In Denver, a family is traumatized after a SWAT team mistakenly raids their apartment while searching for a suspect who lived across the hall. Despite being told they had the wrong apartment, the officers ordered the family outside at gunpoint and then entered the apartment, encountering two young girls in their bedroom. The family was then locked in a police car for an hour while the officers continued their search. The police denied making a mistake and covered up the raid, leading to a lawsuit filed by the family under Colorado’s police reform law.
The lawsuit alleges that at least 10 officers violated the family’s constitutional rights by subjecting them to an unlawful search and seizure and excessive force. Last year, a similar case resulted in a $3.76 million verdict for a 78-year-old woman whose home was wrongly searched by a SWAT team. Experts in tactical operations note that mistakes in raiding wrong locations have decreased due to better training, but challenges exist in apartment buildings due to unclear unit numbers and frequent tenant turnover. Despite improvements, the need to secure a location for safety reasons means that once a raid begins, officers cannot immediately back away, even if they suspect they have entered the wrong location.
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