After eight months of researching this SWAT stuff, I thought I’d scoured every corner of Lexis and Factiva, and found all there is to find in the way of “innocent people killed in botched drug raids.”

Nope. I continue to find more. The hidden ones tend to be in places removed from major metropolitan areas, and covered mostly in local newspapers. Which makes me wonder just how many more there may be.

The latest is the case of Stacy Renae Walker. I only know of her because her uncle wrote a letter to the editor of the Memphis Commercial Appeal in response to the mistaken raid in March of this year on an elderly couple in the Memphis ‘burb of Horn Lake, Mississippi:

Last month a drug raid by the Horn Lake Police Department, which entered the wrong home, resulted in an elderly couple being beaten and hospitalized (March 23 article, “2 hurt in botched meth lab raid”). The reaction by most people has been, “Oh! What a tragic mistake!” I have a different viewpoint .

A few years ago, in Henderson County, Tenn., my niece, Stacey Renee Bailey Walker, was shot and killed by a deputy (on the force for a week or so) during a drug raid that went to the wrong address. Since then, I have read about several other such mistakes, and now, once again, it happens to some friends.

How many tragic mistakes must occur before people realize something is wrong? How much difference would it make if we stopped breaking into homes in the middle of the night, unannounced, without any lights, all blacked up with night goggles, to catch criminals? I think that more dents were put in the bodies of my friends than were put in the war against drugs.

It cost the Henderson County Sheriff’s Department more than $100,000 plus legal fees, funeral expenses, etc., for its error, and two children a lifetime without their mother. Who knows how much the Horn Lake Police Department costs will be, or how much damage has been done to the lives of two nice elderly citizens of our community?

I don’t want illegal drugs in my community or in any other, but I also fear what possibly poorly trained, led and informed paramilitary types with the supposedly legal authority to swoop down upon us, without any warning, can and might do. I believe those in our police departments who enjoy playing these types of games need to be removed from law enforcement and encouraged to join the U.S. Army . I also believe our lawmakers and judiciary should reconsider any law permitting unannounced home invasions for reasons other than saving lives.

I believe that if you have the ability to change our laws and actions regarding home invasions and do not attempt to do so, the next such tragic mistake will be partly your fault.

Curious, I looked the guy up, called him, and chatted with him a bit. Turns out, he knows the Horn Lake couple, too. He says they’re shattered. They can only sleep during the day.

As for the Stacy Walker, I got in touch with an editor at the Jackson Sun, a relatively small, local paper that covered the raid. She faxed me the paper’s coverage of the raid. Here’s what happened:

Police in Lexington, Tennessee forced entry into Walker’s home on a drug raid in August of 1999. They brough the raid after an anonymous tip from a “concerned citizen,” who claimed to have seen methamphetamine and marijuana inside.

Once inside, Deputy Tim Crowe, who had been on the police force for only a week, saw Renae rise from teh couch with a child in her arms, and discharged his gun. The bullet struck Renae in the back of the head and exited through her mouth, killing her. Police would later say Crowe’s gun fired and scored a direct hit because he “tripped.”

Police found no drugs or weapons in the home. They later conceded that the entire raid was “a terrible mistake.”

Walker’s husband and children were later given a $100,000 settlement.

Here’s the crazy thing. While poking around inquiring about the Walker shooting, I found two more incidents, both in Salem, Oregon. Even weirder, the two incidents happened within seven months of one another, in 1996. In one case, police shot and killed 62-year-old immigrant Salvador Hernandez while raiding his home in search of another man they wanted on drug charges. Hernandez has no criminal record, had no drugs on or near him, and was generally described as a gentle farmworker and grandfather. At the time of the early-morning raid, Hernandez was making breakfast for himself and a friend. Police say Hernandez “lunged” at them with a knife. The friend who was with Hernandez at the time says the man was using a kitchen knife to cut up some potatoes, and fell forward with fright when police detonated a grenade and broke down the door. Internal reviews would later clear the police of all wrongdoing.

In the other case, police conducted a 5:30 am raid on the home of Luis Carrasco-Flores. They had the wrong apartment. The building next door had been the site of a number of crimes, including a recent murder and several robberies. Consequently, Carrasco-Flores — who was saving up to move out of the crime-infested area — had a handgun near his bed. When the police kicked down his bedroom door just before dawn, he instinctively reached for the gun. The police then shot him dead. He owned the gun legally, had no criminal record, and there were no drugs in his apartment. Prosecutors later conceded that the man had done nothing wrong. No charges were brought or discipline was taken against the raiding officers. Anyone doubt that had things turned out differently — had Carrasco-Flores killed one of the raiding officers and escaped with his life — the guy wouldn’t be facing murder charges?

The tally thus far from my research: 42 innocent people killed in paramilitary raids. 57 if you include police officers. Another 20 were nonviolent offenders (recreational pot smokers, gamblers, etc.) shot and killed either by accident or because they mistook raiding police for criminal intruders and were killed when they attempted to defend themselves, their homes, and/or their families.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 7th, 2006 at 10:50 am 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.