Another
Bad
Raid,
Another
Lawsuit
for
the
City
of
New
York
5/22/98
In New York last week (5/12), the victim of yet another "wrong apartment" raid filed suit against the city. The plaintiff, a 29 year-old Latino woman with four young children, is seeking $20 million in damages. The raid occurred on June 5, 1997 at 8:30 AM when 15 narcotics agents stormed the Brooklyn apartment, pulled the nearly-naked woman from her bed, held a gun to her head and repeatedly demanded to know where the guns and drugs were. Susan Karten, the plaintiff's attorney, told United press International that the police refused to let her client comfort her 2 year-old child, and that other officers interrogated her 7 year-old about the woman and her boyfriend. Karten also claims that her client was told to "shut up" when she asked to see a warrant. The warrant, which the police apparently did have in their possession at the time of the raid, indicates that the wrong apartment was being searched, and, upon closer inspection, that the officer who swore to its contents was either indifferent to, or unaware of the facts to which he attested. Attorney Susan Karten spoke with The Week Online. "The warrant, which was issued on a tip from a confidential informant, of whom the officer states he has had 'personal knowledge and conversation'. In the warrant, the officer states that he has 'observed the premises' at 396 New Jersey Avenue, and that it is a 'four-story brown brick building.' In fact, 396 New Jersey is a three-story gray brick building." "The warrant also reads, 'I am informed that apartment 2-M can be reached by ascending the stairs at the front of the building to the second floor and turning left,' and that it is the only gray door in the building. Well, first of all, the apartment that my client lives in, that the police kicked in the door of, with guns drawn, was apartment 2-L, and it has a red door. In fact, there is no apartment 2-M in the building at all. However, if you follow the directions in the warrant, ascending the stairs in the front and turning left, you will find apartment 1-L which, coincidentally, has the only gray door in the building, and which, according to published reports, was raided, and heroin was found there, a month later." Karten continued, "My question is, someone, apparently operating under NYPD guidelines, made the decision to kick in the door anyway. We, and by 'we' I mean the citizens of New York City, have a right to see those guidelines and to evaluate why it is that these obvious mistakes were ignored, and a door was kicked in by fifteen officers with guns drawn, and an innocent family was terrorized." New York City police commissioner Howard Safir, addressing reporters, claimed that "it was the correct apartment as designated by the search warrant." Safir also dismissed the recent rash of "bad raid" lawsuits, saying, "It's just like a number of other cases that are popping up as people line up to see if they can sue the city for big dollars." Neither the NYPD Press Office, nor the NYPD Commissioner's Office responded to requests for comment on this story.
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