In a distressing turn of events in Denver, a family was left traumatized following a bungled SWAT raid on their home. Kirsty Shelton, along with her daughters and their grandmother, were unexpectedly interrupted by intense banging on their apartment door. It turned out that a SWAT team was urgently seeking a man living across the hall from them. Despite attempts by Shelton’s mother to inform the officers that they had the wrong apartment, both she and her daughter were still taken outside at gunpoint.
As Denver officers entered the residence, they encountered Shelton’s young daughters, aged 5 and 6, amidst their toys. Despite assurances to the girls by one of the officers that he would bring their grandmother, the sudden presence within their bedroom resulted in terrified screams. The lawsuit filed on Tuesday revealed that the family was subsequently detained in a locked police car for roughly an hour while officers proceeded with their search. The wrongful action stemmed from a misidentification of apartments, with officers mistakenly targeting unit 306 instead of 307, where the suspect actually resided. The lawsuit accuses police of denying any mistake and not acknowledging the raid.
In an after-action report, the operation leader rationalized the decision, claiming the family was informed about the situation and evacuated for safety reasons. However, according to the lawsuit, such reasoning has left the Shelton family deeply shaken, leading them to seek psychological counseling. “The authorities promised an investigation but instead have avoided accountability, and to this day, they have not produced any reports,” commented Shelton, as she spoke about the incident’s emotional toll.
The Denver police department has opted not to comment due to ongoing litigation and an internal investigation into the matter. Lawyers John Holland and Dan Weiss, representing the Shelton family, pointed out discrepancies in officers’ reports, with some failing to mention even entering the Shelton apartment. The suspect sought by the police was eventually apprehended in the correct apartment across from the Shelton home.
This legal battle is taking place under Colorado’s police reform law of 2020, which prevents officers from evoking qualified immunity to block lawsuits. The complaint claims that over ten officers infringed on the family’s constitutional rights by conducting unlawful searches and using excessive force.
The case draws parallels with another incident last year where a Denver woman successfully sued the police after her home was misidentified as part of a SWAT operation. Such cases, while rare, underline potential risks involved when tactical teams wrongly enter residences, explained Thor Eells. As a former SWAT commander, Eells highlighted improvements over the last decade in decreasing these occurrences, attributing it to enhanced training and strategic shifts away from rash drug raid operations. Yet, he emphasized that once officers suspect a wrong address during an ongoing operation, abandoning it isn’t a straightforward choice due to safety reasons.
The complexities involved with operations in apartment buildings complicate SWAT missions, according to experts in tactical engagement. Address overlaps, high turnover, and structural challenges can mislead officers. Mark Lomax, a retired major and former executive of the National Tactical Officers Association, stressed the importance of thorough preparations like conducting surveillance and verifying blueprints of the target location whenever feasible.
