SWAT Team Honored For Raid On Wrong House

CptSternn · 07-30-2008, 08:30 AM

http://wcco.com/iteam/swat.team.honored.2.783216.html

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.

CptSternn · 07-30-2008, 08:31 AM

The new American thing to do appears to be give medals and awards to those who fail miserably at their jobs. From the generals who are losing in the Middle East, to the cops who raid the wrong house. Lets also not forget the mortgage companies who broke the law and now the government is bailing them out, and using tax payer money to cover their losses.

PortraitOfSanity · 07-30-2008, 09:21 AM

American cops are worthless. You'd think a gang and drug saturated city like Chicago would have a well trained police force. You would be wrong. 2 of my favorite stories:

1. I forget what started the whole mess, but it ended with a guy behind his car shooting it out with police for about half an hour. When he ran out of bullets, he cut his penis off and threw it at the cops. There were something like 100 bullet holes in the guy's car.

2. In Cicero (the suburb outside Chicago where Al Capone lived, it's now split between Hispanic and Black gangs), someone called in a gang fight, one squad car showed up to handle 6+ gang members. As soon as they pulled up of course, the gangsters started shooting. The 2 cops ran into an alley, got behind a brick wall and shot back. About 300 shots were fired, noone was injured (no blood on the scene) and all the gang members escaped.

Raptor · 07-30-2008, 10:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CptSternn

The new American thing to do appears to be give medals and awards to those who fail miserably at their jobs.

Well how did the SWAT team get there? I assume someone else gave them orders? And if thats the case, the team itself didn't fail. Whoever told them what house to raid failed.

TurquoiseXx · 07-30-2008, 06:40 PM

Raptor, that's true. Regardless, they shouldn't be given medals after breaking into someone's house. The whole concept of the situation is backwards.

Raptor · 07-31-2008, 03:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CptSternn

"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.

They were in a situation that apparently was worthy of award. Someone fucked up but that doesn't make the danger to the SWAT team any less.

Like how it isn't fair to shout at a receptionist or customer support worker when a problem arises that wasn't their fault. As long as they're being helpful at least. These guys were doing their job and put themselves in danger for it.

I'm more annoyed that whoever is really to blame will likely get away with it.

Despanan · 07-31-2008, 06:13 AM

I like how Stern sees one incident of stupidity and suddenly it's an example of the "New American Way" and thus indicative of the unworthiness of the culture as a whole. I'm going to start applying this line of reasoning more often in my daily life. Fallacies of Accident are the spice of life!

JCC · 07-31-2008, 06:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Raptor

They were in a situation that apparently was worthy of award. Someone fucked up but that doesn't make the danger to the SWAT team any less.

Like how it isn't fair to shout at a receptionist or customer support worker when a problem arises that wasn't their fault. As long as they're being helpful at least. These guys were doing their job and put themselves in danger for it.

I'm more annoyed that whoever is really to blame will likely get away with it.

They shot at an innocent man and nearly tore apart our family leaving a woman on her own to bring up SIX children. That's hardly worth a medal.

PortraitOfSanity · 07-31-2008, 06:46 AM

It says in the article noone was hurt.

JCC · 07-31-2008, 06:57 AM

They shot at him though, he could easily have been shot in the head. In fact, he would've been injured had the police not been incompetent with their firearms anyway.

Also, for some reason I put 'our' instead of 'a' in my first post. I guess I was typing fast, but I'm not part of that guy's family, haha.

Raptor · 07-31-2008, 06:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JCC

They shot at an innocent man and nearly tore apart our family leaving a woman on her own to bring up SIX children. That's hardly worth a medal.

Whut?

Anyway yeh it says nobody got hurt.

EDIT nevermind you got it.

JCC · 07-31-2008, 06:58 AM

I already covered that typo, get with the times.

Raptor · 07-31-2008, 07:05 AM

Ha but you made one in the first place!

Quote:

Originally Posted by JCC

They shot at him though, he could easily have been shot in the head. In fact, he would've been injured had the police not been incompetent with their firearms anyway.

Fair point but that still would have been a fuck up on the part of whoever ordered them to the house. I just don't think those guys deserve the blame that Stern seemed to put on them.

TurquoiseXx · 07-31-2008, 07:34 AM

Maybe they don't deserve the blame, but who really knows.

I honestly still don't understand why they were given an award. It almost seems like they were doing it to piss people off since it's so ridiculous. If they took down a highly dangerous drug lord or something of that nature, it would make more sense. It truly is a shame.

Raptor · 07-31-2008, 07:51 AM

From their point of view they were being shot at by a criminal. They went forward with their task under fire. Thats all the award is for by the sound of it.

On the other hand you're right about pissing people off. You'd think they would have left it alone, if only for PR reasons. Maybe if they had asked the family about it before hand, and only gone ahead with the awards if the family were ok with it. But they aren't.

Jaye Jang · 07-31-2008, 08:17 AM

This is so wrong on so many levels. I feel for the Khang family. The fact that no one got hurt is immaterial. This could have wound up being a blood bath, with the whole family being killed and the "police" would have been awarded anyway. The fact that they collectively missed their target tells me that they either deliberately missed because they realized they were in the wrong place, and returned fire anyway -- or they simply cannot shoot straight. If that is the case, they are lucky they wound up in the wrong house!!! Think about what would have happened if these geniuses had found the drug gang and shot it out with real gangsters who could shoot straight. They might be getting their awards posthumously.

Raptor · 07-31-2008, 08:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jaye Jang

This is so wrong on so many levels.

But do you blame the SWAT team? They were in the house they were told to go to.

I do find the fact they missed so much strange.

Jaye Jang · 07-31-2008, 09:03 AM

Yes, Raptor, I agree, but the SWAT team leader is supposed to announce their entry BEFORE they break the door down, otherwise they can be legally charged with everything from invasion of privacy to trespassing, etc. Since police get sued all the time for such things, they are also supposed to have a BACKUP team at the back of any place they raid in case the perps (perpetrators) try to go out the back. If they had conducted the raid properly the Khang family would have known what was happening, and could have responded appropriately -- and the whole messy situation could have been avoided. The fact that the information they were given was erroneous is unfortunate, but this SWAT team clearly did not follow SOP (standard operating procedure). Instead, they acted like a bunch of gun-happy rookies, and they should have been reprimanded.

Raptor · 07-31-2008, 09:41 AM

Ah. Ok I accept that then thank you.

PortraitOfSanity · 07-31-2008, 09:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jaye Jang

Yes, Raptor, I agree, but the SWAT team leader is supposed to announce their entry BEFORE they break the door down.

Sorry but you're wrong here, SWAT is authorized to break into a house/building without saying the usual "POLICE" or anything, you don't storm a building and say "HERE I AM COME SHOOT ME" it's the same concept. (my uncle's former SWAT, before anyone asks) SWAT operates outside many of the usual boundaries of a Police force because they're a tactical unit, technically they can't even arrest anyone, their job is to deal with a situation before the cops come in.

CptSternn · 07-31-2008, 10:16 AM

The whole idea of giving them a medal is ludicrous if you ask me.

It's like saying good job kicking in the door of an innocent man and his family. Good job shooting at innocent women and children. Good job dodging the bullets that an innocent man shot at you while trying to protect his wife and child from masked intruders who burst in his house in the middle of the night without any announcement.

The article hits the nail on the head - the city is trying to cover its own arse, by rewarding them they are trying to offset the liability. The reality is SWAT had the wrong house. They should have known. They should have double checked the address, they should have staked it out, they should have spent more time finding out about the address and who was there and less time kicking in doors. So yeah, they are responsible and did not do their jobs properly.

Do you think they just showed up without having any plan? They practice entry before they go kicking in doors. They know all the routes in and out of a location. The fact the knew everything about the house, yet for some reason didn't know it was the wrong house screams of incompetence. They spent more time preparing the assault than they did double checking that the occupants were criminals.

Goes to show where their heads are.

PortraitOfSanity · 07-31-2008, 10:34 AM

Yea I'm not defending them, I do think they or the higher ups completely blew it in this case.