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Raid the wrong house, get a medal

redneckandyredneckandy Member Posts: 9,682 ✭✭✭✭
edited August 2008 in General Discussion
http://wcco.com/iteam/swat.team.honored.2.783216.html

I-TEAM: SWAT Team Honored For Raid On Wrong House
Reporting
Caroline Lowe MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) _ On Monday, Minneapolis Police Chief Tim Dolan handed out honors to a team of officers involved in a botched raid at an innocent family's home more than seven months ago. The family is upset and their attorney criticizes the awards and questions the timing.

Just days before Christmas, the sound of intruders breaking into their home in North Minneapolis prompted Vang Khang to grab his shotgun to protect his six children. His terrified wife called 911.

Khang fired several shots at the "intruders" who turned out to be members of the Minneapolis Police Department's SWAT team. The officers returned fire. Their protective gear prevented them from being harmed by the bullets.

No one was hurt in the shootout last Dec. 16 and the Minneapolis Police Chief ordered an internal investigation. The house was left riddled with bullet holes and broken glass. Two days later, Dolan apologized to the family and launched an internal investigation to find out how the SWAT team wound up in an innocent family's house in the middle of the night.

The investigation determined that the team had gone there looking for a gang member's guns after an informant gave investigators in the department's Violent Offenders Task Force bad information. The investigation is ongoing.

On Monday, Dolan recognized members of the SWAT team for their bravery and how they handled the raid. With Mayor R.T. Rybak and other city officials looking on, the chief handed out medals and commendations.

"The easy decision would have been to retreat under covering fire. The team did not take the easy way out," Dolan told the crowd. "This is a perfect example of a situation that could have gone horribly wrong, but did not because of the professionalism with which it was handled."

The Khang family was upset when they learned of the awards given to the SWAT team.

"They were outraged and they were hurt. They were hurt. To this day this family continues to suffer," said their attorney, former U.S. Attorney Tom Heffelfinger.

Heffelfinger said the family has notified the city that they plan to file a lawsuit over the botched raid. He questions the timing and motives for the award.

"Why now are we seeing the police department honoring these men? In this context, I'm convinced this is an effort on the part of the police leadership to sanitize the conduct of their officers on December 16," he said.

"The officers put themselves in harm's way. They were shot at and shot and deserved to be recognized," said Dolan in a statement defending the awards to the SWAT team.

Dolan said an internal investigation conducted by his staff cleared the conduct of the SWAT officers who raided the Khang home.

More than seven months later, the internal review has not finished looking into how the officers and supervisors in the Violent Offenders' Task Force handled the investigative piece of the case which preceded the raid at the Khang home. So far, no one has been disciplined in connection with the mistaken raid.
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Comments

  • buschmasterbuschmaster Member Posts: 14,229 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    whatever if they should be blamed for something or not, they need to be more careful. it's only luck that it didn't turn out much much worse than it did.
  • Hunter MagHunter Mag Member Posts: 6,611 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Pretty sick if you ask me. Did they double check the address or did they just take it as an "easy bust" from the informant and not check anything.

    Medals and commendations? [xx(]
    Suspensions and firings is more like it.
    They sure take care of their own.[xx(]

    I know there some LEO's here and I know a few myself but this is the way I feel about this situation.
  • p3skykingp3skyking Member Posts: 25,750
    edited November -1
    I'm left speechless upon reading this. Someone in that department MUST be on drugs to foster a surreal atmosphere in which mistakes are lauded. [xx(]
    I can imagine Dolan telling a surgeon what a great job he did amputating a gangrenous leg from a patient. Only one thing....it was the other leg that needed to come off. [:0]
  • buschmasterbuschmaster Member Posts: 14,229 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    wonder if that would be enough to get him fired.

    there's gotta be all kinds of 'normal' jobs where you screw up that bad, you're out of a job.
  • dan kellydan kelly Member Posts: 9,799
    edited November -1
    [V][V]
    the officers put themselves in harms way and were shot at and shot???
    well, excuse me but if a cop or anyone else illegally breaks into my house they are going to run the risk of getting shot too!![:(!] and rightly so!
    i smell an attempted coverup!! big time!!...the internal investigation is still underway? after all this time?? please!!
    i hope the innocent people who were terrified by this illegal entry get very very rich from this!
    i`m not putting any blame on the individual cops, but whoever it was who told them to raid that house needs to start looking for a new job!![:(!]
  • redneckandyredneckandy Member Posts: 9,682 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Khang fired several shots at the "intruders" who turned out to be members of the Minneapolis Police Department's SWAT team. The officers returned fire. Their protective gear prevented them from being harmed by the bullets.

    The whole situation pisses me off. After reading the article I noticed the homeowner was able to hit the intruders, but the officers who returned fire in a house full of kids were not capable of hitting him(and none of the bullets found any of his family).

    quote:The investigation determined that the team had gone there looking for a gang member's guns A SWAT team to look for firearms in the middle of the night??

    My other post makes more and more sense everyday.
    http://forums.gunbroker.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=316971
  • dan kellydan kelly Member Posts: 9,799
    edited November -1
    yeah andy...it does doesn`t it!!!
  • fizzerfizzer Member Posts: 748 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    "The easy decision would have been to retreat under covering fire. The team did not take the easy way out," Dolan told the crowd. "This is a perfect example of a situation that could have gone horribly wrong, but did not because of the professionalism with which it was handled."


    I am certain it is brave to shoot up a house of an innocent family instead of knocking down the door of gang bangers with ak47s.
  • pickenuppickenup Member Posts: 22,844 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Head shots. [;)]
  • Hunter MagHunter Mag Member Posts: 6,611 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Minneapolis Police Chief Tim Dolan handed out honors to a team of officers involved in a botched raid at an innocent family's home more than seven months ago.
    Not that I was planning on it but Minneapolis is now on the list of citys never to visit or live.[xx(]
  • CS8161CS8161 Member Posts: 13,595 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I realize there is a need for special weapons officers, but I think they are overused and have caused more problems for departments with lawsuits than they are worth. They are a bunch of ninja cowboys, who enjoy their work too much. They are police officers, whose mission is supposed to be "protect and serve" but I think that is lost on most of them.
  • quickmajikquickmajik Member Posts: 16,324
    edited November -1
    Wow I thought this kinda thing never happened. Remember all those cops playing the CMA rodeo for themselves and there brotherhood on that one post? They could have killed this guy, his wife, and his kids. One more reason why you shouldn't trust them.

    incase you forgot wich post, it was called "rights of police Vs. citizens."

    Distroy a house and almost kill some kids, then get a medal? FAH's!
  • yoshmysteryoshmyster Member Posts: 20,979 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    That whole thing reminds me of a movie "Thursday" where a group of cops breaks in to the "Wong House"[:D].
  • sarge_3adsarge_3ad Member Posts: 8,387 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    I'm surprised the home owner is still waiting to file a lawsuit. Would the city be responsible for the damages cause to the residence?
  • spanielsellsspanielsells Member Posts: 12,498
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by redneckandy
    http://wcco.com/iteam/swat.team.honored.2.783216.html

    I-TEAM: SWAT Team Honored For Raid On Wrong House
    Reporting
    Caroline Lowe MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) _ On Monday, Minneapolis Police Chief Tim Dolan handed out honors to a team of officers involved in a botched raid at an innocent family's home more than seven months ago. The family is upset and their attorney criticizes the awards and questions the timing.

    Just days before Christmas, the sound of intruders breaking into their home in North Minneapolis prompted Vang Khang to grab his shotgun to protect his six children. His terrified wife called 911.

    Khang fired several shots at the "intruders" who turned out to be members of the Minneapolis Police Department's SWAT team. The officers returned fire. Their protective gear prevented them from being harmed by the bullets.

    No one was hurt in the shootout last Dec. 16 and the Minneapolis Police Chief ordered an internal investigation. The house was left riddled with bullet holes and broken glass. Two days later, Dolan apologized to the family and launched an internal investigation to find out how the SWAT team wound up in an innocent family's house in the middle of the night.

    The investigation determined that the team had gone there looking for a gang member's guns after an informant gave investigators in the department's Violent Offenders Task Force bad information. The investigation is ongoing.

    On Monday, Dolan recognized members of the SWAT team for their bravery and how they handled the raid. With Mayor R.T. Rybak and other city officials looking on, the chief handed out medals and commendations.

    "The easy decision would have been to retreat under covering fire. The team did not take the easy way out," Dolan told the crowd. "This is a perfect example of a situation that could have gone horribly wrong, but did not because of the professionalism with which it was handled."

    The Khang family was upset when they learned of the awards given to the SWAT team.

    "They were outraged and they were hurt. They were hurt. To this day this family continues to suffer," said their attorney, former U.S. Attorney Tom Heffelfinger.

    Heffelfinger said the family has notified the city that they plan to file a lawsuit over the botched raid. He questions the timing and motives for the award.

    "Why now are we seeing the police department honoring these men? In this context, I'm convinced this is an effort on the part of the police leadership to sanitize the conduct of their officers on December 16," he said.

    "The officers put themselves in harm's way. They were shot at and shot and deserved to be recognized," said Dolan in a statement defending the awards to the SWAT team.

    Dolan said an internal investigation conducted by his staff cleared the conduct of the SWAT officers who raided the Khang home.

    More than seven months later, the internal review has not finished looking into how the officers and supervisors in the Violent Offenders' Task Force handled the investigative piece of the case which preceded the raid at the Khang home. So far, no one has been disciplined in connection with the mistaken raid.
    I thought Jim Rau says these things never happen. So, obviously this must be an Onion article or something.
  • spanielsellsspanielsells Member Posts: 12,498
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by p3skyking
    I'm left speechless upon reading this. Someone in that department MUST be on drugs to foster a surreal atmosphere in which mistakes are lauded. [xx(]
    I can imagine Dolan telling a surgeon what a great job he did amputating a gangrenous leg from a patient. Only one thing....it was the other leg that needed to come off. [:0]

    When I had my knee surgery last week, I had the surgeon write "YES" on my left knee and "NO" on my right knee. He didn't seem offended by the request.
  • buschmasterbuschmaster Member Posts: 14,229 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by yoshmyster
    That whole thing reminds me of a movie "Thursday" where a group of cops breaks in to the "Wong House"[:D].
    [:D][:D][:D]
  • mrseatlemrseatle Member Posts: 15,467 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Would like to know more technical details of how many officers were hit. were there any injuries treated that night? Did they beat up Khang anyway? Did Khang upgrade to an AK yet?
  • MEMPHISJOEMEMPHISJOE Member Posts: 185 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Just shooting the place us gets you a medal, next time kill a couple of the family, you'll be promoted!! Where is Jim Rau on this subject? I recall he had some blindness problems, and never would address Secret Warrants and SECRET COURTS. He [jim] was not even aware that we had secret courts in the U.S.,with secret mistakes. Makes you wonder how many times this crap happens every day. God bless the home owner and his family, the only good thing here is these jack *, could not shoot as well as they talk.
  • quickmajikquickmajik Member Posts: 16,324
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by mrseatle
    Would like to know more technical details of how many officers were hit. were there any injuries treated that night? Did they beat up Khang anyway? Did Khang upgrade to an AK yet?


    A siaga with a 20 round drum full of slugs would be good for stacked dudes in flack suits. wont hurt them too bad but they will be knocked down.[;)]
  • Don McManusDon McManus Member Posts: 23,460 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by mrseatle
    Would like to know more technical details of how many officers were hit. were there any injuries treated that night? Did they beat up Khang anyway? Did Khang upgrade to an AK yet?

    Dollars to donuts says Khang is flagged and will find it very difficult to purchase a firearm from an FFL in the state of Minnesota, and possibly the entire country.

    He did not submit, after all.
    Freedom and a submissive populace cannot co-exist.

    Brad Steele
  • cpermdcpermd Member Posts: 5,273 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    The USA is just going to Hell very quickly.

    This is insane!

    CP
  • owen219owen219 Member Posts: 3,799
    edited November -1
    I think all of us are easily exposed to this kind of error by over zealous power cops. Don't spit on the sidewalk these days unless you want some do-gooder to take you picture on their cell phone and then drop the call to the "authorities".
  • CaptplaidCaptplaid Member Posts: 20,296 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    This wouldn't have happened in DC or Chicago where citizens don't or can't own firearms.
  • Jim RauJim Rau Member Posts: 3,550
    edited November -1
    Sells,
    Again your prejudice or ingnorance or both rears it's ugly head![:(!]
    Jim Rau DID NOT SAY IT NEVER HAPPENS!! If your are going to quote me get it right or shut up!![:(!]
    I said it does not happen very often. There are litterly thousands of NK warrant served properly on the right people/places for every one like this one.[;)]
    That said I thing this 'chief' is an idiot for doing this. As I DID say when this occurs those responsible for the mistake MUST be identified and action taken aginst them to prevent this from happening again![V]
  • kiwibird1kiwibird1 Member Posts: 1,639 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    This stuff is still happening?[xx(]
  • MEMPHISJOEMEMPHISJOE Member Posts: 185 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by Jim Rau
    Sells,
    Again your prejudice or ingnorance or both rears it's ugly head![:(!]
    Jim Rau DID NOT SAY IT NEVER HAPPENS!! If your are going to quote me get it right or shut up!![:(!]
    I said it does not happen very often. There are litterly thousands of NK warrant served properly on the right people/places for every one like this one.[;)]
    That said I thing this 'chief' is an idiot for doing this. As I DID say when this occurs those responsible for the mistake MUST be identified and action taken aginst them to prevent this from happening again![V]
    Actually I thought you said something like you had a better chance of being killed by lightening or some other crazy statement. You never did address secret courts, or secret NK warrants, and I guess you won't.
  • Jim RauJim Rau Member Posts: 3,550
    edited November -1
    Jo,
    I can't address 'secret' courts or NK's becasue, well I guess they are secret according to you.[;)]
    And if lightning 'never' strikes, and the lottery is 'never' won his statement would be correct now wouldn't it!!![}:)]
  • ElMuertoMonkeyElMuertoMonkey Member Posts: 12,898
    edited November -1
    quote:"The officers put themselves in harm's way. They were shot at and shot and deserved to be recognized," said Dolan in a statement defending the awards to the SWAT team.And I suppose the SS should have been given medals for keeping their camps clean?[xx(][:(!]
  • glabrayglabray Member Posts: 679 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    This sort of thing is going on all over the US. SWAT teams are out of control. If they had gone in looking like cops instead of dressed like a bunch of Nazi ninjas the homeowner probably wouldn't have fired a shot.
  • Jim RauJim Rau Member Posts: 3,550
    edited November -1
    glabray,
    What do cops look like???[?]
  • MEMPHISJOEMEMPHISJOE Member Posts: 185 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by Jim Rau
    Jo,
    I can't address 'secret' courts or NK's becasue, well I guess they are secret according to you.[;)]
    And if lightning 'never' strikes, and the lottery is 'never' won his statement would be correct now wouldn't it!!![}:)]
    You are a complete #$% *&^), and not very well read, or aware of what is going on. If anyone Googles Secret Courts they can find out all about them. Kind of like SOCOM, what they do is secret, but the fact that they exist is not.. You are like old Barney with the bullet in his pocket. It does not bother me that you are unaware of the Secret Courts, in fact I am glad you act the fool when ever they are mentioned, others readers will google Secret Courts and come the the same conclusion I have, you are a half whit
  • spanielsellsspanielsells Member Posts: 12,498
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by MEMPHISJOE
    quote:Originally posted by Jim Rau
    Jo,
    I can't address 'secret' courts or NK's becasue, well I guess they are secret according to you.[;)]
    And if lightning 'never' strikes, and the lottery is 'never' won his statement would be correct now wouldn't it!!![}:)]
    You are a complete #$% *&^), and not very well read, or aware of what is going on. If anyone Googles Secret Courts they can find out all about them. Kind of like SOCOM, what they do is secret, but the fact that they exist is not.. You are like old Barney with the bullet in his pocket. It does not bother me that you are unaware of the Secret Courts, in fact I am glad you act the fool when ever they are mentioned, others readers will google Secret Courts and come the the same conclusion I have, you are a half whit
    I don't happen to like Jim's attitude or opinions, but I wouldn't describe him as a half-wit.

    I can Google Secret Courts. I can also Google Moon made from green cheese and come up with 378,000 links (do it yourself if you'd like). The fact that both appear in a Google search doesn't make either factual.
  • MVPMVP Member Posts: 25,074
    edited November -1
    Kind of like an Urban mini Ruby Ridge if you ask me.
  • Jim RauJim Rau Member Posts: 3,550
    edited November -1
    Sells,
    I agree, I went in at age 14 and bought my first handgun with out any trouble (a High-Standard Double Nine)and never got into trouble with it. I thing all this regulation and restrictions only keep honest people from being armed![V]
    Jo, Atleast I have a half a wit, which is more than I can say for you![}:)]
  • Jim RauJim Rau Member Posts: 3,550
    edited November -1
    No, Ruby Ridge was a set up from the * go, this was a mistake, or so it sounds![V]
  • Jim RauJim Rau Member Posts: 3,550
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by Jim Rau
    Sells,
    I agree, (with your sig line) I went in at age 14 and bought my first handgun with out any trouble (a High-Standard Double Nine)and never got into trouble with it. I thing all this regulation and restrictions only keep honest people from being armed![V]
    Jo, Atleast I have a half a wit, which is more than I can say for you![}:)]
  • redneckandyredneckandy Member Posts: 9,682 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Heres the original story

    http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,317398,00.html

    MINNEAPOLIS - With her six kids and husband tucked into bed, Yee Moua was watching TV in her living room just after midnight when she heard voices - faint at first, then louder. Then came the sound of a window shattering.

    Moua bolted upstairs, where her husband, Vang Khang, grabbed his shotgun from a closet, knelt and fired a warning shot through his doorway as he heard footsteps coming up the stairs. He let loose with two more blasts. Twenty-two bullets were fired back at him, by the family's count.

    Then things suddenly became clear.

    "It's the police! Police!" his sons yelled.

    Khang, a Hmong immigrant with shaky command of English, set down his gun, raised his hands and was soon on the ground, an officer's boot on his neck.

    The gunmen, it turned out, were members of a police SWAT team that had raided the wrong address because of bad information from an informant - a mistake that some critics say happens all too frequently around the country and gets innocent people killed.

    "I have six kids, and only one mistake almost took my kids' life," said Moua, 29. "We will never forget this."

    No one was hurt in the raid Sunday, conducted by a task force that fights drugs and gangs, though two police officers were hit by the shotgun blasts and narrowly escaped injury because they were wearing bulletproof vests.

    Police apologized to the family and placed the seven officers on leave while it investigates what went wrong.

    Such mistakes are a fact of police work, some experts said.

    "Does going to the wrong address happen from time to time? Yes," said John Gnagey, executive director of the National Tactical Officers Association in Doylestown, Pa. "Do you corroborate as best you can the information the informant gives you? Absolutely. But still from time to time mistakes are made."

    One of the biggest botched raids in recent years happened in Atlanta in 2006, when police killed a 92-year-old woman in a hail of nearly 40 bullets after she fired a shot at what she thought were intruders. Police had gone to her house on a drug raid, but no drugs were found.

    Prosecutors said that in obtaining a search warrant, Atlanta police falsely told a judge that an informant had confirmed drug dealing there. The scandal led to a shake-up in the department, two officers pleaded guilty to manslaughter and civil rights charges, and the city faces at least two lawsuits.

    Reliable figures on the frequency of erroneous raids are hard to come by. Federal agencies, including the FBI and the U.S. Marshals Service, said they do not keep track.

    A study last year by the libertarian Cato Institute said: "Because of shoddy police work, over-reliance on informants, and other problems, each year hundreds of raids are conducted on the wrong addresses, bringing unnecessary terror and frightening confrontation to people never suspected of a crime."

    Gnagey disputed the reliability of the research behind those figures, and said it is impossible to know whether they are too high or too low. He said no dependable estimates exist.

    "Going to the wrong home is an extreme rarity," said Mark Robbins, a law enforcement professor at Minnesota State University, Mankato. "It's just unfortunate that when it does, it often ends up in violent and even tragic incidents."

    In the Minneapolis case, the nature of the tip and precisely what police were looking for were not disclosed; they have not released the search warrant. And it was not clear how far off the mark the informant was in supplying the address.

    No charges were brought against Khang, a laid-off machine operator who lives in crime-ridden north Minneapolis. Khang used the shotgun for hunting, said his brother, Dao Khang. In Minnesota, no license is required to own a shotgun.

    Khang, who speaks some English but used an interpreter during an interview, said he does not remember hearing any calls of "Police!" until his sons shouted. He said he would never knowingly shoot at officers.

    "That's why I reacted the way I did, to protect my family and two sons," said Khang, 34, whose children are ages 3 to 15.

    Lt. Amelia Huffman, a police spokeswoman, said the information in the search warrant came from a source who had been reliable in the past.

    Huffman said officers who routinely work on drug and gang cases are trained to try to corroborate their information. As for why the process didn't work this time, "that's one of the things the internal investigation will go through in exhaustive detail," she said.

    The Hmong are hill people from Laos who aided the CIA during the Vietnam War by fighting the Viet Cong. Hmong refugees began arriving in Minnesota in the late 1970s, and there are perhaps 60,000 Hmong in Minnesota today.

    The Khang family is living with relatives until the house gets cleaned up. The raid left six windows broken and walls and ceilings pocked with pellet and bullet holes.

    "The whole family is badly shaken and still trying to understand what happened," Moua said.
  • KSUmarksmanKSUmarksman Member Posts: 10,705 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    we need to seriously revamp/partially eliminate the "war on drugs" otherwise this will keep happening with much more tragic results
  • quickmajikquickmajik Member Posts: 16,324
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by Jim Rau
    Sells,
    Again your prejudice or ingnorance or both rears it's ugly head![:(!]
    Jim Rau DID NOT SAY IT NEVER HAPPENS!! If your are going to quote me get it right or shut up!![:(!]
    I said it does not happen very often. There are litterly thousands of NK warrant served properly on the right people/places for every one like this one.[;)]
    That said I thing this 'chief' is an idiot for doing this. As I DID say when this occurs those responsible for the mistake MUST be identified and action taken aginst them to prevent this from happening again![V]

    you mean the "chief should be fired?"
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