Wrong house raided by ATF
Oops:
Officers from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives barged into a South Florida home Wednesday only to discover they had the wrong address.
The ATF agents were supposed to conduct a raid at a home in the 2600 block of Northwest 49th Terrace in northwest Miami-Dade County, but they were off by one block. They entered a house on Northwest 49th Street instead.
Philomaine Silvain and her 3-year-old son were among the innocent people inside the home when the agents came in.
Silvain pointed out damage to her front door.
The ATF got all ninjaed up, kicked in the front and back doors, and tossed in some tear gas.
A whole block off? Usually when this happens (and it happens a lot), it’s across the street or next door or something. But a whole block? I guess a screw up that big requires the involvement of the feds.
More stellar performance from ATF!
Update: More from David on innocent mistakes: But let a gun dealer have a paperwork glitch, and it’s a “willful violation” worthy of closing him down.
April 11th, 2008 at 10:57 am
Markie Marxist sez: “We own this country. We mean to put every private gun dealer out of business, any way we can. If paperwork violations get the job done for us, then so be it.
As for our ATF raids, you have to remember that we own this country. That means that we can do as we please. Private gun dealers and private gun owners are not being good Marxists, so we treat them accordingly. What do you expect from a Marxist police state? Milk and cookies? We’ll give you bullet holes and tear gas.”
April 11th, 2008 at 11:04 am
I’m waiting for raids like this to show up on those COPS, or DEA, or most shocking police videos or more shocking than the most shocking police video shows that are springing up all over. this video would make a good lead in to an interview with the DEA where they explain how their loss of 91 guns and laptops wasn’t “willful”.
dc
April 11th, 2008 at 11:27 am
Well, as for being a block off, that’s easy to explain (but not excuse) The addresses confused were Northwest 49th Terrace, Northwest 49th Street. Given that Street, Road, Avenue are often interchangable it’s quite easy to overlook them (my home address appears on some maps as “Street”, and others as “Drive”). The cops saw “Northwest 49th” and stopped.
I’m just glad I don’t live on Peachtree in Atlanta. Who knows which of the 562,874 different “Peachtree”s they’d show up at.
April 11th, 2008 at 1:30 pm
Yes, it is not like we have something like global positioning system to help in geo-location or even a 911 system that forces the renaming of streets and roads to facilitate efficient operation of emergency services.
And god forbid that once in their secret agent outfits that employees of the government be expected to perform at least a cursory due diligence in the performance of their duties.
April 11th, 2008 at 3:44 pm
The info on the right address was probably on one of the missing laptops.
Did they set the place on fire? After all, there was at least one kid inside.
April 11th, 2008 at 4:17 pm
If they hadn’t lost those laptops they could have used MapQuest. it knows the difference between Terrace and Street.
Good point deadcenter.
April 11th, 2008 at 4:29 pm
Hey, it could be a lot worse, like perhaps the US bombing of China’s embassy in Belgrade in May 1999, which was mistargeted by Valerie Plame’s office in the CIA because they failed to check the street maps. Now that was a really big whoops.
April 11th, 2008 at 4:31 pm
And if the dims get back in they will be out in full force again, more W’s on the way.
S&B
April 11th, 2008 at 5:14 pm
JKB, was that comment directed at me? If it was, what part of “but not excuse” did you not understand?
April 11th, 2008 at 5:21 pm
As much as I here the term “wrong house” I wonder why anyone thinks there is a “right house” for these raids.
April 11th, 2008 at 5:57 pm
Until there is a personal physical price to be paid, these raids on innocent will continue. Incarceration of these criminals would seem to be a sufficient physical price to deter them.
What they did was a crime. It was not a mistake. It may not have been an intentional crime, but nonetheless it is one that any ordinary citizen would be punished for, and so should they be.
April 11th, 2008 at 6:00 pm
Yu-An, if someone hasn’t been to Atlanta they have no idea how many Peachtrees there are. I think you may have seriously underestimated the number. 🙂
April 11th, 2008 at 6:00 pm
deadcenter,
highly unlikely you will ever see it. Since it was a wrongful entry the videographer would be required to get a release for publication from the people in the home so invaded. How likely you think that will be?
Thought so.
April 11th, 2008 at 6:00 pm
Have these guys never heard of Google Maps? For crying out loud, my friggin phone has a GPS in it.
April 11th, 2008 at 7:23 pm
Hey, it could be a lot worse, like perhaps the US bombing of China’s embassy in Belgrade in May 1999, which was mistargeted by Valerie Plame’s office in the CIA because they failed to check the street maps. Now that was a really big oops.
April 11th, 2008 at 8:27 pm
That’ll teach ’em never to make another raid without at least one DEA agent along to plant drugs to cover up mistakes…
April 11th, 2008 at 9:35 pm
Who was the source of the original tip?
I mean, there had to be someone who went to the place and saw someone using or selling illegal stuff, right?
Why didn’t they have him sit in the lead car and say, “okay, guys, this is the place,” like any reasonable person would? Heck, when I go to a party at a house I don’t know, I either get someone who knows the host or I hang around until I see someone I know, I don’t just barge in…
April 11th, 2008 at 9:49 pm
John Mc,
I never expected to see it, guess I should have added a sarcasm tag (unless you’re being as facetious as I was).
If they failed to do their due diligence and ensure that the house they were in front of, was indeed the house they were supposed to raid, be having the informant along, by reconning the house during the day, using google earth or maps, or whatever, couldn’t that be called “willful” too, as in willful disregad?
dc
April 12th, 2008 at 12:51 am
“JKB, was that comment directed at me? If it was, what part of “but not excuse” did you not understand?”
Not directed at you but your comment did prompt me to realize that the technology exists to stop these mistakes should someone bother to check their position. Obviously, trusting the reading skills and local knowledge of law enforcement on a raid isn’t working out. Time to add some other positioning techniques to the mix.
April 12th, 2008 at 9:39 am
“Cruise Control Says:
April 11th, 2008 at 4:29 pm
Hey, it could be a lot worse, like perhaps the US bombing of China’s embassy in Belgrade in May 1999, which was mistargeted by Valerie Plame’s office in the CIA because they failed to check the street maps. Now that was a really big whoops.”
Not to mention a nasty way to treat your campaign contributors…