‘Run amok’: Watch SWAT team raid wrong house, then deny any liability

Cops who blasted the wrong Texas house with a SWAT raid, then denied any liability for their assault, may be going to the U.S. Supreme Court.

It is the Institute for Justice that is asking the high court to take up the case of Karen Jimerson, and her partner, James Parks.

“Qualified immunity has run amok,” said IJ Attorney Dylan Moore. “The Supreme Court must ensure that victims of obvious constitutional violations, like Karen and James, are not denied a day in court.”

It happened in Lancaster, Texas, in March 2019.

The legal team, on behalf of the couple, has filed a petition asking the justices to overturn a lower court’s ruling granting qualified immunity to the SWAT commander who ordered the raid of the wrong home.

“On a quiet night in March 2019, a SWAT team from the Waxahachie Police Department, and officers from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), attempted to execute a search warrant on a suspected methamphetamine stash house at 573 8th Street. When the team arrived on the scene, however, they nearly raided 583 8th Street. Realizing the first mistake, SWAT Team Lieutenant Mike Lewis ordered them to ‘go to the house just to the left’ and conduct the raid there. But the house to the left was also the wrong house. Rather than ordering officers to raid 573 8th Street, Lewis directed them to 593 8th Street, which belonged to Karen,” the IJ said.

The court filings charge that Lewis never even bothered to check the address listed on the warrant.

“Even worse, the houses had obvious physical differences. Lewis knew that the target house was surrounded by a fence, had a large garage behind it (that police planned to search), and had its address posted on the front porch. Karen’s house had no porch, fence, or garage. What it did have was an impossible-to-miss wheelchair ramp that officers had to ascend on their way into the wrong house,” the legal team said.

“This was not a difficult, split-second decision. Lewis had plenty of time, and he had plenty of information to ensure he was raiding the correct house,” said IJ lawyer Patrick Jaicomo. “Qualified immunity should not shield Lewis for his plain incompetence.”

The SWAT team, with no announcement, broke all the windows in the front of the home and covered Karen’s three young children with glass. She had just gotten out of the shower when a flash-bang exploded, and was forced to the ground, where she was held for several minutes.

Then it was oops!

“The SWAT team then left and conducted its raid at the correct home, two doors down,” the IJ reported.

“This raid was a traumatizing experience for me, and my kids still have flashbacks to the raid,” said Karen, who was taken along with her daughter to the hospital following the raid. “We hadn’t done anything wrong, and suddenly, we’re being held at gunpoint and having parts of our home destroyed. I couldn’t believe what was happening.”

A police review found “reasonable and normal protocol” was ignored, and confirmed the mistake never should have happened.

Karen and James sued Lewis, but he denied responsibility and the lower courts granted him a free pass.