[Paté]

Oops! FBI uses chain saw on wrong door

A Massachusetts woman says the FBI used a chain saw blade to cut through her door and held her at gunpoint for at least 30 minutes before agents realized they were conducting a raid at the wrong home.

Judy Sanchez, of Fitchburg, says she awoke to heavy footsteps in the stairwell on Jan. 26 and walked into her kitchen in time to see a blade chop through her door.

"I took two steps, face the second door, and I heard the click of a gun, and saying, 'FBI, get down,' so I laid down on my living room floor," Sanchez told WHDH.com. "I was screaming, 'You have the wrong apartment, you have the wrong apartment,' over fifty times. And then I seen the big blade coming down my door."

She says she was held face-down on the floor at gunpoint while her 3-year-old daughter Ji'anni cried in another room.

It turns out agents were after the other tenant on the floor of the multi-unit building who was suspected of dealing drugs. The raid was called Operation Red Wolf, a two-year investigation into drugs and weapons, WHDH.com reported.

Sanchez says she and her daughter now have trouble sleeping. The mom told WHDH she now sleeps with a baseball bat next to her bed.

The FBI has apologized and is paying for the damage.

http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/02/01/10288790-oops-fbi-uses-chain-saw-on-wrong-door

 

[Schneiderman]

Another victory in the war on drugs!

 

[4x4Blazer]

Two years of investigating and they hit the wrong apartment?!  LOL  And a chainsaw, Really?  Good job with being stealth!

 

[Mad Russian]

A TWO YEAR investigation, and they can't get it right. They should have asked the three year old who was dealing, I bet she knows!
Way to go Fibies!!!

 

[NRATC53]

Sounds more like "Operation Red Herring"...

This is why I really REALLY don't like dynamic entry. One false move on her part and she'd more than likely be dead, even though she did nothing wrong...

Cue the bashers...

 

[Lemming]

The "Red Wolf" huffed, and puffed, and blew the wrong door down.

 

[Tonto]

:hide

 

[Swstock]

you gotta be kidding

 

[Destro]

Good thing she wasn't a legal gun owner. A bunch of dudes screaming "FBI" doesn't make it true, especially when the apartment in question was an law-biding individual with no wrong-doing. (Don't get me started with how many bad guys use this tactic which is another reason I hate when dynamic entries get the wrong address, which is very rare, but still happens way too often in my view).

Some people might see a chainsaw through the door as a home invasion and defend themselves, as is their legal right, and the common sense thing to do if you have an HD gun.
Another dynamic entry that could have ended far worse. (and after 2 years of investigating. Really?)

 

[Jake]

Some people might see a chainsaw through the door as a home invasion and defend themselves, as is their legal right, and the common sense thing to do if you have an HD gun. Another dynamic entry that could have ended far worse. (and after 2 years of investigating. Really?)

*Cough* ruby ridge *cough*

Back on topic - Realy, wtf, are our public servents realy using chainsaws?

 

[Schneiderman]

*Cough* ruby ridge *cough*

Back on topic - Realy, wtf, are our public servents realy using chainsaws?

I'm sure Red Jacket could come up with a better solution! ;D

 

[Destro]

*Cough* ruby ridge *cough*

Back on topic - Realy, wtf, are our public servents realy using chainsaws?

Well, seriously, we have big threads here on "where you keep your HD gun" and most have it bedside.
If you were a person, legal and clear, that kept an HD gun and you heard guys busting your door down at night and heard shouting, what would your logical and reasonable response be in such a situation (mind you, you have an HD gun and are likely aware of home invasions on Long Island, etc. some which use LE impersonation as a ruse, etc.).

Statistically these botched dynamic entries do hit legal gun owners and they meet reasonable surprised resistance by these unsuspecting legal gun owners. It's a recipe for disaster - by design -- when it goes wrong.

I do understand that these incidents reported, represent a minute fraction of all dynamic entries, etc. but we hear enough reports of these each year to be wary.

 

[anthony7325]

reading it over...it doesnt make sense....she heard the clik of a gun, and someone say FBI...and while laying face down on the floor she see the chainsaw blade rip the door??  WTF ....if there are agents inside already, why didnt they just open the door for the agent with the chainsaw??

 

[Destro]

reading it over...it doesnt make sense....she heard the clik of a gun, and someone say FBI...and while laying face down on the floor she see the chainsaw blade rip the door?? WTF ....if there are agents inside already, why didnt they just open the door for the agent with the chainsaw??

It didn't say the agents were inside, they were outside of the door, from where she apparently heard someone cock the slide and say "FBI". She also saw the chainsaw penetrate the door at some point (which you can see if you are laying on the ground and peek up, it never stated she never looked up). It is a news story and not a detailed police report but we get the gist of it from the quotes:

Judy Sanchez, of Fitchburg, says she awoke to heavy footsteps in the stairwell on Jan. 26 and walked into her kitchen in time to see a blade chop through her door.

"I took two steps, face the second door, and I heard the click of a gun, and saying, 'FBI, get down,' so I laid down on my living room floor," Sanchez told WHDH.com. "I was screaming, 'You have the wrong apartment, you have the wrong apartment,' over fifty times. And then I seen the big blade coming down my door."

She says she was held face-down on the floor at gunpoint while her 3-year-old daughter Ji'anni cried in another room.

 

[warmnfuzzyar]

......... F B I - Famous But Incompetent .

Great work guys.

Hoover the crossdresser would be proud .

 

[cMc214]

:clap

 

[Jake]

Well, seriously, we have big threads here on "where you keep your HD gun" and most have it bedside.
If you were a person, legal and clear, that kept an HD gun and you heard guys busting your door down at night and heard shouting, what would your logical and reasonable response be in such a situation (mind you, you have an HD gun and are likely aware of home invasions on Long Island, etc. some which use LE impersonation as a ruse, etc.).

In all likelyhood it would not end well for anyone involved. And thats where I'll leave that.

:clap

???

 

[DanHS]

I just cannot fathom how a two year long investigation culminates in getting the wrong door in the building. All those people working on the investigation, all the records and notes and briefings, and nobody notices it's the wrong door? Wouldn't detectives involved in the investigation be present throughout the entire operation, so even if someone accidentally said 'apartment 2b' instead of '2a' or whatever during the briefing before the raid, it would have had a million chances to be corrected? I'm confused, did they never actually observe the suspect enter his apartment in all that time and get the address wrong?

 

[mongo]

Thats what happens when you let lawyers and accountants play cop:stooges

 

[FULL METAL JACKET]

WTF! All I have to say!