From July of last year:

According to court documents, the Chidesters say the SWAT team arrived on the street outside their home May 25 at approximately 10:30 p.m. They say the officers then proceeded to man-handle them in the execution of a search warrant — albeit for the wrong address. The police unit’s intended target, the suit claims, was the residence next door.

“Larry Chidester was asleep in his residence when he heard a loud bang or crash outside and exited to investigate the source of the noise,” court documents say.

He observed Utah County SWAT team members departing their police vehicle and heading toward their neighbor’s home. The sound he had heard was flash-bang devices detonated by the officers. However when SWAT team members saw Larry, they went after him, the suit claims.

“The officer pointed his firearm at Larry and started running towards him, yelling, ‘There’s one!,’ ” the document states.

Despite the fact that Larry had his hands in the air and told the officer repeatedly “I’m not resisting,” the suit states the SWAT member continued to run over or tackle him, “and shoved his face into the ground and rocks.”

The suit claims Larry Chidester was later transported to the emergency room at Mountain View Hospital in Payson to be treated for injuries.

Two officers then kicked open a side door of the home and entered Lawrence Chidester’s bedroom as he was dressing, according to the suit.

“A law enforcement officer grabbed Lawrence and threw him to the floor … the officer held a firearm to the back of Lawrence’s head in the presence of his wife, Emily Chidester,” the documents say.

Afterward, when the family was questioned about their names and address, the suit claims SWAT team members “admitted … they were in the wrong house and they had made a mistake.”

This entry was posted on Friday, January 6th, 2006 at 8:02 pm by Radley Balko and is filed under Police Militarization. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.