DENVER, CO – The Shelton family was “startled by loud banging on their apartment door by a SWAT team, and although they told police they had the wrong apartment, the mother and her daughters were ordered outside at gunpoint, according to a lawsuit filed against the Denver officers, reported an Associated Press story last week.
The AP added, quoting from the suit, “Police then put the family, including another adult who had just gotten out of the shower, into a locked police car for about an hour and took over their apartment as they continued to search for the suspect” despite police knowing “the man they were looking for lived in apartment 307, not 306 where the Shelton family lived, and that the numbers were clearly marked.”
The Associated Press noted the Shelton family filed a lawsuit as a result of the police actions, with family feeling “traumatized” by the situation and angered about how the “police promised an investigation but instead covered up the raid, failing to produce their report to this day, over a year and a half after the incident.”
Thor Eells, a former SWAT (Special Weapons And Tactics) member and commander for the Colorado Springs Police Department, told AP that police, when they “do make a mistake and suspect they’ve entered the wrong location” cannot “immediately just back away because the location needs to be searched to make sure there are no threats.”
Eells added, “Once they start the entry, they’re not going to stop until they secure the apartment for the safety of everyone involved.”
The Associated Press added, “Denver police declined to comment due to the pending litigation as well as an ongoing internal investigation.”
