In today’s situation we look at an incident where a man had his residence “broken in” by the local police. Actually, what happened, was the local Emergency Response Team executed a warrant and instead of going to a drug dealer’s house, they botched the house numbers and hit this man’s house instead. The police did not “knock” on the door as they had a “no knock” warrant which means they are essentially kicking in the door and coming in. In this case, they booted the door, threw in flashbangs and had tactical officers storm the house. The man was the only one in the house at the time and he was promptly arrested at gunpoint. When the detectives entered the house, they realized they had the wrong home.
This actually does happen more often that one would think and certainly more often than the police would like to admit. It also doesn’t just happen with residential houses, as there is an example here where they actually executed the warrant on the wrong apartment:
“I was at home in my apartment on the 19th floor when my door burst in and the local police Emergency Action Team conducted a raid. I was sitting in my living room, alone. They demanded to know where “he” was as it was obvious very quickly that I was not the person that they were looking for and “he” was not in the apartment.
They showed me the warrant and I noticed that while the numbers indicated the 19th floor, the text version of the address indicated the sixteenth floor. Red faces all around. They raced off after making a call. A senior police officer came over along with a uniformed constable. The constable borrowed a chair and sat in the hallway guarding my apartment as the door was now leaned against the wall in my living room. The senior officer drove me to a very nice hotel downtown (close by my place) and booked me in. He asked me not to watch too much porn, told me I could have anything I wanted other than that and left me to my own devices. The next morning I was picked up and taken back to my apartment to gather my work clothes, a couple of guys were already remounting the door, and a different constable was play guard.”
So what can be done? Well, the first and most important part is that whatever the police find from searching the wrong residence during the raid is completely invalid and inadmissible. So, say for example you had some drug paraphilia sitting on the dining room table and they found it, they would not be able to do anything with it.
Marcel Rogge, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
In addition to kicking in doors, police often use other methods to breach doors and gain entry when deemed necessary. This includes shooting locks (ballistic breaching) and the use of battering rams or halligan bars (also known as hooligan tools), which are large pry bars. All of which can do considerable damage to the entry of a residence.
You can choose to sue the police department for any damage they have done while conducting the raid. I don’t doubt that as soon as the police realize they hit the wrong door, they will quickly rush to have any repairs made or money issued to you for the repairs anyway. But they will most likely cover damages to things such as doors and windows and to smoke and fire alarms from smoke grenades and flashbangs.
Depending on how the raid is conducted, you might be assaulted during the raid as the police go to arrest you. It is quite possible that during the confusion of the incident, you resist arrest, and physical force has to be used on you. If you sustain any injuries during such an incident, you can choose to sue the police.
Stay safe.
The Retired Cop dedicated 35 years to serving as a police officer, where he gained extensive experience by working in various specialized units such as patrol, SWAT, major case investigations, and traffic enforcement. His diverse background in law enforcement has equipped him with a deep understanding of criminal justice and operational procedures. This expertise allows him to offer valuable insights into legal matters, drawing from his extensive knowledge of the justice system.