriff says of slaying," Macon Telegraph, April 5, 2006.
Cheryl Lynn Noel. In January 2005, police in Baltimore conduct an early-morning, no-knock raid on the the Noel home after finding marijuana seeds and traces of cocaine in the family trash. Noel, who's step-daughter had been murdered years earlier, retrieves a legally registered handgun when she hears the sound of home invaders rushing up her steps. A SWAT officer kicks open her door, and Noel, in her nightgown, is clutching the gun, not pointed, when he enters. The SWAT officer, wearing a bulletproof vest and helmet, and carrying a bulletproof ballistics shield, hits Noel twice from the doorway, then shoots her a third time from point-blank range. She dies.
Noel had no criminal record (her husband did, but his offense took place 35 years ago). She conducted Bible-study classes on her lunch breaks. Twenty months after the raid, and probably not coincidentally just weeks after the Noel family filed a civil rights suit, the Baltimore County Police Department awarded the officer who shot and killed Noel a medal for "bravery, courage, and valor" in shooting her.
So if you're a woman whose daughter has been murdered, and you mistake raiding police for criminal intruders, your punishment is death, and the officer who shoots you not only isn't disciplined, he's given an award.
Sources: Joseph M. Giordano, "Woman is shot, killed by police in drug raid," Dundalk Eagle, January 27, 2005; Joseph M. Giordano, "Petition reflects anguish," Dundalk Eagle, March 31, 2005; my own reporting.
# Tony Martinez. On December 20, 2001, police in Travis County, Texas storm a mobile home on a no-knock drug warrant. Nineteen-year-old Tony Martinez, nephew of the man named in the warrant, is asleep on the couch at the time of the raid. Martinez was never suspected of any crime. When Martinez rises from the couch as police break into the home, deputy Derek Hill shoots Martinez in the chest, killing him. Martinez is unarmed.
A grand jury later declines to indict Hill in the shooting, and he continues his employment wit the police department. The same Travis County paramilitary unit would later erroneously raid a woman's home after mistaking ragweed for marijuana plants.
So if police conduct a no-knock raid and mistakenly kill a completely innocent, unarmed person, it's no one's fault, because these raids are naturally dangerous and volatile, and it's easy to see how mistaken identity might happen.
Sources: Clair Osborn, "Survivors sue Travis county over fatal raid," Austin American-Statesman, May 10, 2003, p. B1; Claire Osborn, "Deputy not indicted in drug raid death," Austin American-Statesman, April 4, 2002.
# Edwin Delamora. On February 15, 2001, the same task force that would later mistakenly shoot and kill Tony Martinez raids the Del Valle, Texas mobile home of Edwin Delamora, who lives with his wife and two children. As two deputies beat down his door with a battering ram, Delamora fires through the door, fearing he is under attack. His wife is on the phone with 911 at the time he fires. One bullet from his gun strikes and kills sheriff's deputy Keith Ruiz.
Delamora had no previous criminal record, and his defense says the raid on his home was influenced by an anonymous informant who turned out to be the brother of two sheriff's deputies. Information about the informant's relationship with the police was suppressed at trial.
Delamora was eventually convicted of capital murder, and sentenced to life in prison. Police found less than an ounce of methamphetamine and one ounce of marijuana in his home. Prosecutors declined to seek the death penalty because of substantial doubt about whether or not Delamora knew the people outside his door were police. That decision sparked heavy criticism from Texas Attorney General John Cornyn (now a U.S. Senator), who moved for a law requiring the death penalty to be an option in any capital murder case.
Time magazine would later report that people in the community were suspicious of the narcotics task force, describing the team's general attitude as "those task-force guys were Rambo wannabes."
So if men are attempting to break into your home, and you mistake them for criminal intruders -- bolstered by the fact that your wife calls 911 -- you get no deference for the volatility or confrontational nature of SWAT raids. Mistake a cop for an intruder when firing your gun, and you're going to jail for a long, long time. And God help you if there's some dope in your house, too. When a member of the same SWAT team later mistakes and unarmed, innocent man for a deadly threat, and consequently shoots and kills him, the police officer won't even be disciplined, much less sent to jail.
Sources: John Cloud, "Guarding Death's Door," Time, July 14, 2003; Jordan Smith, "Another Drug War Casualty," Austin Chronicle, July 19, 2002; "Delamora attorney says key facts were withheld," Austin American-Statesman, July 29, 2002, p. A1; "Cornyn: Death penalty must be option when officer killed," Associated Press, July 25, 2002.
# Meredith "Buddy" Sutherland. On October 4, 2002, police raid a home in Windsor, Pennsylvania on suspicion of drug activity. Once inside, police go from room to room in the dark home. Trooper Gregory Broaddus enters a bedroom where Meredith "Buddy" Sutherland, Jr. is sleeping. Sutherland doesn't live in the house, but is visiting a friend. Officer Broaddus mistakenly believes Sutherland to be clutching a weapon when he enters the room, and fires, striking Sutherland. Sutherland has no weapon, and would never be charged with a crime. He spent 11 days in a coma, and nearly three weeks in the hospital.
Other occupants of the home were eventually charged with drug crimes. Sutherland sued in June 2004 for redress for his injuries. The state attorney general in turn asked that the suit be dismissed, arguing that the officer in question had qualified immunity, and that, incredulously, Sutherland himself was responsible for his own injuries.
So if you are an innocent person visiting a friend whose roommates are involved in drug activity, if a police officer mistakes something you're holding as you're lying in your bed for a gun, it's your fault for, I guess, lying there so guilty-looking, and your punishment is eleven days in a coma.
Sources: Elizabeth Evans, "Man sues over drug-raid injury; SWAT-type team hit Windsor home," York Dispatch, June 9, 2004. Elizabeth Evans, "Shooting victim home; Family of man wounded in raid considers lawsuit," York Dispatch, October 23, 2002.
# James Hoskins. In February 2004, Middletown, Pennsylvania police storm the home of James Hoskins on a drug warrant. They are looking for Hoskins' brother Jim, whom they eventually arrest for possessing "a small amount of marijuana, a glass pipe, and about $622," according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.
From his bed, Hoskins hears the loud thud of police breaking into his home. Naked and unarmed, he gets up to investigate. As he approaches the door, a Middletown detective pushes his way into Hoskins' bedroom. Hoskins and his girlfriend say the detective never identified himself. The detective fires, and later explains that he mistook the t-shirt Hoskins was using to cover his genitals for a gun. The bullet enters Hoskins' abdomen, and rips through his stomach, small intestine, and colon. It eventually lodges in his leg, which must later be amputated.
It isn't until weeks later, after he emerges from a coma, that Hoskins learns the man who shot him is a police officer, and not a criminal intruder. Remarkably, the Middletown Township police department saw no need to conduct an internal investigation of the shooting until prodded by the district attorney. The officer who shot Hoskins would never be disciplined.
So if a police officer mistakes a t-shirt for a gun and shoots an innocent man, we should give him the benefit of the doubt, given the volatile and confrontational nature of SWAT raids.
Sources: Larry King, "Man shot in apartment by police hopes for justice," Philadelphia Inquirer, April 7, 2004; "Pennsylvania Police Fail To Investigate Shooting of Unarmed Man," Associated Press, September 3, 2004; Laurie Mason and Harry Yanoshak, "Cop cleared in shooting of unarmed man," Bucks County Courier Times, April 23, 2004; Larry King, "Middletown settles police shooting; A Bristol Twp. Man had sued after a Feb. raid targeting his brother left him without his left leg," Philadelphia Inquirer, January 16, 2005, p. B8.
I can't vouch for the sources, and I am NOT cop-bashing here. I do think, however, that dynamic entries are treated far too casually by some in authority, and should be reserved for when they're needed rather than when they're convenient--and the department should be darn sure to get the RIGHT ADDRESS. And that when there is a screwup, full restitution should be made, and criminal charges should be filed as appropriate; the Fourth Amendment demands no less, IMHO.
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