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RESERVE, La. -- A man’s home was wrongfully entered by force by St. John the Baptist sheriff’s deputies on Sept. 22, the St. John the Baptist Sheriff’s Office admitted on Thursday.
The incident happened about 10:40 p.m. in the 100 block of Star Terrace Drive in Reserve.
Deputies said a caller reported that she had been raped in her home in the area. When deputies arrived, they said they were unable to find the home the caller was calling from. The victim told police she didn’t want to step outside until a deputy knocked on the door.
After asking for assistance from dispatch, deputies said, operators gave the description of the home as a brick house with a white Chevrolet parked in the driveway.
A deputy said when he found a home matching the description, he saw a naked man in the home looking at officers through the window.
The deputy said he approached the door demanding to speak with the man inside the home.
When the man wouldn’t let the deputy into his home, the deputy’s supervisor authorized the use of force to gain entry because of the matching description and severity of the situation.
However, the man, John Swoffer recounts the incident differently.
“I was sleeping and heard a knock on the door,” he said. “I saw a light shining in the window and an officer saying, ‘I see him, I see him! Kick the door in!’ They kick the door in and nine different officers come in, guns drawn on me.”
Swafford said he was handcuffed and dragged outside partially clothed while deputies searched his home.
Deputies knocked down the door and entered the man’s home only to find that the woman who called actually lived next door to the man who also owned a white Chevrolet that was parked in the driveway.
“When they said ‘Clear,’ another deputy drove up and said, ‘Y'all at the wrong house.’ That's when they picked me up and put me inside,” Swafford said.
Before leaving, one officer told Swafford that he “had a nice house.”
After admitting that the wrong home was entered by force, the Sheriff’s Office ordered the doorway to be repaired immediately using inmate labor.
Swafford met with the sheriff and Swafford said the sheriff had heard about the incident.
“He heard they kicked the door in the wrong door and he had told me they ‘clearly made a boo-boo’ - he said, ‘boo-boo’ -- yeah, it made me feel worthless,” Swafford said.
Swafford filed a complaint against the Sheriff’s Office and an internal investigation is under way to determine if the deputies’ actions violated office policy.
Read more: http://www.wdsu.com/news/29543532/detail.html#ixzz1bRDv4F notice how they said they fixed the mans door using INMATE labor???
The incident happened about 10:40 p.m. in the 100 block of Star Terrace Drive in Reserve.
Deputies said a caller reported that she had been raped in her home in the area. When deputies arrived, they said they were unable to find the home the caller was calling from. The victim told police she didn’t want to step outside until a deputy knocked on the door.
After asking for assistance from dispatch, deputies said, operators gave the description of the home as a brick house with a white Chevrolet parked in the driveway.
A deputy said when he found a home matching the description, he saw a naked man in the home looking at officers through the window.
The deputy said he approached the door demanding to speak with the man inside the home.
When the man wouldn’t let the deputy into his home, the deputy’s supervisor authorized the use of force to gain entry because of the matching description and severity of the situation.
However, the man, John Swoffer recounts the incident differently.
“I was sleeping and heard a knock on the door,” he said. “I saw a light shining in the window and an officer saying, ‘I see him, I see him! Kick the door in!’ They kick the door in and nine different officers come in, guns drawn on me.”
Swafford said he was handcuffed and dragged outside partially clothed while deputies searched his home.
Deputies knocked down the door and entered the man’s home only to find that the woman who called actually lived next door to the man who also owned a white Chevrolet that was parked in the driveway.
“When they said ‘Clear,’ another deputy drove up and said, ‘Y'all at the wrong house.’ That's when they picked me up and put me inside,” Swafford said.
Before leaving, one officer told Swafford that he “had a nice house.”
After admitting that the wrong home was entered by force, the Sheriff’s Office ordered the doorway to be repaired immediately using inmate labor.
Swafford met with the sheriff and Swafford said the sheriff had heard about the incident.
“He heard they kicked the door in the wrong door and he had told me they ‘clearly made a boo-boo’ - he said, ‘boo-boo’ -- yeah, it made me feel worthless,” Swafford said.
Swafford filed a complaint against the Sheriff’s Office and an internal investigation is under way to determine if the deputies’ actions violated office policy.
Read more: http://www.wdsu.com/news/29543532/detail.html#ixzz1bRDv4F notice how they said they fixed the mans door using INMATE labor???
This happens ALL THE TIME. There was an elderly couple gundowned at 10pm when a homeowner aimed a rifle who had guns drawn at his elderly wife, standing at the sink.
Police shot the man sand his wife died of a heart attack.
Police had the wrong house. It was dispatched correctly. The policeman had dyslexia and transposed the address.
The family sued the city and won millions. Can you imagine that happening to your parents? Unforgivable mistake.
The Deputy Sheriffs will argue and courts will likely agree that they have qualified immunity in a case such as this. Qualified immunity bars suits by private citizens except when a law enforcement official knowingly violates the law or acts in an incompetent manner.
In this case, while what occurred is wrong, those in law enforcement were going off of information provided to them by the victim and dispatach. The fact the man owed the same kind of car will be used to argue it was a case of simple mistaken identity and because the man's door was replaced, he did not suffer any actual damages in terms of a loss of property.
He might be able to sue for emotional distress but I doubt he will prevail on this claim alone. Now, if he suffered medical damages, i.e. medical bills resulting from being phsically injured then he would have actual damages he could sue for.