Officers shoot and kill man in his home during raid

[tman]

In one of the more notorious local raids on the wrong house,the cops were awarded medals:

Minneapolis cops raid wrong house, fire 22 times, are awarded medals.

Vang Khang traded gunfire with Minneapolis police in December when they raided his house looking for a violent gang member. Khang’s family counted 22 bullet holes

A family whose house was raided by police in error is outraged that eight officers involved were honored. Police say the eight, who also took fire, "performed bravely."

This could have been handled better, I suspect.

One cannot control one's bosses - if brass wants to spin for "positive" PR.

I don't know that I'd accept an award under those circumstances.

[jbrawny]

The SWAT team was awarded medals for what they did when they came under fire. That included protecting and shielding the father's own kids as the father blasted away blindly through a closed door. One of them took a blast in his vest while he was in one of the kids bedroom and was moving a child to safer spot. It was for their actions that they were awarded. The reason and fault of why they were sent there was a seperate issue.

I got a good insight of the story behind this botched Minneapolis police SWAT raid from a cop who was actually there. We had a good talk about this incident as I too didn't think that awarding the SWAT team was not right. But when he told me the whole story of what happened before and during the raid, I was blown away. Too bad he or the city can't publicly tell the whole story because the lawsuit settlement does not allow them.

[ex-LT]

How could it happen? Same way you show up at a "buddy's house" at the wrong address.....

123 E clyde st instead of 123 W Clyde ST.

or 132 E Clyde ST instead of 123 E Clyde ST....

Yep. A couple anecdotes prove that point.

1. I recently moved to Lakeville. My address is 16xyz Imperial Ct. I have received mail addressed to the homeowner at 16xyz Imperial Cir. Our houses are separated by less than 1/4 mile. In fact, if you turn the wrong way at the intersection, you end up on Imperial Circle - it happened to some friends the first time they came to visit. They turned right instead of left, and ended up at the wrong house. They figured it out when they were met by a large dog.

2. My application for homestead credit on the new house was initially denied by Dakota County because they had no record of the sale. When I called to inquire, the clerk checked my application and discovered that the property id they entered on the application was for Imperial Circle, not Imperial Court. Bottom line, all it takes is one small typographical error.

[mrp]

How could it happen? Same way you show up at a "buddy's house" at the wrong address.....

I would hope that before a no-knock warrant is issued there has been enough investigation and surveillance to ensure that at least one officer would know the correct location, and I would expect that officer to be there with the entry team to tell them whether they're about to break down the correct door or not. They don't just give them an address and tell them good luck, do they?

[jshuberg]

The ATF and IRS consider simple clerical errors to be a crime. Both have sent police commandos in to execute warrants over clerical errors with enough gear to take out UBL. Yet when the police themselves make a clerical error, the error is not considered to be a crime. It's a simple mistake that we must forgive them for. Even if they negligently set an elderly couple on fire by tossing flash bangs into bed with them. If a wrong address is listed on the warrant, or if the cops go to the wrong house, someone should be held criminally liable for the mistake. The same way as if I would have done my taxes improperly, or imported an exotic wood and paid the wrong type of tariff.

Sorry LEOs, you guys don't deserve a break when it comes to clerical errors if the rest of us are presumed to be a criminal when we do the same. There's a really simple solution to this, double check your work, and don't go into someones house commando style unless there is no other reasonable option in executing the warrant.

[Hmac]

1. I recently moved to Lakeville. My address is 16xyz Imperial Ct. I have received mail addressed to the homeowner at 16xyz Imperial Cir. Our houses are separated by less than 1/4 mile. In fact, if you turn the wrong way at the intersection, you end up on Imperial Circle - it happened to some friends the first time they came to visit. They turned right instead of left, and ended up at the wrong house. They figured it out when they were met by a large dog.

2. My application for homestead credit on the new house was initially denied by Dakota County because they had no record of the sale. When I called to inquire, the clerk checked my application and discovered that the property id they entered on the application was for Imperial Circle, not Imperial Court. Bottom line, all it takes is one small typographical error.

The officer requesting the warrant was always part of the pre-raid briefing and came with us every time. We never just got an address and piled into the van. The whole process was very deliberate.