Sorry, Wrong Number!
Oops, except nobody dialed wrong -- they broke through the front door of the wrong apartment...after a two-year investigation. Via @RadleyBalko, Jim Armstrong reports at WBZ that the FBI chainsawed and kicked in the front door of the apartment where Judy Sanchez lives with her 3-year-old daughter:
Sanchez says they left her on the floor for 35 minutes, with her daughter screaming for her mommy in the other room."I was told not to move, so I didn't move," she tells WBZ, out of fear that she'd be shot.
Eventually the feds figured out they were in the wrong spot and they arrested the suspect they were after in the next door apartment.
Sanchez can't believe that a two-year long federal investigation ended at the wrong door.
"The looks on their faces when they knew they got the wrong door was priceless," she recalls. "They looked at each other dumbfounded."
Sanchez says another agent came by later that day to offer an apology, but it was one that Sanchez felt wasn't quite genuine.
"For me it felt routine apology, it felt like just a regular, 'I'm sorry for the inconvenience. Here's the phone number for your landlord to get reimbursed for the door, have a good day.'
And that's how I felt, like it was a smack in the face."
She's just lucky that she wasn't standing there with a phone in her hand they could mistake for a gun.
The drug war is too often a war on innocent citizens -- as fought by the Three Stooges in cop uniforms.
How brain-dead is this? Anyone with a gun would have shot the police - what else would you do, if you saw someone chainsawing through your door? Castle doctrine - if someone is breaking into your house, you have a right to fear for your safety, and a right to defend yourself with deadly force.
What's wrong with knocking on the door like a civilized person? These macho, testosterone-loaded tactics make no sense unless you have a hostage situation - and then they had better be coming in through the windows at the same time.
If the police really want to arrest someone who may be armed and dangerous, they would be better off catching them on a trip to the grocery store, not chainsawing down their door.
Idiots.
a_random_guy at February 2, 2012 1:40 AM
Guess FBI isn't all it is cracked up to be the way they show in the movies. :-) Maybe, someday we will hear of Israel's secret service(which currently has such a great image in the world) also making gaffe's
Redrajesh at February 2, 2012 1:47 AM
She's lucky they did not shoot her dog, which is routine for these kinds of no-knock assaults on citizens' homes.
And for the attitude that helps authorities to get away with these things, check out this comment on that piece by "Robert":
That's right, he seems to think people should put up any intrusions into their homes and smashed doors, as long as one bad guy is caught. This sniveling coward of a man could not be misunderstand the Fourth Amendment more.
Christopher at February 2, 2012 7:14 AM
Not smart in the era of home invasion.
If someone's chainsawing my door, I'm firing the shotgun at it until I don't hear any more movement.
As far as your suggestion random - they had many opportunities to get David Koresh when he went into town, and ignored all of them because they were more interested in the public display of power than in the arrest.
brian at February 2, 2012 7:15 AM
Amy Alkon
https://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2012/02/sorry-wrong-num.html#comment-2951362">comment from brianthey were more interested in the public display of power than in the arrest.
This has to be a large part of the point of doing it this way.
Amy Alkon
at February 2, 2012 7:30 AM
Yep. Just like the TSA, the message is "Submit, peon!"
brian at February 2, 2012 8:01 AM
From the linked news article:
"Trouble is, Sanchez lives in apartment 2R. The suspect they were after is in 2F."
Using a chainsaw is ridiculous, whoever they were going after.
Further, I infer that after a two year investigation, just in front of the building, they pulled out a wrinkled piece of paper, squinted at the small type, and got it wrong.
This is the tragedy of small type, low printer ink, and people who think breaking down doors is routine work with a few mistakes.
The police are protected by qualified immunity, given a pass for mistakes made carrying out their official duties. So, they don't care about their mistakes. It is the old, elitist view. A few peasants must be injured or die to maintain order, c'est la vie.
Andrew_M_Garland at February 2, 2012 9:45 AM
Legalize it.
Feebie at February 2, 2012 11:05 AM
The police are protected by qualified immunity, given a pass for mistakes made carrying out their official duties. So, they don't care about their mistakes
And sadly those who defend themselves against no knock, no annocuncment warrants (assuming they arent murdered by the cops) are often charged with assulat, attempted murder and even murder for defening themselves against people they had no idea were cops.
I dont understand how juries find people defending their famillies against an armed invastion guilty when they have no way of knowing they people breaking into their homes are cops
lujlp at February 2, 2012 1:49 PM
"And sadly those who defend themselves against no knock, no annocuncment warrants (assuming they arent murdered by the cops) are often charged with assulat, attempted murder and even murder for defening themselves against people they had no idea were cops."
I know someone whose workplace happened to be in the same building as a diploma mill. The day they were raided, he and everyone else in the building were forced to lie facedown at gunpoint, and nobody knew these guys were cops. He thought for sure they were all about to be executed by a band of violent thugs.
Meloni at February 2, 2012 2:26 PM
Everything changed on 9/11.
Including the right of the people to hold these agencies responsible for their actions and inactions.
Gog_Magog_Carpet_Reclaimers at February 2, 2012 4:23 PM
I hope she's contacting local organizations for help getting some sort of compensation.
NicoleK at February 2, 2012 11:15 PM
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