Police raid wrong house, kill family dog and make children sit with its bloody corpse

Police raid wrong house, kill family dog and make children sit with its bloody corpse

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Each plaintiff was forced to the floor at gun and rifle point and handcuffed behind their backs," the complaint says. "Defendants shot and killed the family dog and forced the handcuffed children to sit next to the carcass of their dead and bloody pet for more than an hour while defendants continued to search the plaintiffs' home

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This story is disgusting So a quick recap a St. Paul, Minn drug team came and busted down the wrong door they shot the family dog handcuffed the homes nine occupants 3 of witch were children and instead of leading them out of the house they forced them to sit next to their dead and bloody pet for over an hour I am absolutely shocked that someone would do something like this

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No words come to mind. Only severe emotions.

Teach people to have pets, in a police state.

Heart goes out to these poor souls! Classic case of an eye for an eye. Same thing should happen to the Police scums familys. I know this may sound harsh but these totalitarian paramilitary scum need to sit up and take note! And remember you do have the right to bear arms! Its in you constitution is it not? Atleast for the time being.

The family shouldn't receive any money. IMHO the officers involved in this massive screw up should all be let go. I'm in the healthcare industry, and if I make a mistake as big as this I could lose my license and never get to practice again. How is this any different??

Very sad, this happens far too often with police raiding the wrong house. There was an instance in my home town where a man was shoot after a no knock raid was performed on the wrong home. Caused a big shake up and ended up changing a lot of policies.

I'm sure the usual defenders of the police will be here soon to defend them, though I really can't see how this is at all defensible.

Was there a thread about it when it actually happened, given it was two years ago? Just curious.

I have had my house raided for someone else(Warrent in the wrong name), girl friend was 9 months pregnant. The bastards ripped up my floor boards for gods sake, plus strip searched my self and also nearly killed my dog when the door went in! Unless the Police scum "actively show malice" toward you eg raid your home more than once. Then essentially you dont have a legal leg to stand on, atleast thats how it is here in Scotland UK.

reply to post by nathanscottecho

I'm not too keen on the huge amount the family is suing for, however I believe they are right to sue. Who do you propose should be responsible for the years of counseling these children will need to recover from this incident?

Besides, if you work in the healthcare industry you should know that if you made a huge mistake not only would you possibly lose your license, but more than likely you and the facility that employs you would be getting hit with a big fat law suit as well.

Originally posted by khimbar
I'm sure the usual defenders of the police will be here soon to defend them, though I really can't see how this is at all defensible.

Was there a thread about it when it actually happened, given it was two years ago? Just curious.

edit on 7-8-2012 by khimbar because: (no reason given)

edit on 7-8-2012 by khimbar because: (no reason given)

The irony is, they often complain that no one ever says a good word when a cop does a good job.

Maybe it's because when a cop does a good job, it's ... DOING HIS JOB.

When they screw up, they... are SCREW UPS. And we're allowed to shake our heads, wag our fingers, or in this case, vomit in disgust.

The cop apologists are thick and plenty. But they never get that simple point.

I mean, no one says to a doctor "Oh my hero, you diagnosed my cancer so quick!!" -- but that's a doctor doing a good job. They never say "Oh Mr Firefighter, my house and all my possessions are now gone forever, but thank you for making sure the fire is out!" but that's a firemans job.

So why do they expect we say "Thank you officer for making sure my dog didn't bight you, even if you got the address wrong!" ?

No, when a doctor doesn't diagnose you, or fails to treat you, we make sure they never do it again.

When a fireman doesn't put your house out, and 5 other houses burn down, they are guilty.

So when a cop shoots the dog of an accidental address? "But dem poor coppers are doing a hard job guy, stop being meanies!!"

PFFFFT.

But they get away with it... every damn time.

Lose the uniform, badge and gun... they are NO DAMN GOOD. this sort of fail, is not acceptable..

God damn Fail Hards...

It seems to me that if your standard run of the mill criminal were to force into someone’s home, kill their dog, then handcuff the occupants in the house so they couldn’t escape, I’m pretty sure that would be some kind of hostage situation, definitely a crime. The guy would probably go to jail.

Why is this not the case when they’re “cops”?

Maybe we should throw them into jail one time, just to prove the point that what they're doing isn't too dissimilar to what the criminals do that they're apparently protecting us from? After all, they're public servants, and this isn't really in their job description, is it.

The police busting down doors in middle of the night and raiding the wrong home and terrorizing the occupants is not something you read about every day, it possibly doesn't even occur somewhere across the nation every day whether or not you read about it. It does appear to happen just a bit too often though, most recently in Lake County, Florida where the unintended victim was shot and killed while answering the door when the raiding officers at least had the courtesy to knock first though refused to identify themselves.

Residents said the unannounced knock at the door at 1:30 a.m. may be the reason why the tragedy happened.

"He was the wrong guy and he got shot and killed anyway. There's fault on both sides. I think more so on the county," Ryan Perry said. "I can understand why he [the deputy] did it, but it should have never gone down like that," Perry said.

But that was a similar instance with an even more tragic outcome. This article is about a family that was raided and terrorized by police while even after realizing their mistake continued to pilfer through their home hoping to find some bit of contraband that would help justify their mistake.

But on the night of July 13, 2010, the task force broke down the Francos' doors, "negligently raided the home of plaintiffs, by raiding the wrong home and physically brutalizing all the above-named occupants of said house," the complaint states.

After breaking down doors and shooting the family dog, a drug task force forced handcuffed children "to sit next to the carcass of their dead and bloody pet for more than an hour," and kept searching even after they knew they were raiding the wrong house, the family claims in Federal Court.

Assumedly that is just good police work intended to make the guilty parties reconsider the consequences in case they might ever think to commit those heinous crimes again.

They have to subdue and handcuff every civilian in the house, except perhaps the naked women.

They "handcuffed all of the inhabitants of the plaintiffs' home except plaintiff Analese Franco who was forced, virtually naked, from her bed onto the floor at gunpoint by officers of the St. Paul Police Department SWAT team and officers of the St. Paul Police Department."

The complaint states: "Upon forcibly breaching the plaintiffs' home, defendants terrorized the plaintiffs at gun and rifle point.

One child "was kicked in the side, handcuffed and searched at gunpoint," the family says.

Another child, a girl, "a diabetic, was handcuffed at gunpoint and prevented by officer from obtaining and taking her medication, thus induced a diabetic episode as a result of low-blood sugar levels."

I suppose they figured if they could just locate a little bag of pot in daddy's sock drawer or a line or two of toot tucked away among mommy's personal items then their mistake could all be justified and this would be chalked-up to good police work where hardened criminals were rooted out and discovered during an investigation. After all, though they had the wrong "suspects" they did, however erroneously, have these folks' address on their search warrant.

In summary, the complaint states: "Defendants improperly and illegally remained in the home of the plaintiffs searching and seizing items despite the fact that they had learned that they had raided the wrong home.

"Defendant Scovill lied when he informed the District Court judge who reviewed Scovill's search warrant application that Scovill had obtained information from the confidential informant that the plaintiffs' home was the properly targeted house and that the address and the identity of the individuals who resided therein were the plaintiffs," it says.

It seems they did turn up a small caliber weapon in one of the bedrooms, which normally is not against the law, but regardless of whose room they found it in it must be assumed by police that it belonged to the one person that may have lost their privilege to own a weapon.

During their illegal search, the officers found a .22 revolver in the basement bedroom of plaintiff Gilbert Castillo. The cops "improperly attributed the possession of said weapon to plaintiff Roberto Franco and arrested him."
"Plaintiff Roberto Franco was wrongfully convicted of the alleged offense and is currently incarcerated with the Minnesota Department of Corrections," the complaint states.

With the find of that weapon we can assume the officers could now congratulate themselves for bringing a violator to justice and the press would have nothing contrary to report. That would hopefully make up for any little problem of misidentification and would be another instance the American public just never would have to bother reading about.

The suit seeks $30 million in compensation for civil rights violations and punitive damages.

I hope they receive every penny and the judge decides to award them more.

Originally posted by nathanscottecho
The family shouldn't receive any money. IMHO the officers involved in this massive screw up should all be let go. I'm in the healthcare industry, and if I make a mistake as big as this I could lose my license and never get to practice again. How is this any different??

If that was my family I would be compensated enormously, my children would be receivnig massive counseling, moved, in a new large home, in a new location, with new schooling, possibly tutors, because they would be scarred and harmed for life. Violence and betrayal of trust from law enforcement is huge. And I would be asking millions.

And I hope they're let go on top of that.

Hospitals/doctors and staff are sued too.

This is gross negligence and brutality. And only if victims stand up and stop this behavior once for all.

Stories such as this are why I'm glad I live where I do, in a very small, tight knit community where I know all the cops in my county......all 4 of them, well 5 if you count the wildlife officer that lives in our county. I used to live in central Florida and have witnessed the totalitarianism and ignorance of the moron Tyranny Enforcement Officers there and feel for the people that live in large cities and metropolitan areas.

If this situation ever happened to me and a bunch of armed thugs with badges kicked my door down in the middle of the night, or day for that matter it would be a bloodbath, not because I am a psycho that wants to ever harm anyone, but because I believe in the constitution and my right to be free of illegal searches and seizures as well as my right and duty to defend myself and my family. The cops will not ever defend you, nor is it their job to do so per several USSC rulings.

Now if the cops actually did there job the way they are actually supposed to and knocked on my door and announced who they were I would answer and cooperate. However when they bust in unannounced they will be treated just like any other armed assailant that would try to bust into my home, 2 in center mass and one in the head.

They have no right to destroy my property, tresspass on my property, or threaten and terrorize my family; regardless of what some judge wearing a bath robe sitting behind a bench says in his interpretation of what "free from illegal searches and seizures" and "right to be free in their own possessions". The judges in this country have made it "business as usual" to interpret the constitution to fit the agenda of government instead of upholding the constitution and limiting government.

Those judges don't work for the citizen, they work for the business of government and work to strip us of our dignity, humanity, and liberties. This is why police thugs are never punished for their acts of terrorism, the legislators and judges are the bosses of the police and the police no longer serve the people they serve the agenda of government.

Sadly with the tyrants we have in elected positions and on the benches of courts up to and including the USSC, we will continue to see an increase in acts such as this until the people have had enough and stand up to the tyranny.

reply to post by nathanscottecho


The police raided their home "on accident" .... killed their pet and brutalized the inhabitants and they don't deserve money? They deserve the $30m because we ALL know no cop will lose his job over this.

Its stories like this that always end up making me vote no on police levies.

I can't find a legitimate source for this story.

I almost had this happen to me years ago when I lived in my old apartment across town. Our street numbers were all messed up. The cops came knocking on my door at 2 in the morning. Talk about scary, I don't even open the door after 9 PM. I thought I was gonna get robbed. Nope, just cops at the wrong address. At least they didn't kick down the door and raid me while I was playing World of Warcraft (and yes, I was raiding lol).

Urgh, incompetence, they should just pay up and learn to read google maps.

When did 'serving' a warrant become bashing doors in and shooting family pets?

Hmmm. Try this scenario, coppers....

'Knock, knock.'

'Who's there?'

'It's the police, open up please.'

'Yes sir.'

'We are here to serve this search warrant on 1122 Park Avenue.'

'Sorry sir, this is 1120 Park Avenue.'

'Oh, our mistake, sorry to have bothered you.'

No dead pet this way. No traumatized children and no huge lawsuit.

reply to post by ninjas4321

Another case of police negligence and brutality? BTW, what kind of dog was it? There is a difference between the threat posed by a small dog that is mostly bark and a large Rottweiler that poses a greater physical threat. If the consequences for a false "home invasion" (which is what kicking the door is vs knocking on the door with a warrant) was greater by statute then I am sure that greater internal checks and balances within the department and judicial system (which has to sign off on the warrant) would be created.