MaterDei
Member
What does it take to stop these no - knocks from happening? These are particularly disturbing for those of us who plan to defend our homes from invasion. We, most likely, will be killed. I know that in some jurisdictions no knocks are banned, how did they get a ban? Is there something we can do to convince them that these are a bad idea? Without further ado...
Sheriff's raid in northwest Harris County nets wrong man
Family terrified by armed officers
By S.K. BARDWELL
Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle
Rather than netting the suspected killer for whom they were looking, armed sheriff's deputies terrified a Houston family -- including a 10-year-old girl and a man cooking gumbo -- when they burst into a northwest Harris County home Saturday.
Erik and Tyronna Green, who live in the 12400 block of Silverwyck, were shooting pool in their garage about 7:30 p.m. while Tyronna's 10-year-old daughter, Tiera Eglin, slept. Tyronna's brother, Andrew Morrison, was just getting out of the shower; his girlfriend was also in the house. And Dennis Ceasar, Andrew and Tyronna's cousin, was in the kitchen cooking gumbo.
That's when about a dozen deputies with the Gulf Coast Violent Offenders Task Force burst into the home.
"All of a sudden, they were everywhere," Morrison said of the deputies. "Telling everybody, `Get down! Get down! Get the ... down!' None of us knew what was going on. We kept telling them they had the wrong house, but they wouldn't listen."
Tyronna Green said her daughter was awakened by men pointing guns at her and yelling at her to get on the floor.
"It was terrible," Tyronna Green said. "She's not even sleeping now at night."
The deputies checked the identification of everyone in the house, then handcuffed Ceasar and took him away.
Harris County Sheriff's Department Capt. Robert Van Pelt said deputies were looking for DeShawn Ceasar, who is wanted for murder in Eunice, La. Unfortunately for Dennis Ceasar, he is from the same town.
"I knew I wasn't him," Dennis Ceasar said Monday of the unrelated murder suspect. "But they weren't listening to anybody, least of all me."
Van Pelt said law officers in Louisiana called the Harris County Sheriff's Department for help after they received information that DeShawn Ceasar was traveling from Louisiana to the Silverwyck address.
"Our detectives set up surveillance on the house," Van Pelt said. "Not long afterward, a car with Louisiana license plates arrived there, and a man matching the description of the suspect went inside."
So the officers did what they do in such cases, Van Pelt said.
Dennis Ceasar was released after about an hour, after detectives determined that his fingerprints did not match those of the fugitive.
"They brought him back home and said they were sorry," Morrison said.
Dennis Ceasar said the incident had left him shaken up. "I just hope no one else decides I'm him," he said.
Van Pelt said the department is investigating and that it's still unclear whether authorities in Louisiana were deliberately given bad information.
Van Pelt said the deputies involved in the raid denied the family's complaints that they had used vulgar language, including with the 10-year-old girl.
"Of course, they can certainly come forward and file a complaint, and it will be investigated," he said.
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/2214489
MaterDei
Sheriff's raid in northwest Harris County nets wrong man
Family terrified by armed officers
By S.K. BARDWELL
Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle
Rather than netting the suspected killer for whom they were looking, armed sheriff's deputies terrified a Houston family -- including a 10-year-old girl and a man cooking gumbo -- when they burst into a northwest Harris County home Saturday.
Erik and Tyronna Green, who live in the 12400 block of Silverwyck, were shooting pool in their garage about 7:30 p.m. while Tyronna's 10-year-old daughter, Tiera Eglin, slept. Tyronna's brother, Andrew Morrison, was just getting out of the shower; his girlfriend was also in the house. And Dennis Ceasar, Andrew and Tyronna's cousin, was in the kitchen cooking gumbo.
That's when about a dozen deputies with the Gulf Coast Violent Offenders Task Force burst into the home.
"All of a sudden, they were everywhere," Morrison said of the deputies. "Telling everybody, `Get down! Get down! Get the ... down!' None of us knew what was going on. We kept telling them they had the wrong house, but they wouldn't listen."
Tyronna Green said her daughter was awakened by men pointing guns at her and yelling at her to get on the floor.
"It was terrible," Tyronna Green said. "She's not even sleeping now at night."
The deputies checked the identification of everyone in the house, then handcuffed Ceasar and took him away.
Harris County Sheriff's Department Capt. Robert Van Pelt said deputies were looking for DeShawn Ceasar, who is wanted for murder in Eunice, La. Unfortunately for Dennis Ceasar, he is from the same town.
"I knew I wasn't him," Dennis Ceasar said Monday of the unrelated murder suspect. "But they weren't listening to anybody, least of all me."
Van Pelt said law officers in Louisiana called the Harris County Sheriff's Department for help after they received information that DeShawn Ceasar was traveling from Louisiana to the Silverwyck address.
"Our detectives set up surveillance on the house," Van Pelt said. "Not long afterward, a car with Louisiana license plates arrived there, and a man matching the description of the suspect went inside."
So the officers did what they do in such cases, Van Pelt said.
Dennis Ceasar was released after about an hour, after detectives determined that his fingerprints did not match those of the fugitive.
"They brought him back home and said they were sorry," Morrison said.
Dennis Ceasar said the incident had left him shaken up. "I just hope no one else decides I'm him," he said.
Van Pelt said the department is investigating and that it's still unclear whether authorities in Louisiana were deliberately given bad information.
Van Pelt said the deputies involved in the raid denied the family's complaints that they had used vulgar language, including with the 10-year-old girl.
"Of course, they can certainly come forward and file a complaint, and it will be investigated," he said.
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/2214489
MaterDei
and sent to the pen. He was released on appeal to the state supreme court in Indiana, the ruling majority stating he had done nothing wrong and had no reason or expectation of the LEO's crashing through his door.
